Effectuation: The Logic of Expert Entrepreneurs

Launching a startup means navigating a world of unknowns. How can new entrepreneurs effectively manage this uncertainty? Darden Professor Saras Sarasvathy offers a solution with the CAVE framework.

Professor Saras Sarasvathy discusses the virtues of the “middle class of business,” what she calls enduring companies that grow steadily but not massively and that create jobs and spur economies. Teaching entrepreneurship is akin to teaching the scientific method to those who aren’t scientists, and the mindset can help solve problems in the world.

While the future has always been unpredictable, the global uncertainty caused by the novel coronavirus is at a record high. To help us steer through this unprecedented crisis, Professor Saras Sarasvathy shares insights on entrepreneurial decision-making and offers four strategies seasoned founders use to turn uncertainty into opportunity.

The “pivot” has become part of startup lexicon. But pivot-thinking may not work for all companies, and substantially changing an organization’s strategy can be difficult and expensive for entrepreneurs. Darden experts weigh in.

How do successful entrepreneurs think? Darden Professor Saras Sarasvathy discusses her study of “effectuation” and the unique logic expert entrepreneurs employ to create the future, rather than simply predict it.

To learn the reality of building a business, an entrepreneurship boot camp in Bangalore puts into practice Saras Sarasvathy’s principles of effectuation.

Dr. Shahid Qureshi is determined to make the world a better place through effectuation, the set of principles for entrepreneurial decision-making developed by Darden’s Professor Saras Sarasvathy, based on a rigorous study of expert entrepreneurs.

When potential stakeholders don’t fit into categories such as an investor or a supplier, novice entrepreneurs often don’t approach them. Effectual asks, however, allow people to become involved with startups in many different ways.

You can’t always get what you want, but if you ask, you just might get what you need. Seasoned entrepreneurs seem to know this intuitively, and according to new research from Darden, they get what they need because they live by the mantra “Always be asking.”