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Prof. Sonali K. Shah
Professor
Gies College of Business
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

This study seeks to inductively illuminate how new ventures operating in nascent industries build and process knowledge. Our data reveal three knowledge related activities that are associated with early success that have received little attention in the literature: collaborative experimentation, obtaining strategic information through informal interactions with industry players, and discovery-centered organizing. These activities allow new ventures to both create and draw in knowledge by working independently as well as collaboratively with other firms in the industry. In some cases, these efforts reinforce the firm’s initial direction, while in other cases, they lead the firm to alter course, or pivot. Our findings are based on primary source data gathered through interviews and observation, and augmented with archival data, on new ventures in the nascent smart lighting industry.