BIG FISH VS. BIG POND? ENTREPRENEURS, ESTABLISHED FIRMS, AND ANTECEDENTS OF TIE FORMATION Riitta Katila Stanford University
[email protected] Henning Piezunka INSEAD
[email protected] Phil Reineke Stanford University
[email protected] Kathleen M. Eisenhardt Stanford University
[email protected] We appreciate help and comments from our editor Marc Gruber, anonymous reviewers, and Rob Bremner, Anil Doshi, Javier Gimeno, Henrich Greve, Thilo Klein, David Krackhardt, Dan McFarland, Michelle Rogan, and Bob Sutton, as well as feedback from seminar participants at Bocconi, BYU Winter Strategy Conference, Carnegie Mellon, CCC, European School of Management and Technology, Harvard Business School, HEC Paris, Imperial College Innovation & Entrepreneurship Conversation, INSEAD, Max Plank Institute Munich, University College London, University of Alberta, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina, University of Oregon, and The University of Texas at Austin. We are grateful for the time and expertise of the industry participants we interviewed. Our research project was supported by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, the National Science Foundation, the Sloan Research Project on the Economics of Knowledge Contribution, and the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences at Stanford University. 1 BIG FISH VS. BIG POND? ENTREPRENEURS, ESTABLISHED FIRMS, AND ANTECEDENTS OF TIE FORMATION Abstract Entrepreneurial and established firms form collaborative relationships to commercialize products. Through such ties, entrepreneurs seek (1) development help to hone ideas into marketable products and (2) access to markets. In most cases, entrepreneurs face a trade-off: they can be a big fish in a small pond, getting more attention and development help from a smaller firm with less market access; or a small fish in a big pond, getting less attention and help from a larger firm with more market access.