New venture teams: insights on team formation processes

Abstract

Entrepreneurial team formation is the process through which founders establish a team to start a new venture. Although research on entrepreneurial team formation is gradually growing, it is at a critical juncture and marked by considerable fragmentation. In part, this is because scholars have examined entrepreneurial team formation through different disciplinary lenses and within very different contexts such as comparing their outcome to their venture successes. This analysis situates the literature based on questions addressed for new venture team formation which is centered on how entrepreneurial teams are formed. The results delineate the dynamic nature of why founders decide to co-found their company (reason for co-founding), team formation and evolution, formation strategies used to initiate co-founding relations. Two strategies used by founders were observed: interpersonal and resource seeking strategy. However, little was observed about the use of both strategies simultaneously. As such, one of the recommendations made was to request future research to focus on this area. We conclude that entrepreneurial team formation research is a fertile ground that has met merely a fraction of its potential to advance important knowledge in the field.