The Roles of Technological Entrepreneurs in Technological Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

Technological entrepreneurship ecosystem (TEE) is comprised of various elements and complex relations that all interact with each other to enable the creation and growth of technological entrepreneurship. The technological entrepreneur, as the main constituent of this ecosystem, should possess specific characteristics and also must perform particular roles. Despite the importance of (tech) entrepreneur in the (technological) entrepreneurship ecosystem, we are facing with the lack of comprehensive and robust literature in this domain. The aim of this research is to identify and explain various roles of tech-entrepreneurs in the relevant ecosystem. In this path, we adopted a constructivist approach of grounded theory, conducted in-depth interviews and analyzed secondary sources. Totally, we analyzed 27 cases of technological entrepreneurship process that ended in the identification of 14 specific roles in three groups. First, the principal roles which are research & development, market analysis, and resource mobilization. Second, the supporting roles such as networking, incident monitoring, and cooperation with technical experts. Third, the general (contextual) roles like building trust, and proper interactions with other elements of the ecosystem. These roles which based on their nature are in relation and interaction with other elements of the ecosystem, can enhance the related literature of entrepreneurship ecosystem and also lead the actions of technological entrepreneurs.