At the Nexus of Design and Entrepreneurship: Exploring Designer-founders’ Practices, Identities, and Learning

How can we meaningfully connect the domains of design and entrepreneurship? One way of shedding light on the nexus of design and entrepreneurship is to study designer-founders, i.e., designers who have ventured out into entrepreneurship and started a new venture. The present dissertation makes three significant contributions: (1) The dissertation explains how designer-founders practice designerly ways of entrepreneuring and entrepreneurial ways of designing, (2) the dissertation shows how designer founders attenuate and embrace identity tensions through self-mandated identity work, and (3) the dissertation clarifies how designer-founders leverage reflective practice to engage in business model innovation and continuous learning. By exploring the practices, identities, and learning of designer-founders, the dissertation advances our understanding of the nexus of design and entrepreneurship in theory and practice.