141It’s the creational story of our times. And it is about who is in power in contemporary

society, making entrepreneurship hot, desired, and wanted. And when that happens, there is

less room for learning. (X. entrepreneurship scholar)

4.3

Emergence of Entrepreneurship as a Cultural Ideal

If entrepreneurship is not only a vehicle for growth but also a positive cultural ideal, it is relevant to understand how such an ideal has emerged and how it has been sustained in the entrepreneurship industry. Informants from this study described both bottom-up and top-down processes. Bottom-Up Emergence From a bottom-up perspective, several informants described a cultural ideal, imported from pop culture and the U.S. West Coast. T, for example, works for a public support organization that connect aspiring entrepreneurs to other actors in the industry. He provided rich examples of what it could imply to be an entrepreneur. This was not necessarily something related to the venture, idea, or business case, but rather the personal aspiration, dreams, and identity of the entrepreneur:

It is “American west-coast.” A certain dress code that originates there, to be “relaxed” and

“nice” . . . There are people here who just “are” entrepreneurs. They really do not have

anything but their entrepreneurial dream. They have read all the books and seen all the

episodes of Silicon Valley [a TV-series] and they know exactly how it all works. They just

lack a business idea. They are looking for one. But their business cases are weak, even A. Brattström

142though they are really good at pitching and making power points. (T. entrepreneurship

coach) W., an entrepreneurship scholar, also described this ideal as something very tacit, imported from Silicon Valley, but difficult to define and capture. He said,

Many business leaders went to a Silicon Valley field-trip. They went to visit fun tech

companies and heard a lot of stories. And they read reports about technology shifts, about

incumbents being left behind. And they are thinking: what to do now? We need to learn.

These startups, they have something we lack. We have no idea of what that is, but it is

something. Maybe there is a secret elixir or something? We need to lure them in. Look at

them. Touch and feel. Look inside them when they sleep. They [the incumbents] do not have

a super clear understanding of the problem or what they are looking for. Just a general

feeling of something being there, that is very attractive and that they lack. Just a feeling.

(W. entrepreneurship scholar) Top-Down Influences Interestingly, several informants described how such bottom-up, cultural processes were being adopted by public actors in the entrepreneurship industry. This created a self-reinforcing pattern, whereby the bottom-up cultural processes were also promoted from a top-down perspective. One example was academia. All academic institutions in Sweden offer courses and programs in entrepreneurship. Informants with insights into such programs—educators as well as former students—emphasized the importance of these programs in reproducing cultural ideals and artifacts. Again, aspiring entrepreneurs are being trained in how to be an entrepreneur, over and beyond how to start a new venture. One informant, herself an academic, described educators as being caught in an entrepreneurship discourse. One that entailed a package deal, including certain tools and norms, which did not necessarily help entrepreneurs improve their ventures, only to be more entrepreneur-like. She called for more critical reflection on entrepreneurship education:

We are all caught in a discourse. A discourse about effectuation and lean startup where we

have just adopted certain taken-for-granted things. . . We have been caught up in the idea

that our students need to pitch. We consider the pitch to be super important. But, you know,

what really does the pitch represent? And what is the purpose of the pitch? Do we ever think

about that? No, I do not think so. We just consider it part of the package deal.

(X. entrepreneurship scholar) In addition to universities, informants also emphasized the role of public support programs in enforcing a top-down cultural ideal of entrepreneurship. Take Skåne, the most southern region in Sweden, as an example. In 2017, Skåne in southern Sweden stated the ambition to “become the most innovative region in Europe by 2020” (RegionSkane, 2017). Numerous initiatives have been taken to support this initiative. For example, Helsingborg, one of the largest cities in the region, has launched Hbg Works, “a place for innovation work in the city of Helsingborg. Here, colleagues from all administrations and companies meet and collaborate in initiatives that deal with innovation” (HelsingborgsStad, 2021). Similar initiatives are being made in other municipalities as well, one of the more recent examples being Cultural Ideals in the Entrepreneurship Industry

143Level in Malmö, an incubator formed in collaboration with both private and public actors, supported mainly by public funding.

Reflecting on the purpose of such initiatives, informants described how they are not only taken to promote entrepreneurs—creating more and stronger new ventures. Over and beyond, these initiatives seek to infuse a more entrepreneurial mindset in the population, with the assumption that an entrepreneurial way of thinking is a fruitful road to efficiency: In my view, it is not startups, but the logic of startups that they find attractive. To do a lot out

of a little. I believe this is influenced by pop-culture. You know, books and stuff that had a

major breakthrough. (W. entrepreneurship scholar)

4.4

Language and Looks as Visual Attributes

of the Entrepreneurship Ideal

Even though cultural ideals are tacit, ingrained in implicit understandings of what is good and beneficial, they often have visual representations. When trying to formulate how the entrepreneurship ideal was manifested, informants converged on two central attributes: language and looks. Talking the Entrepreneurial Talk Language is an inherent element of all cultures. Through language, culture is produced and through language, culture manifests itself. This seems to hold for entrepreneurship culture as well. D. for example, said,

When you talk to an investor, language is super important. They can immediately tell if

you’ve got it. If you understand how an investor thinks. How much return he or she is

looking for. How fast he or she expects that return. (D. serial entrepreneur)

As this quote illustrates, entrepreneurial lingo serves as a marker of legitimacy. By talking the talk, you are more likely to be perceived as credible. T., an actor in the entrepreneurial support system, recalled an experience of an entrepreneur who pitched at a major workshop. In her pitch, she meant to describe her “unique selling point” (USP)—i.e., the core characteristic of her business idea that differentiated it