When the Journey—Not Only the Destination—Matters: Internationalization Shaping Entrepreneurial Experimentation

Internationalization—gaining exposure to cross-border markets—often results in the aftermath of an entrepreneurial venture’s initial success. Ventures develop strong products or services, and they rely on international markets to help them continue growing and scaling their businesses. Yet what is often overlooked is the reverse: how internationalization may influence early-stage ventures—those who are still shaping their businesses into hopeful successes. Through an inductive field study of the global technology industry, we examine how internationalization influences the entrepreneurial process and the profound effect that it has on how early-stage ventures identify and exploit opportunities. We find that internationalization shapes the way early-stage ventures engage in experimentation, and in turn, how they define their business. We propose a process model in which internationalization helps ventures (a) define, (b) scope, and (c) externally validate ideas that can create and capture value through expansion and narrowing mechanisms. Together, we show that experimentation not only helps entrepreneurs adapt to new international markets—as shown in existing work—but that internationalization also may shape entrepreneurs’ core experimentation and ultimate strategy development.