Do the Winners Really Take It all? Exploring Entrepreneurial Learning in Start-Up Competitions

Originating from business plan competitions at universities, start-up competitions (SUCs) are nowadays a widely used policy tool to foster entrepreneurial learning among a larger group of potential and nascent entrepreneurs. While the literature on entrepreneurial learning highlights the importance of participants’ prior experiences, studies on learning in SUCs often ignore these experiences, but detect different perceptions of the learning outcomes from SUCs. To address this research gap, we explore configurations of prior experience and the participation routines of entrepreneurs at SUCs. To do so, we apply fuzzy-sets qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to in-depth interview data from 26 participants at two German SUCs. Based on theories on entrepreneurial learning, insights from the interviews, and our empirical results from fsQCA, we identify one necessary condition and two specific configurations of conditions that lead to the outcome. The absence of entrepreneurial knowledge was found to be a necessary condition for entrepreneurial learning in SUCs. Prior industry experience is part of both solutions, but whether the presence or absence of it is important depends on whether it is combined with active participation in the competition. We present implications for policymakers, entrepreneurs, and researchers.