Female entrepreneurs targeting women: strategic redirection under scientific decision-making

This paper explores whether and to what extent a scientific approach todecision-making can be a useful tool for helping entrepreneurs overcome limitations in thecommercial exploitation of their idea, particularly when these limitations stem from theirstatus as users of the products or services. Using data from a variety of sources, includingthree randomized control trials and LinkedIn data, and focusing on female entrepreneurswho develop a value proposition targeting female consumers as a case of user entrepre-neurs, this paper shows that exposure to a training that encourages entrepreneurs todevelop theoretical maps about their business propositions and validate them with evi-dence prompts more radical pivots on their initial ideas compared with entrepreneurswith a value proposition that does not target women explicitly. In turn, treated femaleentrepreneurs with a female-targeted value proposition who pivot radically show betterperformance in launching and sustaining their ventures compared with those who havenot pivoted.