Research on the work of strategy-making has largely focused on established organizations with existing strategies to which new strategies must relate. Little is known about the becoming of strategy in new ventures during their founding. Our study explores this question using a unique dataset of internal message exchanges in the very first two years of a venture’s journey. We find that strategy emerges as early members attempt to resolve strategic issues core to their survival and growth. Our findings illustrate various actions, interactions, and patterns of strategy-making and identify three types of entangled strategy work of deploying-resources-in-actions, garnering-respect-for-expertise, and anticipating-progress-towards-concrete-outcomes through which strategies are recognized. Our study explains how strategy emerges in the absence of existing strategies, highlights actor’s knowledgeable and purposive work in strategy-making, and contributes to a relational understanding of new venture creation within people’s actions and interactions.
