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How Artificial Intelligence Shapes Early-Stage Start-up Activities

Burmeister, Mira LU ; Ackerman, Noam LU and Ryström, Texas LU (2026) FEKH99 20252
Department of Business Administration
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly shaping entrepreneurial work and is becoming part of how early-stage start-ups develop and move toward market entry. This study adopts an activity-based perspective to examine how AI influences key early-stage start-up activities and how this influence is shaped by founders’ IT human capital and human judgement. Using a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with founders of six early-stage start-ups and analysed through reflexive thematic analysis. The findings show that AI becomes embedded in early-stage start-ups by supporting rather than replacing entrepreneurial activities, particularly by accelerating information processing, experimentation and learning. The... (More)
Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly shaping entrepreneurial work and is becoming part of how early-stage start-ups develop and move toward market entry. This study adopts an activity-based perspective to examine how AI influences key early-stage start-up activities and how this influence is shaped by founders’ IT human capital and human judgement. Using a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with founders of six early-stage start-ups and analysed through reflexive thematic analysis. The findings show that AI becomes embedded in early-stage start-ups by supporting rather than replacing entrepreneurial activities, particularly by accelerating information processing, experimentation and learning. The extent and nature of AI use vary across start-ups and depend strongly on founders’ IT human capital. Across cases, entrepreneurial judgement remains central for evaluating AI outputs and guiding decision-making. (Less)
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author
Burmeister, Mira LU ; Ackerman, Noam LU and Ryström, Texas LU
supervisor
organization
course
FEKH99 20252
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Artificial intelligence, Entrepreneurship, Start-ups, Key activities, IT Human Capital.
language
English
id
9222141
date added to LUP
2026-02-10 16:59:28
date last changed
2026-02-10 16:59:28
@misc{9222141,
  abstract     = {{Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly shaping entrepreneurial work and is becoming part of how early-stage start-ups develop and move toward market entry. This study adopts an activity-based perspective to examine how AI influences key early-stage start-up activities and how this influence is shaped by founders’ IT human capital and human judgement. Using a qualitative research design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with founders of six early-stage start-ups and analysed through reflexive thematic analysis. The findings show that AI becomes embedded in early-stage start-ups by supporting rather than replacing entrepreneurial activities, particularly by accelerating information processing, experimentation and learning. The extent and nature of AI use vary across start-ups and depend strongly on founders’ IT human capital. Across cases, entrepreneurial judgement remains central for evaluating AI outputs and guiding decision-making.}},
  author       = {{Burmeister, Mira and Ackerman, Noam and Ryström, Texas}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{How Artificial Intelligence Shapes Early-Stage Start-up Activities}},
  year         = {{2026}},
}