Entrepreneurial resourcefulness: How founders reimagine and mobilize what they have

In the high-stakes world of startups, the difference between a venture that soars and one that stalls often comes down to more than just a bank balance. New research from the Alberta School of Business suggests that a founder’s ability to "reimagine" the world around them — a quality known as entrepreneurial resourcefulness — is the true engine of innovation.

"A lack of resources may not be an entrepreneur’s true constraint," the authors note, quoting business expert David Burkus, "just a lack of resourcefulness."

Co-authored by researchers Joanna Li (University of Alberta), Trenton Alma Williams (Brigham Young University), and Eric Yanfei Zhao (University of Oxford), the paper provides a comprehensive framework for success with less. Published in the Journal of Management Studies, the paper analyzes 120 prior studies to offer the first integrative review of what resourcefulness actually is and how it functions across every stage. 

Beyond “making do”

Resourcefulness is often invoked by scholars and practitioners to describe “making do” with what is already at hand to solve new problems. This new research moves beyond studying specific forms of resourcefulness, to instead synthesizing diverse forms of resourceful behavior and clarifying when, where and why resourcefulness matters across the entrepreneurial process.

Specifically, the authors define entrepreneurial resourcefulness as a broader social and cognitive process. It is the ability to imagine future opportunities, identify hidden potential in everyday assets, and orchestrate those resources in ways that actively challenge established industry norms to exploit entrepreneurial opportunities.

Key takeaways

• It’s a process, not a tactic: Resourcefulness isn’t a one-off reaction to a tight budget. It is a continuous cycle of what counts as a resource and actively mobilizing it to fit business goals.
  
  
• Align resources with your “schema": Success depends on how well a founder can match potential resources — like an overlooked technology or casual social connection — to their "entrepreneurial schema," their specific mental model for a new opportunity.
  
  
• Challenge normative boundaries: Resourceful founders refuse to accept standard limitations. They redefine boundaries by combining and applying resources in new ways that reshape market expectations.
  
  
• Balance is critical: While extending boundaries can unlock new value, entrepreneurs must strike a careful balance. They must push boundaries far enough to innovate, but remain grounded enough to secure stakeholder trust and support.
  
  
• It’s a lifelong skill: Resourcefulness isn’t just an “underdog” trait for cash-strapped startups. It is essential throughout a company’s entire life cycle, across phases such as emergence, growth and renewal.
  
  

  Expert advice

  Joanna Li, assistant professor at the Alberta School of Business, offers this advice to founders looking to cultivate this essential skill:
  
  "Don’t start by asking what resources you are missing. Instead, start by questioning the 'normative' value of everything around you. True resourcefulness comes from the cognitive flexibility to see a mundane object or a social connection as a revolutionary tool for your specific vision."
  
  "Resourcefulness isn't just an 'underdog' trait to be discarded once you have funding or only invoked when you are under resource constraints. It is a lifelong entrepreneurial skill. Even as you grow, you must continue to oscillate between acquiring new resources and reimagining the ones you already have to stay competitive."

  Read the full article in the Journal of Management Studies at DOI:10.1111/joms.13181 as well as the journal’s academic summary. 
  
  *This article was co-written using Gemini AI.

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