Traditional industries consist of interlinked established practices. Especially in profitable industries, this “well-enough” functioning system inhibits digital transformations. Small tech start-ups threaten the status quo: while holding great value creation potential for end customers and value chain actors, their adoption is often hindered by their sheer amount of industry change. Thus, we explore the preliminary research question: “How do tech entrepreneurs enter profitable industries?”

We will conduct ethnographic work with digital start-up firms in Northern England, following them as they seek to uncover and realize the value of their innovative technologies. We draw on digital and strategic management, entrepreneurship and (e)valuation theories to support our investigations. Our findings will provide three interlinked insights:

1) creating/contributing to “digital entrepreneuring” that looks at how entrepreneurs digitally disrupt industries,
2) providing actionable insights and opportunities for reflection to participating case companies and their peers, and
3) providing expert advice to regional policymakers as they seek to unlock the productivity potential of a growing digital technology sector.