We analyze the continuing role of prior technical experience of top-management team (TMT) members for opportunity recognition beyond the initial market entry choice in young ventures. We are drawing on and extending the theory of opportunity recognition by studying continuing opportunity recognition and by distinguishing the roles of founders and joining TMT members. Specifically, we investigate the recognition of digital opportunities by young ventures initially focused on a non-digital offering for a sample of 6672 firms. First, our study shows that founders’ prior technical experience influences opportunity recognition beyond the time of founding. Second, whereas founders contribute to opportunity recognition with both general and specialized prior knowledge, joining TMT members have a narrower role because for them just specialized prior knowledge is relevant. We contribute to the entrepreneurship literature by providing a more nuanced understanding of the role of prior knowledge for opportunity recognition.

我们分析了高层管理团队 （TMT） 成员先前的技术经验在年轻企业的初始市场进入选择之外对机会识别的持续作用。我们正在通过研究持续的机会识别以及区分创始人和加入 TMT 成员的角色来借鉴和扩展机会识别理论。具体来说，我们调查了最初专注于非数字产品的年轻企业对数字机会的认可，样本为 6672 家公司。首先，我们的研究表明，创始人之前的技术经验会影响创业后的机会识别。其次，虽然创始人通过一般和专业的先验知识为机会识别做出贡献，但加入 TMT 成员的角色范围较窄，因为对他们来说，只有专业的先验知识是相关的。我们通过提供更细致的理解来了解先验知识对机会识别的作用，从而为创业文献做出贡献。