Amphibious Entrepreneurs and the Origins of Invention

Abstract

This chapter examines entrepreneurs who carry ideas, technologies, values, and assumptions between previously unrelated spheres of economic or cultural activity and, in the process, change the existing order of things. The chapter labels such individuals amphibious entrepreneurs and explores their characteristics via four case studies. Their stories suggest a distinct species within the genus of entrepreneur: more pragmatic than heroic, and as likely to invent by not knowing any better as by calculative creation. The chapter discusses their role in creating interstitial spaces, contrasts them with other boundary-spanning actors, and identifies directions for future research at the intersection of social history and entrepreneurship.