Stories about entrepreneurship typically place founders in the spotlight.  

Behind the scenes of entrepreneurial success, though, is a second group, often overlooked but no less important to the direction of a venture: a fledgling firm’s earliest employees.  

That’s the central insight of research published by James Bort, an assistant professor of management and entrepreneurship at DePaul. Released in the Academy of Management Review, a premiere journal in the field, Bort’s paper is now featured in AOM Insights, the journal’s public-facing newsletter. As part of the feature, the paper will be accessible to the public for the month of May. It was also one of two works to win Driehaus’ best research paper award, given out annually within the college.  

Read on for a few insights from Bort’s research — and where he hopes it will lead next.  

Founders have the final say. But early employees have a voice too.  

Founders are often spotlit for good reason: they are the first movers and the ultimate decision-makers.  

Even still, Bort says, early-stage employees have a striking amount of sway over the direction a company goes.  

“Early-stage employees are bounded by the level of autonomy they have, but we don't look at that as a limitation,” Bort said. “They still play an important role. They can shape the trajectory of the company.”  

When companies are born, their stories aren’t formed yet. Who your earliest employees are shapes the story your company will tell about itself.  

Startups tell stories about themselves. Over time, these stories often become the ones that others tell about them, too. Apple is design-obsessed, built for creatives. Amazon is customer-obsessed, built to upend traditional ways of doing business.  

Bort’s research homes in on these stories as areas where early employees can play a pivotal role. His work doesn’t just look at companies’ stories about themselves. It looks at the stories early employees tell about themselves, their careers, and how the whole puzzle fits together.  

“Successful entrepreneurs rarely work alone,” he said. “Founders originate the vision. But early employees are the ones who work hand-in-hand with founders to make that vision a reality.”  

Early-stage startup employees have much more autonomy than those at established firms — especially when it comes to defining their roles, and thus their impact on the company. Their narratives about their careers, Bort said, thus ending up making a mark on how the company’s vision gets realized.  

New directions: Putting knowledge into action

Moving forward, Bort hopes to put his insights into action by developing a tool that allows entrepreneurs to identify early employees whose career narratives align with the founder’s vision for their company.  

Between then and now, he and his colleagues are guest editing a special issue at Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice focused specifically on startups’ earliest employees. That work, he hopes, will yield new insights into entrepreneurship writ large.  

“The startup workforce is a critical stakeholder group,” Bort said. “And new insights focused on the early-stage employees are critical as well. We’re just starting to bridge the gaps and innovate in this area.”