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Entrepreneurial Action & Inaction
Why intention so often fails to convert into founding behavior — and the consequences of stalling for venture outcomes.
Assistant Professor of Management — Virginia Tech
Why intent does not always translate to action.
I'm Trey Lewis. My research follows entrepreneurs through the new venture creation process to answer a deceptively simple question: why do so many people who fully intend to build something fail to take the requisite action to do so — and what changes when the context is stacked against them?
I also study how entrepreneurial firms overcome brand deficits to successfully recruit early employees.
- Union Junior Faculty Fellow in EntrepreneurshipPamplin College of Business · Virginia Tech
- Research Fellow, Center for Black EntrepreneurshipSpelman & Morehouse Colleges · Atlanta, GA
- Ph.D., University of TennesseeStrategy, Entrepreneurship & Organizations
01 — Research areas
Four threads, one throughline.
Each program is a different angle on the same concern: turning the capacity to act into action, especially where structure makes acting harder.
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The New Venture Creation Process
Stage-based models of new-venture creation and the idea that when a founder acts matters as much as whether they do.
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Black Entrepreneurship & Constrained Agency
A multilevel account of how racialized context, legitimacy, and resource access constrain agency across the business venturing lifecycle.
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Early Employees & Joiner Interest
How nascent ventures attract talent, and how signals like passion and gender composition shape who is willing to join.
02 — Selected scholarship
Peer-reviewed publications.
Articles in the field's leading management and entrepreneurship journals.
Published Articles
- Journal of Business Venturing2026
Black Entrepreneurship: A Multilevel Process Model of Constrained Agency across the Business Venturing Lifecycle
Lewis, T., Hunt, R. A., Murphy, M. J., & Townsend, D. M.
Journal of Business Venturing, 41(1), 106547.
- Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange (EIX)2026
Black founders face high-stakes decisions too early
Frid, C. J., & Lewis, T.
Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange, February 27, 2026. Retrieved July 27, 2026, from https://eiexchange.com/content/Black-founders-face-high-stakes-decisions-too-early
- Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange (EIX)2026
Motivation isn't the problem in Black entrepreneurship
Lewis, T., Hunt, R.A., Townsend, D., & Murphy, M. J.
Entrepreneur & Innovation Exchange, February 11, 2026. Retrieved July 27, 2026, from https://eiexchange.com/content/motivation-isnt-the-problem-in-black-entrepreneurship
- Journal of Business Venturing2024
The Right Things at the Right Times: The Role of Temporal Enactment on Venture Outcome Attainment
Lewis, T., Hechavarría, D. M., Williams, D. W., & Cardon, M. S.
Journal of Business Venturing, 39(1), 106344.
- Academy of Management Journal2023
Signaling Diversity Debt: Startup Gender Composition and the Gender Gap in Joiners' Interest
Engel, Y., Lewis, T., Cardon, M. S., & Hentschel, T.
Academy of Management Journal, 66(5), 1469–1500.
- Journal of Business Venturing Insights2020
The Magnetic Value of Entrepreneurial Passion for Potential Employees
Lewis, T., & Cardon, M. S.
Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 14, e00193.
03 — Honors
Recognition for research, teaching & community.
Awards recognizing scholarly contribution, teaching, and a sustained commitment to inclusion.
2025–2026
Center for Black Entrepreneurship Research Fellow
Awarded a $20,000 research grant by the Center for Black Entrepreneurship (anchored by Spelman & Morehouse Colleges, Atlanta) to study Black-founded unicorn firms.
2025–2026
Faculty Teaching Excellence Award
Virginia Tech — Department of Management.
2025–2026
Pamplin Principles of Community Award
College-wide award for demonstrated, active commitment to inclusion and diversity — Pamplin College of Business.
2022–2023
Faculty Research Excellence Award
Virginia Tech — Department of Management.
04 — In the classroom
Entrepreneurship education in action.
I teach the same thing I study: how to move from understanding an opportunity to actually building toward it. My courses are discussion-driven and built around real-world application.
Student rating
5.7/6
Average instructor rating overall
MGT 4064 — Developing Entrepreneurial Ventures
Virginia Tech · Jan 2026 – present
The mindset, skills, and judgment to turn a raw idea into a real venture — spotting genuine opportunities, pressure-testing them against the market, and taking the first concrete steps toward launch.
MGT 4394 — Strategic Management
Virginia Tech · Jan 2022 – present
Developing cross-functional management competency — how firms build competitive advantage and the strategic decisions required to sustain it.
Introduction to Entrepreneurship
University of Tennessee · 2019 – 2020
Opportunity identification, value-proposition development, customer and market research, and feasibility analysis — the full front end of the venturing process.
Founder & builder
First Circle Fund
My research keeps arriving at the same finding: founders rarely stall for lack of ideas or ambition. They stall because the earliest resources — a little capital, a credible introduction, someone who believes the venture is real — are exactly what under-resourced and Black entrepreneurs are least likely to have when it matters most.
I am building First Circle Fund to put a thumb on that scale. It's a platform aimed at the very first circle of support around a founder — the small, early backing and relationships that determine whether someone moves from intention to action at all. It is where the questions I ask in journals become something founders can actually use.
"Raising your first dollars from family and friends usually means a run of awkward conversations.
I'm building First Circle Fund to turn that informal ask into something formal — with structure and dignity."