Marketing and New Ventures: Insights from Digitally Native Vertical Brands

Recently, new ventures have disrupted industries and created new markets thanks to technological advancements. However, the role of marketing in the survival and growth of such firms has been overlooked. Specifically, marketing contributes to several areas such as customer and channel management, and product development, while also helping a firm's organizational effectiveness. This dissertation consists of two essays that investigate the relationship between marketing and new ventures. Essay one, titled "New Ventures and Marketing: A Systematic Literature Review" is a critical review of the literature on the marketing-entrepreneurship interface. This essay reviews 115 articles published between 1985 and 2023 in the most cited marketing journals. Specifically, it highlights the role of marketing in obtaining funding, developing new products, and in connecting with the institutional environment. This essay further discusses future research opportunities focused on sustainability practices, social media, language, and new business models. Essay two, titled "Factors That Fuel Entrepreneurial Success: Insights from U.S. Digital Native Vertical Brands" answers the call for further research on new business models. Specifically, it empirically examines the role of leadership, IP protection, stakeholder interests, consumer-brand interactions, and brand practices in influencing the probability of securing late venture funding round for Digitally Native Vertical Brands. The latter are firms that disrupted online and the brick-and-mortar industry by leveraging new technologies to provide superior customer experiences. By analyzing a longitudinal dataset of 169 firms, this research finds that founders should have various backgrounds, firms should protect their brands rather than their products, firms should interact with consumers both digitally and physically, offer subscription services, and address sustainability issues.