Sensemaking in Entrepreneurship

In traditional business education, we are taught to "analyze, then act." But for an entrepreneur facing a completely new market, there is often no data to analyze. In these moments of high uncertainty, success isn't about finding the "right" answer—it's about Sensemaking.

Developed by organizational theorist Karl Weick, Sensemaking describes the process by which people give meaning to experience. Applied to entrepreneurship, it explains how founders navigate "ambiguous" environments by creating a plausible map of reality and then acting as if that map is true.

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The Three Pillars of Sensemaking

Weick argues that sensemaking is not about "accuracy"—it’s about plausibility. It follows a cycle that turns internal thoughts into external market realities:

Stage	Description	Entrepreneurial Action
Enactment	Acting to create a "trace" or a response from the environment.	Launching a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) just to see how the market reacts.
Selection	Choosing one interpretation of the data from many possibilities.	Deciding that a "failed" launch isn't a defeat, but a sign that the customer wants a different feature.
Retention	Storing the successful interpretation to guide future actions.	The "Pivot"—formalizing the new direction into the company's core mission.

Key Principle: "Act Before You Think"

Weick famously asked: "How can I know what I think until I see what I say?" In entrepreneurship, this translates to: How can I know if a market exists until I try to sell to it?

• Action-Oriented: Sensemaking prioritizes action over perfect planning. Action generates the data that makes sensemaking possible.
• Retrospective: We only understand our "vision" once we look back at our actions and see the patterns we have created.
• Social: Entrepreneurs use storytelling to help stakeholders "make sense" of chaos, aligning everyone toward a shared (constructed) reality.

"When you are lost in a storm, any map will do—not because the map is accurate, but because it gives you the confidence to start walking. It is the walking that gets you out, not the map."

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Related Theories

Sensemaking is the art of "acting your way into a new way of thinking." These frameworks explore how action-oriented logic and cognitive flexibility drive innovation in uncertain environments:

1. Action-Based Logic

• Effectuation Theory: Small, means-driven actions that provide the real-world data necessary for sensemaking.
• Actualization Theory: The cognitive journey from a latent "propensity" to a realized market reality.

2. Ambiguity & Maps

• Ambiguity Tolerance: The mental capacity to use a "plausible" map to move forward instead of waiting for an "accurate" one.
• Ambidexterity Theory: Balancing the exploration of new mental maps with the exploitation of proven ones.

3. Social Framing

• Actor-Network Theory (ANT): How sensemaking involves recruiting both human and non-human "actors" into a shared vision.
• Social Judgement Theory: How others' perceptions of your "sense" determines the legitimacy of the venture.

4. Structural Processing

• Information Processing: The mechanics behind how sense is filtered and organized within the firm.
• Stratified Systems Theory: How sensemaking requirements increase in complexity at different levels of organizational work.

Core Reference

Weick, K. E. (1995). Sensemaking in Organizations. Sage Publications.

Hill, R. C., & Levenhagen, M. (1995). Metaphors and Mental Models: Sensemaking and Action in Innovative Entrepreneurship . Organization Science.