About SEA: the Society for Effectual Action

What’s SEA all about?

We’re the Society for Effectual Action (SEA). We’re a group of academic researchers, entrepreneurs, and capitalists gathered for a single purpose: to fundamentally change the way entrepreneurship is taught and learned around the world.

We’re a non-profit research institute headquartered in the Batten Institute inside the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. But our real headquarters is, well, no-where. We work through the dozens of researchers who globally pursue the myriad fascinating questions surrounding “the entrepreneurial method”.

Our methods include:  

  • Bringing together scholars, educators, and practitioners of effectual entrepreneurship 
  • Facilitating thought leadership and pedagogical innovations related to effectual action
  • Foster and growing the global footprint for related ideas and domains 
  • Exploring and encouraging possibilities for socio-economic impact of all of the above. 

Why we are here.

Entrepreneurship has long been seen as an “art” practiced by genetically or culturally unique individuals who have unique insights and predictive abilities into the future, come from money, and are risk takers. Popular media and even studies from academics perpetuate this myth.

We’re here to say that we know the truth: that there's a science to entrepreneurship, that there are common methods that successful entrepreneurs use, and that these methods can be taught to anyone.

The myths about entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs create a mystique that keeps great people from starting companies. And the lack of understanding that people can and should learn how to start a company creates bigger risks, costlier failures, and takes tons of time. 

Who we serve.

We’re here to serve academics studying entrepreneurship, teachers that want to learn how to integrate effectuation into their curriculums, and entrepreneurs themselves. 

What we hope happens.

In the big scheme of things, we hope that effectuation becomes a new type of problem solving that enables people from all walks of life to start companies, experiment more efficiently, and solve problems that have real human impact.

 We invite you to join SEA by registering. 

SEA organizes events worldwide that serve as academic and instructor workshops. Find more information about these here.