Paper short abstract:

The article examines how entrepreneurs navigate the tense relationship between the economy and the environment in public startup presentations, so-called "pitches." The findings identify three practices through which entrepreneurs enact a compatibility between the economy and the environment.

Paper long abstract:

As planetary crises intensify, entrepreneurs need to demonstrate that their startups are sustainable in order to attract investors, partners, and customers. However, commentators from academia and the wider public point to a tension between startups’ pursuit of profits and returns on the one hand, and a genuine commitment to the environment on the other—a criticism that many entrepreneurs are aware of. Given this situation, this article draws on science and technology studies (STS) and social studies of markets to examine how entrepreneurs present the sustainability of their ventures in the public arena, and how in doing so they enact the compatibility of the startup economy and the environment. I explore this question through video recordings of 45 pitches by agricultural technology startups at a major agricultural trade fair, supplemented by ethnographic observations on site and qualitative interviews with several participating entrepreneurs, organizers, and investors. The article’s inductive analysis identifies three core practices through which the analyzed pitches enact a compatibility of the economy and the environment, namely authentication (demonstrating motives for sustainability efforts that originate in agriculture), calculation (accounting for sustainability efforts with numbers), temporalization (situating sustainability efforts in time). As such, the study expands on debates about the relational role of pitches in processes of market-making.