Spinout Ventures

DR. ANDRÉ LAPLUME is a Full Professor in Entrepreneurship and Strategy at the Ted Rogers School of Management, which is part of Toronto Metropolitan University. Laplume researches the intersections where new entrants and incumbent firms meet with the aim of breaking down the barriers facing entrepreneurs while helping managers deal with entrepreneurial ambitions in their organizations. His research has appeared in top journals like Human Relations, Journal of International Business Studies, and Journal of Business Research, among others. He received his PhD in Management from the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, and spent seven years at Michigan Tech, teaching in its MBA program. Earlier, Laplume was a business and information technology consultant, helping clients integrate businesses and automate units. He is a frequent judge at entrepreneurship pitch competitions and an experienced entrepreneur, having launched a startup while in Michigan.

DR. SEPIDEH YEGANEGI is an Associate Professor in Strategic Management at the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics in Waterloo, Canada. She received her PhD in Management from the University of Manitoba in 2018. Yeganegi’s research centers on the intersection of strategy and entrepreneurship, especially employee entrepreneurship and spinouts. She has been studying spinout ventures, the focus of her PhD dissertation, for over a decade, investigating how enablers, like venture capital availability and work experiences, can propel employee entrepreneurs. Her projects also explore the barriers that employee entrepreneurs face (e.g., non-compete agreements). Yeganegi has interviewed dozens of spinout founders and reviewed the growing literature on private-sector employee spinouts. Her research has been published in journals such as Research Policy and Journal of Small Business Management.