Effectuation - Events

3 October 2025

Teaching through Teaching: Focus on Case Studies and Exercises on Effectual Partnering

9:30 - 10 a.m. Breakfast (outside Classroom 130)

10 - 11:30 a.m. Live Demo: Deriving the CAVE Framework in Class
One way to teach is to present theories and frameworks through readings, then use them to analyze cases and apply them through exercises or projects. Another way to teach is to use a case study to derive the framework in the first place. The latter allows students to reach the “Aha!” moment more easily, after which teaching the principles and process of effectuation becomes highly engaging. In this session, Professor Saras Sarasvathy will present a live demo of a case study she uses to derive the CAVE (Causal, Adaptive, Visionary, Effectual) framework. She will also show how this opens the door to a deeper dive into the principles, process, and tricky nuances of the effectual ask and co-creational partnering.

11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. Applying the CAVE Framework to Effectual Partnering
One of the most important aspects of entrepreneurship in general, and effectual entrepreneurship in particular, is forming partnerships with various stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, distributors, key employees, investors, and others. Current teaching tends to overemphasize idea generation and customer discovery while neglecting the importance of securing early commitments from self-selecting stakeholders. This session will cover the fundamentals of effectuation, with a focus on the value of partnering. Again, the presentation will include a live case study.

1 - 2:30 p.m. Lunch
Inventory of existing teaching materials including experiential exercises.

2:30 - 4 p.m. Hands On Workshop: The Effectual Ask, Part 1
In the spirit of teaching through teaching, the first half of the workshop will include a breakout team assignment that will allow you to be your students and explore teaching them. That means you can bring the assignment directly into your classroom with or without modifications.

4 - 5:30 p.m. Hands On Workshop: The Effectual Ask, Part 2
In the second half, we will build on the breakout team exercise to expand it into a class-wide exercise that connects it with partnering. This will also enable you to form pedagogical partnerships with other participants so that you can continue co-creating new teaching materials. The session will end with a quick debrief of the day and action items for the future.

5:30 - 8 p.m. Reception & Dinner at The Forum Hotel

Professor Sarasvathy’s 2024 paper “Lean Hypotheses and Effectual Commitments: An Integrative Framework Delineating the Methods of Science and Entrepreneurship,” featuring the CAVE framework, can be accessed here.

Business schools teach that prediction is critical in strategic decision-making based on the assumption that what can be predicted can be controlled. Entrepreneurs, however, learn from experience that prediction is not the only lever for formulating strategy. In a startup environment, where little is predictable, it may be useful to separate prediction from control. This gives entrepreneurs more options as they can access not one, but two levers.

Having studied expert entrepreneurs, Professor Saras Sarasvathy developed a framework with prediction and control as its axes. The framework’s quadrants represent four strategic approaches expert entrepreneurs use to navigate uncertainty inherent in venture creation.

Causal: Relies on prediction and planning
Adaptive: Focuses on pivoting and adapting to the environment
Visionary: Seeks to compel the world to follow
Effectual: Emphasizes shaping and co-creating elements of the environment in partnerships with self-selecting stakeholders


 

In real life, entrepreneurs move from quadrant to quadrant, using different tools in different situations. They also mix and match strategies from all quadrants as needed.

The CAVE framework is valuable for educators because it maps the various tools and techniques commonly found in entrepreneurship programs, such as the lean startup, the business model canvas and effectuation. It also provides guidance on how to effectively use those tools. As Professor Sarasvathy noted, “It’s one thing to teach students an ad hoc set of popular tools. It’s another to organize those tools into a rigorous framework.”

Professor Sarasvathy’s 2024 paper “Lean Hypotheses and Effectual Commitments: An Integrative Framework Delineating the Methods of Science and Entrepreneurship,” featuring the CAVE framework, can be accessed here.

New to effectuation? Check out the 29 April 2024 episode of the Hidden Brain podcast, “Innovation 2.0: How Big Ideas Are Born, in which Professor Sarasvathy discusses the logic of entrepreneurial expertise that eschews prediction in favor of non-predictive control with Hidden Brain’s host Shankar Vedantam.

Reimagining Entrepreneurship Education
11 October 2024, Charlottesville, VA

The Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Technology hosted an intimate gathering of entrepreneurship educators at the UVA Darden School of Business.
 

AGENDA

10:30 - 11 a.m. Light Breakfast

11 a.m. - 1 p.m. Exploring Control as Strategy for Dealing with Uncertainty
Participants introduced themselves and shared their approaches to teaching entrepreneurship. Professor Sarasvathy gave an overview of effectuation, a logic of entrepreneurial expertise that eschews prediction in favor of non-predictive control. She demonstrated how both novice and experienced entrepreneurs can use effectuation in the highly unpredictable start-up phase of a venture to reduce failure costs for the entrepreneur.

1 - 2:30 p.m. Lunch

2:30 - 3:30 p.m. Breakout Sessions with Facilitated Discussions
Participants explored how effectuation could be useful in their learning environments and where it fits with Lean Startup and other methodologies.

3:30 - 5:00 p.m. Debrief and Future Engagement Opportunities
Participants shared their learnings from small-group discussions and explored opportunities for future engagement.

5:30 - 8 p.m. Reception & Dinner
 

2024 PARTICIPANTS

Ruwan Abeysekera
Professor, Department of Finance, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka

Gaye Acikdilli
Associate Professor, Department of Management, Marketing & Public Administration, Bowie State University

Olivia Aronson
Associate Professor of Management, Robins School of Business, University of Richmond

Joshua Beck
Assistant Professor, Shepherd University

Wendy Bolger
Founding Director, Simon Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Loyola University Maryland

Qifan Chen
Assistant Professor of Management, College of Business and Economics, Longwood University

Larry Clay, Jr.
Assistant Professor of Business, College of Business, Innovation, Leadership and Technology, Marymount University

Joseph Coombs
Department Chair and Associate Professor, Management and Entrepreneurship, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business

Birton Cowden
Associate Professor and Academic Director, Robin and Doug Shore Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center, Michael A. Leven School of Management, Entrepreneurship and Hospitality, Kennesaw State University

William Donaldson
Associate Professor in Management, Director, Biotechnology and Management Program, Christopher Newport University

James Dovel
Assistant Professor of Business Administration, Shepherd University

Johann Ducharme
Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics, University of Delaware

Laura Gasiorowski
Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship, Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics, University of Delaware

Shye Gilad
Professor of The Practice, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University

Fatima Hamdulay
Assistant Teaching Professor of Leadership and Character in Entrepreneurship, Wake Forest University’s Center for Entrepreneurship

Susan Harmeling
Professor of Inclusive Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship,Thunderbird School of Global Management, Arizona State University

Indu Khurana
Associate Professor of Economics and Business, Hampden-Sydney College

Daniel Kopman
Professorial Lecturer, Kogod School of Business, American University

II Luscri
Assistant Vice Provost for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Managing Director of the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Washington University in St. Louis

Jay Markiewicz
Assistant Professor, Executive Director of Entrepreneurship Programs, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Business

Heather E. Millar
Adjunct Faculty, Da Vinci Center for Innovation, Virginia Commonwealth University

Salvatore Moschella
Associate Professor of Business, Piedmont Virginia Community College

Atul Nerkar
Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship and Allred Distinguished Scholar, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

Bidhan "Bobby" Parmar
Associate Dean for Faculty Development, Shannon G. Smith Bicentennial Professor of Business Administration, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia

Ron Poff
Associate Professor of Practice and Interim Director, Business Leadership Center, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech

Stephanie Raible
Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, the Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics, University of Delaware

Tiago Ratinho
Associate Professor, IÉSEG School of Management

Jeff Reid
Founding Director of the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Initiative & Professor of the Practice of Entrepreneurship McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University

Tomé Guerreiro Salgueiro
Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, the Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics, University of Delaware

Yolanda Shields
Founder and CEO, YES Builds and Adjunct Lecturer, Shenandoah University

Koehler Slagel
Assistant Professor of Practice, Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech

Hannah Tucker
Assistant Professor of History, Department of Business Humanities & Law, Copenhagen Business School

Kimberly Wade-Benzoni
Professor of Management & Organizations and Center of Leadership and Ethics Scholar, Fuqua School of Business, Duke University

Dan Wadhwani
Jill Brooks-Garnett Teaching Chair in Entrepreneurship and Professor of Clinical Entrepreneurship, USC Marshall School of Business

Rob Wiltbank
CEO, Galois, Inc.; former professor of strategy, Willamette University

James Wolfe
Associate Professor of Management and Entrepreneur in Residence, George Mason University

Jennifer Yang
Assistant Professor, College of Business, Marymount University