Ben Spigel

Ben Spigel

@benspigel.bsky.social

He/him. Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Babson College. I study entrepreneurial ecosystems, how firms grow, and why kittens are the best form of cat.

667 followers391 following496 posts

Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

This takes me back to my many, many days on the picket line outside the Edinburgh Uni Business School. I know how much it sucks not to be able to do the amazing job of teaching great students. But students need professors and staff who are actually paid enough for them to be good at their jobs!

UCU Edinburgh@ucuedinburgh.bsky.social

Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

Lord, I have seen what you've done for others.......

Government of British Columbia@governmentofbc.bsky.social

BC has a new time zone abbreviation: PCT. PCT stands for Pacific Time, BC’s single year-round time zone. It replaces PST and PDT, providing a consistent way to refer to BC’s time zone in schedules, systems and communications. No falling back this November.

Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

With help by some great editors at EIX, I've published a write-up of some of my recent research on how entrepreneurs learn in strong and weak entrepreneurial ecosystems. They even used this crazy thing called 'graphic design' to make my figures look really nice! eiexchange.com/content/what...

eiexchange.comWhat Makes a Great Startup Ecosystem? Entrepreneurs Learning From One AnotherTwo neighboring cities offered entrepreneurs many of the same resources—but produced very different outcomes. The difference may lie in how often founders exchange hard-won lessons, challenge one anot...
Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

I want her back to take my classes!!

Andrew Quemere@andrewqmr.bsky.social

“The federal appeals court will hear arguments this fall in the case of a Babson College student who was deported to Honduras despite a court order temporarily blocking her removal, according to a scheduling order.”

masslive.comDeported Babson College student gets Oct. court date in fight to return to USA court date has been set for arguments in the case of Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a Babson College student deported to Honduras in November 2025 despite a court order blocking her removal.

Ben Spigel reposted

Andrew Quemere
@andrewqmr.bsky.social

“The federal appeals court will hear arguments this fall in the case of a Babson College student who was deported to Honduras despite a court order temporarily blocking her removal, according to a scheduling order.”

masslive.comDeported Babson College student gets Oct. court date in fight to return to USA court date has been set for arguments in the case of Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, a Babson College student deported to Honduras in November 2025 despite a court order blocking her removal.

Ben Spigel reposted

Eric Malcolm
@ericmalcolm.bsky.social

Others have said it previously, but I love how this promotional image from the 1990 Stephen King's IT looks like a prestige drama courtroom show, that just so also happens to involve a clown.

Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

Uuuup. That's me coming to terms with the fact that most of my students were born after I started my PhD.

🌈Dr. Frizzle@swilua.bsky.social

First day of classes!! This semester’s freshmen were mostly born in 2008. Have a good day!

Ben Spigel reposted

yaoi gagarin
@mel.bzky.team

well okay so the english won against the norwegians but in only a few days theyll have to face the french. anyway thats quite enough about September 25th 1066, lets look at some football news

Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

New paper alert! Learning to grow in entrepreneurial ecosystems. entrepreneurs learn about entrepreneurship from other entrepreneurs. Not from accelerators, not from textbooks, not from their very handsome entrepreneurship professors — from each other. 🧵 1/7 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

link.springer.comLearning to grow in entrepreneurial ecosystems - Small Business EconomicsThe entrepreneurial ecosystems literature lacks a clear explanation for how ecosystems influence firm growth. To address this gap, this paper examines learning as a way to link the structure of ecosys...
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Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

It matters because it's not just anecdote — founders who did more storytelling-style learning grew faster and survived longer. Qualitative data, so no causal claims, but the pattern is hard to ignore. 6/7

Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

Bottom line: ecosystems aren't just money + talent + a university. They're places that either encourage founders to talk to each other or don't. That's the difference. Go read it here link.springer.com/article/10.1... /fin

link.springer.comLearning to grow in entrepreneurial ecosystems - Small Business EconomicsThe entrepreneurial ecosystems literature lacks a clear explanation for how ecosystems influence firm growth. To address this gap, this paper examines learning as a way to link the structure of ecosys...
Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

New paper alert! Learning to grow in entrepreneurial ecosystems. entrepreneurs learn about entrepreneurship from other entrepreneurs. Not from accelerators, not from textbooks, not from their very handsome entrepreneurship professors — from each other. 🧵 1/7 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

link.springer.comLearning to grow in entrepreneurial ecosystems - Small Business EconomicsThe entrepreneurial ecosystems literature lacks a clear explanation for how ecosystems influence firm growth. To address this gap, this paper examines learning as a way to link the structure of ecosys...
View full thread
Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

The best learning mode I found is "coactive vicarious learning" — basically storytelling. Founders swap war stories, and both sides learn: the teller reflects, the listener gets context they can adapt. 4/7

Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

Edinburgh had way more of this. Glasgow leaned on learning-by-doing instead. Why? Successful Glasgow founders tended to leave the ecosystem; Edinburgh's stuck around and kept the culture of sharing alive. 5/7

Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

New paper alert! Learning to grow in entrepreneurial ecosystems. entrepreneurs learn about entrepreneurship from other entrepreneurs. Not from accelerators, not from textbooks, not from their very handsome entrepreneurship professors — from each other. 🧵 1/7 link.springer.com/article/10.1...

link.springer.comLearning to grow in entrepreneurial ecosystems - Small Business EconomicsThe entrepreneurial ecosystems literature lacks a clear explanation for how ecosystems influence firm growth. To address this gap, this paper examines learning as a way to link the structure of ecosys...
Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

I interviewed high-growth founders in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Same country, same support programs, 40 min apart by train. But wildly different learning cultures. 2/7

Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

Edinburgh founders talked to everyone — different sectors, different stages, no gatekeeping. Glasgow founders were pickier: some avoided rivals, some only wanted same-industry advice. 3/7

Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

Minor academic victory: realizing that even though I *can* write some script to port all the research notes in my DevonThink database to my Obsidian database, I don't *need* to.

Ben Spigel
@benspigel.bsky.social

Imagine being the Property Brother who *wasn’t* invited to be part of Peter Theil’s weird secret society.

maia arson crimew 🏴@crimew.gay

Here are all 113 alleged members we were able to successfully extract. This data can also be verified via versions of the site captured by the Wayback Machine, even if it doesn't properly render the website.

Ben Spigel reposted

Levi Stahl
@levistahl.bsky.social

Replying to @levistahl.bsky.social

Man, two all-timers in the space of a month. Nice job, New Yorker cartoon editors. The idea of this one is brilliant, but the execution is maybe even more so—getting the figure in the coffin to read both ways like it’s supposed to is something.