@article {801, title = {Resolving Legitimacy Deficits in Technology Startups through Professional Services Practices}, journal = {Technology Innovation Management Review}, volume = {4}, year = {2014}, month = {06/2014}, pages = {22-27}, publisher = {Talent First Network}, address = {Ottawa}, abstract = {As new ventures, technology startups face a key challenge that is specifically associated with their young age: a perceived lack of organizational legitimacy. Organizational legitimacy is an important factor in the growth and survival of new ventures and is therefore an important issue for managers and entrepreneurs to address. Although there are many different typologies for defining types of organizational legitimacy, this article argues that technology startups should focus on developing external pragmatic legitimacy as a means of acquiring the resources required to grow and thrive. However, despite the many ways by which an organization can develop external pragmatic legitimacy, few are well suited to technology startups. Based on a review of the different types of organizational legitimacy and an assessment of their applicability to the context of technology startups, this article recommends that technology entrepreneurs should consider the creation of professional services practices to help develop external pragmatic legitimacy and overcome the {\textquotedblleft}liability of newness{\textquotedblright}. }, keywords = {entrepreneurship, impression of viability, legitimacy, new ventures, operational verification, organizational legitimacy, pragmatic legitimacy, pragmatic validation, professional services, technology startups, viability}, issn = {1927-0321}, doi = {http://doi.org/10.22215/timreview/801}, url = {http://timreview.ca/article/801}, author = {Jay Payette} }