Cultural entrepreneurship and collecting

This chapter takes the position that the established entrepreneurship lens related to planning, launching and building a new venture fails to account for successful entrepreneurship at the margins. We focus on understanding how self-made multi-millionaire gambler David Walsh successfully created the second most visited visitor destination on the island of Tasmania, the Museum of Old and New Art (MONA). In order to better understand the case of David Walsh and entrepreneurial new venture creation, as well as to potentially bridge the gap between different theory streams, we utilise the theories of effectuation logic and consumption through collecting. To help construct the case study, we use the biographical method, which has the ability to offer insight into the motivation and personality of the individual, resulting in a more complete understanding of the identity of the entrepreneur. Overall, our chapter will prove useful in future investigations of privately funded ventures but, importantly, can also improve our understanding of entrepreneurial new venture creation in the arts and cultural sectors and other areas of the SME community where the unorthodox is the norm.