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Everyday Entrepreneurs Conference
Refocusing Research on the Diversity of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
The McGill Conference on Everyday Entrepreneurship (MCEE) is an annual research gathering with an unconventional take on entrepreneurship that brings together leading scholars in entrepreneurship, strategy, organizational behavior, and policy, providing a collaborative platform that bridges academic research, policy and business insights.
The inaugural 2025 conference, held at the Desautels Faculty of Management on McGill University’s Downtown Montreal campus, is co-organized by the McGill Desautels Innovation & Entrepreneurship Initiative and the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Initiative at McGill Desautels. The conference features Damon J. Phillips, a Robert Steinberg Professor of Management at The Wharton School and Lisa Cohen, an Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at McGill, as keynote speakers.
The speakers will be joined by Roman V. Galperin, an Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at McGill and Marika Galea, an Assistant Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Popular Music at Brandon University and Eckhardt-Gramatté Conservatory of Music, to discuss the breadth of the entrepreneurial phenomena and the promising directions for future research and policy development.
Date: Fall term: October 2-3, 2025 - Main event: October 3, 2025
Location: The Donald E. Armstrong Building | Room 365/370
Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University
3420 Rue McTavish, Montréal - QC, H3A 0E2, Canada
This event is by invitation. Please contact Roman Galperin if interested in registering for this event.
Theme
This year’s conference aims to expand our understanding of entrepreneurship by moving beyond conventional narratives and shifting focus on less-studied and more diverse entrepreneurial ecosystems. Whereas existing research centers on resource-intensive, high-growth, technology-driven ventures, we will pay attention to the majority of entrepreneurs who operate in diverse contexts with varied goals, community orientations, and resource access. We welcome research that examines diverse business models, studies that examine entrepreneurship through labor market processes, and papers that evaluate entrepreneurship policies.
The conference will explore underrepresented yet critical topics that broaden traditional paradigms, including:
- Initial Funding: How do entrepreneurs navigate financing, credit, and support from community, family, friends and financial institutions outside of VC or angel investments?
- Growth Strategies: What understudied approaches do entrepreneurs adopt to sustain and expand their businesses? How do everyday entrepreneurs identify market niches, sustain and expand their business?
- Community Connections: How do everyday entrepreneurs leverage their connections to local community to define, sustain and grow their business?
- Governance: How do entrepreneurs navigate informal governance in the absence of formal training and mentorship? How do they navigate relationships with co-entrepreneurs who are family or friends versus colleagues? How do informal arrangements shape governance structures and agreements?
- Human Capital Strategies: What are the challenges and innovations in recruitment, hiring, and policy development for diverse entrepreneurial setups? How do everyday entrepreneurs navigate those challenges?
- Signaling and Legitimacy: How do entrepreneurs establish credibility and identity through community connections, initial customers and non-traditional marketing approaches?
- Social Context and Inequality: How do mechanisms of social and economic inequality influence everyday entrepreneurs’ access to resources, opportunities, and their business outcomes?
- Risk vs. Opportunity: How does entrepreneurship create new opportunities relative to established firms, while also exposing entrepreneurs to unique risks, such as reduced transparency and limited institutional support?
Organizers
Roman Galperin
Associate Professor, Organizational Behaviour
Katrin Tinn
Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Initiative; Associate Professor, Finance
Robert Nason
Associate Professor, Strategy & Organization
Huong Le Hollie Bui
PhD Student, Organizational Behaviour
On May 6, 2025, the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Initiative, in collaboration with the Laidley Centre for Business Ethics and Equity and the Managing Disruption: Analytics, Advanced Digital Technologies and AI (AAAI) Initiative, organized a panel discussion on AI and the Creative Industries.
On April 7th, 2025, the McGill Entrepreneurship Society (MES) and McGill Entrepreneurship & Innovation hosted its inaugural Lunch & Learn event, welcoming students to an engaging session with Florence Labrie, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of Citera. The event offered attendees a chance to unwind, enjoy complimentary pizza, and gain valuable insights into entrepreneurship and innovation from such an experienced founder.
We were excited to extend our annual Innovation4Impact Competition to undergraduate students this year. The finals took place on March 14 (Undergraduate Finals) and March 21 (Master’s Finals).
On March 14th, HealthTech Innovation Lab hosted a series of workshops at Espace CDPQ for over 15 students in the cohort.
Women in Technology Conference The inaugural Women in Technology Conference (WITC), was hosted by the Desautels Technology Club and Girls Who Code McGill, took place on January 31st, 2025, at Espace CDPQ in Montreal. The event welcomed over 50 female-identifying undergraduate and graduate students from McGill University for a day of insightful discussions, technical workshops, and networking opportunities.
Led by Diagram Ventures, the interactive session covered key elements of a great pitch, included a live brainstorming activity to refine pitch storylines, featured student pitch presentations, and provided an exclusive look at a real-world pitch deck. Diagram Ventures, a Venture Builder and Investor specializing in FinTech and ClimateTech, has been instrumental in launching and scaling over 25 ventures since 2016 by combining access to capital, hands-on support, and a deep ecosystem of partners.
