Performing Investability: Symbolic Signaling, Narrative Legitimation, and Platform-Mediated Visibility in Early-Stage Digital Startups

Abstract

Early-stage digital startups increasingly seek external legitimacy before achieving measurable market traction. In such high-uncertainty contexts, founders must convince investors and stakeholders despite the absence of reliable performance indicators. While prior research has examined signaling and narrative strategies in entrepreneurship, limited attention has been paid to how these practices are shaped and amplified by digital platforms. Drawing on a constructivist and interpretive research design, this study investigates how early-stage founders construct investability through symbolic and narrative practices across digital platforms. Using a multiple case study approach and the Gioia methodology, we analyze interviews, digital artefacts, and online interactions from five technology startups. Our findings reveal three interrelated dimensions of legitimacy construction: symbolic signaling strategies (e.g., constructed traction and borrowed affiliation), narrative legitimation practices (e.g., visionary storytelling and reframing of uncertainty), and platform-mediated visibility engineering (e.g., optimization of content and artefacts to platform norms and algorithms). Together, these practices enable founders to perform credibility in the absence of objective performance metrics. The study contributes to signaling theory by extending the notion of signals to symbolic and performative cues, enriches narrative legitimacy research by highlighting shared storytelling templates, and introduces platformization as a structural condition shaping entrepreneurial visibility. These findings have implications for understanding early-stage entrepreneurship in digital and resource-constrained ecosystems.