Michael Strong, cofounder of FLOW alerted the Bootstrap community to this 2001 paper by Professor Saras Saraswathy. Kevin Koym, fellow bootstrap leader also commented on it on his blog. It is particularly of note that the paper is also listed on Vinod Khosla's website. Vinod is one of the few VCs today who actually founded his own company, SUN, with minimal investor startup capital.

This is easily one of the best articles on the topic. It at once explains the truly differentiating qualities of entrepreneurs and why traditional MBA programs will never prepare individuals for entrepreneurship - and indeed have a reverse effect. It also reveals the weakness of writing a business plan to raise money for a new venture.

Dr. Saraswathy has a website on Effectuation where she is conducting further research.