Dr. Jonathan Zebhauser Successfully Defends Dissertation on Scaling AI Ventures

Essen, Germany – The Chair of Sustainability and Innovation in Digital Ecosystems (SUST) is thrilled to announce and celebrate the successful dissertation defense of Dr. Jonathan Zebhauser at Freie Universität Berlin. Guided by a bold vision to bridge the gap between academic theory and the practical realities of AI venture building, Dr. Zebhauser's research offers significant contributions to both the academic community and the digital entrepreneurship ecosystem. 

A Deep Dive into AI Venture Scaling

Dr. Zebhauser's ambitious thesis tackles the multifaceted challenges of scaling artificial intelligence ventures. The research provides a rigorous examination of the field through a unique methodological blend:

• Multidisciplinary Approach: The dissertation combines qualitative research, computational theorizing, and design science to analyze the architecture, organization, and narratives of scaling AI startups.
• Actionable Insights: Rather than remaining purely theoretical, the resulting papers deliver highly actionable advice for founders building the next generation of AI-enabled products and services.
• Immediate Industry Impact: The frameworks and insights developed in the thesis are already being applied in at least three of Germany's most ambitious AI venture programs, including AI NATION, the BRYCK Startup Alliance, and Campus Founders.

Fostering the Digital Ecosystem

The journey toward this milestone began in 2021 at the K.I.E.Z Initiative (now AI NATION)—an AI accelerator funded by the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Energie. Dr. Zebhauser was co-supervised by Prof. Dr. Hannes Rothe and Janina Sundermeier at the Digital Entrepreneurship Hub, an adventure that spanned global innovation hubs from Berlin to Copenhagen, Edinburgh, and Maui.

Beyond his rigorous academic output, Dr. Zebhauser has been a relentless builder within the entrepreneurial community. His dedication to mentorship and ecosystem growth includes:

• Startup Support: Actively supporting 7 batches of the AI Nation program. As part of the Berin Innobridge program, Jonathan served as a driving force for over 40 startups, alongside Prof. René Mauer and Prof. Rothe.
• Student Mentorship: Guiding more than 200 students across Science & Startups (FU, TU, HU Berlin), ICN Business School, and ESCP.

This achievement strongly resonates with the SUST Chair's overarching mission at the University of Duisburg-Essen. The Chair is deeply dedicated to exploring the potential for sustainable futures through digital innovation and gaining a deeper understanding of the socio-economic aspects of digital ecosystems.

Some research papers (others currently in progress):

• Zebhauser, J. (2024). Resource configuration for scaling AI startups—an action design research approach. In: Europ. Conf. on Inf. Systems.
• Zebhauser, J., Rothe, H., & Sundermeier, J. (2023). Scaling AI Ventures: How to Navigate Tensions between Automation and Augmentation. In HICSS (pp. 5653-5662).
• Zebhauser, J., Rothe, H., Sundermeier, J., & Koranteng, S. (2023). Entrepreneurial Framing and Negotiations of Product Boundaries: A Qualitative Study on the Social Construction of Product Innovation in AI Ventures. In Int. Conf. on Inf. Systems. (nominated for Best Paper)
• Zebhauser, J., Shahid, M., & Rothe, H. (2024). Uncovering inverse generativity: An exploratory prompt analysis in LLM platforms. In Int. Conf. on Inf. Systems.

Get Involved: Are you interested in exploring the intersection of digital technology and venture building? Explore the Place Beyond Bytes learn more about our student projects and the "Towards Sustainable Futures with Artificial Intelligence" master's module.