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In this paper, we present the scoring tool for startup evaluation called the MDP method (Management of Developing Projects) for an academic discussion. The MDP method implies the application of qualitative and quantitative criteria with due considerations given to personality types of main economic entities. The method's aims are better evaluation, better business development and support to participants of the innovation infrastructure. We believe that this method is set to become a cross-functional assessment tool that facilitates the successful development of investment and innovation projects. In time of the method piloting, we applied the consistent approach to testing including 12 in-depth interviews at the qualitative phase of the research. The following empirical study included the evaluation of innovation-based cases and projects in Russian business incubators. Findings showed that a number of promising projects (calculated by business incubators themselves) substantially differs from the number that we got owing to the piloted MDP scoring method. According to the MDP method, 9 of 17 projects are only promising, while the incubators themselves decided that 14 projects met eligibility criteria. At the same time, 3 startups out of 9 were successful at the selection stage, whereas they did not meet incubator selection criteria. Anyway, they were found promising within the framework of the MDP method. An important outcome of the MDP method's application is that in further monitoring of the most successful projects it will be possible to identify managerial skills of startup initiators by their personality type and this will consequently make it possible to develop university-based educational programs that meet the market demand.

This paper presents the approach to the understanding of the entrepreneurship phenomenon. With this approach, it is possible to identify this social activity as essentially distinct from those that are seemingly similar but distinct in content. Having reviewed the relevant literature of this area of study with a critical eye, the author has identified systemic errors in the traditional understanding of entrepreneurship (first-order and second-order errors). Developing this approach, the author has introduced the concept of anti-ideology, which mirrors a nature of innovating as a process of creative destruction. This statement assumes that true entrepreneurship exists within the idea/anti-idea framework. The author has identified mandatory and sufficient attributes of entrepreneurial innovation. Based on the applied methodology, the author has proposed a model of progressive materialization for the anti-idea (Progressive Materialization of Antiidea, PMAi). It helps to measure entrepreneurship in terms of its innovating component.

The objective of the study was to address key issues of smallsized firms' development to identify the reasons why many small enterprises are incapable of growth and to move into a mediumsized business. We present the concept of the Information Problem which is an indicator of the enterprise growth and at the same time an obstacle for its further development. We show that the prompt identification and solution of the problem would enable many small enterprises to increase the scale of operations and build efficient management systems.The findings justify the primary importance of the fundamental laws of human psychology in any business transition phase. They also provide an improved understanding of small enterprises' development and factors that contribute or impede their success. We also present a possible methodology that helps to meet the "puberty challenges".

Aim. The aim of this paper is to examine the importance of the entrepreneurial epigonism for the development of entrepreneurial activity, as well as to substantiate the fundamental difference between it and the economic imitation.Tasks. The main objectives of this paper are to conceptualize the phenomenon of entrepreneurial epigonism for economic growth and development, to justify its importance for the development of entrepreneurial competencies, and to substantiate that imitation serves as a constraint for the development of innovation.Methods. The methodological basis of the paper is a transdisciplinary approach that combines achievements in the field of cognitive sciences, ethics, linguistics, organizational theory, and economic disciplines.Results. This article analyzes the meaning of the imitation phenomenon, contrasted with the entrepreneurial epigonism. Having some similar features (e.g. the lack of the unique idea), these types of activities are based on the opposite motives. Imitation is the copying/borrowing of other people’s ideas; it pursues exclusively economic goals and hinders the development of innovations, thereby economic development itself. While the entrepreneurial epigonism, which is driven by the need of initiators (epigones) for self-realization, on the contrary, stimulates the process of the economic development, since it implies the disclosure of the creative potential of economic agents, having as its goal the development and dissemination of an innovative idea. The article proposes a new concept of the “entrepreneurial epigonism”, which is understood as an activity, which is aimed at obtaining economic benefits, and as a result of which the process of development of the creative component of an innovative idea or its improvement occurs. That is, the epigone, not being an independent creator of an innovative idea, acts as its successor, thereby contributing to its further improvement and development.Conclusions. Imitation is an impersonal phenomenon that has become so widespread due to the development of “the mass” as a product of globalization, which can be called a sign of modern civilization.That is why imitation has become a macroeconomic concept, while epigonism as a concept refers to the instrumental apparatus of the theory of entrepreneurship. Further studies of the phenomenon of entrepreneurial epigonism should focus on the creative element in the process of implementing an economic activity. It is a promising direction for the development of entrepreneurial competencies.