Existing markers of early-stage entrepreneurial action may risk limiting the inclusivity of our theorising. Through the systematic review of sampling approaches (n=83) over the past 15 years (2008-2022), we inductively develop four boundary categories. These categories, developed from papers’ ontological and epistemological choices, shed light on what is currently included and what is potentially being left out in early-stage venturing research. Their utility is to empower researchers to put forward new contexts as well as alternative study participants as “entrepreneurial” in their research efforts.

In this paper we problematise existing markers of entrepreneurial action in the early venturing process as being subject to conditions through the systematic review of sampling assumptions in empirical literature on early venturing over the past 15 years (2008-2022). We inductively develop four boundary categories, which issue from an analysis of operationalisations of entrepreneurial action, sources of participants and the epistemic positioning of the researchers and participants. Our findings reveal that there is a predominance of attributing action entrepreneurial status based on the following boundary categories: - Intention-driven; - Predefined Activities; - Inferred from context; - Retrospectively Constituted