Social-purpose entrepreneurs in achieving the ?middle-ground? of social-mission and profits, face unique legitimacy-related challenges. Regardless of Show moreSocial-purpose entrepreneurs in achieving the ?middle-ground? of social-mission and profits, face unique legitimacy-related challenges. Regardless of the legal structure and the specific social-mission, they need to demonstrate behaviors and undertake activities which satisfy both mission and business stakeholders. This research explores the relationships between entrepreneurial behaviors, organizing activities and early stage venture performance. Results show that entrepreneur?s proactiveness positively effects both mission and business performance. Contrary to intuition mission organizing activities dampen the effect of experimentation on mission performance particularly for entrepreneurs with prior for-profit experience. Entrepreneurs with for-profit experience may maintain caution regarding how much they do to achieve mission results. This is one of the first studies to measure and predict social entrepreneurial venture performance. Doctorate of Management Programs Show less