Digital ventures face tensions when they grow. On the one hand, they seek to be innovative, flexi-ble, and receptive to change. On the other hand, they must structure and professionalize to com-mercialize their products and services. While existing research explores how these tensions are mitigated at the organizational and strategic levels, we know little about how digital ventures ad-dress the operational level, i.e., their business processes. In this study, we ask: How do digital ven-tures standardize their business processes during scaling? We present an in-depth case study of TechCo, a unicorn startup from Central Europe specializing in software development. Drawing from 33 interviews and several additional data sources, we study how the company’s Lead-to-Cash process changes over time. We make two key findings. First, we observe that digital ventures standardize their business processes along four patterns, namely (1) adopting reference processes, (2) creating incrementally emerging best practices, (3) imitating industry leaders, and (4) following enforced harmonization. We show how each of these patterns serves different purposes and func-tions. Second, we explain how these patterns resolve emerging tensions that arise on structural, spatial, and temporal dimensions. Our study contributes to digital venture research and research on business process management.
