Abstract
Authenticity has become a buzzword within popular culture, highlighted by Merriam-Webster's making 'authentic' its word of 2023. Authencity's popularity is unsurprising given the myriad of self-help books that encourage individuals to seek out their authentic selves to support their well-being and career aspirations. Individuals' quest for authenticity is elevated if they seek to become entrepreneurs. They are required to present their authentic selves for their own happiness and career congruence and convince investors that they are presenting their authentic selves as a sound investment. However, scant literature provides an in-depth exploration of nascent entrepreneurs' experiences of authenticity. This paper reports on the qualitative findings of a study that explored nascent entrepreneurs' identity work as they participated in a Venture Creation Programme in a UK higher education institution. The findings explore how nascent entrepreneurs negotiate and sometimes struggle with the notion of authenticity and use notions of liminality within their identity work to combat the pressures of needing to live up to the idealised entrepreneurial self. The paper highlights how authenticity and liminality were important to their learning to become entrepreneurs. Therefore, the paper provides insights for researchers and educators on how nascent entrepreneurs negotiate socially complex aspects of authenticity and liminality within their identity work.