The fridge is an analogy for an entrepreneur’s resources, aspirations AND contacts. This means that an entrepreneur’s fridge is not just filled with her own resources, but also with those that she can access through her network. It also means that “opportunities” tend to be those ideas that the entrepreneur can connect with what is in her fridge.

The fridge principle is opposed to causal management approaches which resemble “cooking by cookbook”. In known and certain situations, one can first analyze the desired result (the dish), make a planning of the necessary resources (the ingredients), go raise the money (buy the ingredients) and then execute the plan (cook the dish). In unknown situations, experienced entrepreneurs have learned that such an approach is too risky, and they learn that achieving results with less risk is much easier when starting with one’s resources first.

When experienced entrepreneurs are facing a situation of uncertainty, the first thing they focus is on is to “open their fridge, and see what they can cook”. Since the situation is new, the entrepreneur starts from the resources that she already has at hand and imagines what can be done.

The fridge principle suggests that entrepreneurship takes time. When an idea doesn’t work at first, you have to “put it in the fridge” and wait until the right time comes along. What experienced entrepreneurs have learned better than novice entrepreneurs, is to use careful market studies to predict when “windows of opportunity” will open and so when it is the best time to launch a venture.