Entrepreneurs in newly started businesses need to think of communication in a strategic way since they lack a “track record” and suffer from liability of newness. The aim of this paper is to capture entrepreneurs´ communicative skills using a framework of leadership theories focused on the dimensions (i) other-orientation, (ii) openness and (iii)adaptation. The data is collected through structural observations “shadowing” five entrepreneurs in Sweden. The findings show that the entrepreneurs are both oriented toward others and open to input from them. They often adapt to the situation and act in accordance with the co-actor’s interest. However, they also withhold their standpoint when they find it necessary. The entrepreneurs with highgrowth orientation were those that showed the most frequent other-oriented and opened behaviour during the observations. They were also adaptive in their communication with different counterparts. © Copyright 2008 Taylor & Francis LLC.