In this paper we ask how changes brought about by entrepreneurial action influences why some people but not others identify and exploit entrepreneurial opportunities. Based on Lachmann’s theory of capital we develop a theoretical framework for analyzing how changes in capital structure affect required knowledge to identify and exploit opportunities and derive two propositions that can be used to guide the empirical testing of the framework. We suggest that this approach is one way to help entrepreneurship research to break more cleanly from the neoclassical economics paradigm and embrace an evolutionary approach better suited to capture the uncertain and interactive nature of the entrepreneurial process.