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It has become almost axiomatic in the social sciences to associate legitimacy with success. Scholars of strategy and entrepreneurship link a firm's legitimacy to profits, competitive advantage, and the ability to attract funding (Stuart, Hoang, and Hybels, 1999; Zott and Huy, 2007). Population ecologists note that legitimation is positively correlated with survival (Carroll and Hannan, 2004; Dobrev and Gotsopoulos, 2010). Neo-institutionalists associate legitimacy with such positive outcomes as resource acquisition (Meyer and Rowan, 1977), avoidance of sanctions (Djelic and Sahlin-Andersson, 2006), and unquestioned cognitive or normative acceptance (Morrill, 2008). These findings provide ample evidence for what seems a rather intuitive notion: Legitimacy is a formidable social achievement that, on the whole, benefits those who achieve it.