We examine the influence of two conflicting emotions—group fear and group hope—in entrepreneurial team decision making. We are interested in which emotion will be more strongly related to whether entrepreneurial teams escalate their commitment to a currently failing venture versus terminating that venture. Using a longitudinal start-up simulation, and based on data from 66 teams across 569 decision-making rounds, we find that group “hope trumps fear.” That is, the relationship between group hope and escalating commitment to a failing venture is stronger than the relationship between group fear and terminating that venture. We predict and find that team engagement, measured via video-coded ratings, mediates these relationships. We find partial support for a predicted moderation effect of group friendship strength. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.