Successful Start-up Research Articles

Customer development-product development dilemmas in startup firms: a qualitative investigation into founder's involvement

Purpose Entrepreneurship literature recognizes the founder’s involvement as a salient factor in determining the success of startups. Nevertheless, its role in conjunction with the marketing roles of founders has been relatively unexplored. Very little is known about how founder’s involvement in marketing tasks (i.e. developing products, sales and customers) helps attain success in early startups. To fill this knowledge gap, this study aims to qualitatively investigate the founder’s involvement under three vital functional areas (i.e. sales, customer development and product development) and also explain their entwined nature of the relationship as the early-stage startups grow to become a scalable businesses. Design/methodology/approach This study used purposive sampling for conducting in-depth interviews with 11 startup founders in the midwestern city of the USA. A constant comparative method was used to code the interview transcripts, while juxtaposing them with extant literature. Findings Using three levels of axial coding, this study identified 32 descriptive codes, 11 aggregate codes and 2 interpretive codes. Following this, the authors present five propositions that illustrate the relationship between founders’ involvement, customer development, product development and sales. Practical implications This study offers guidelines to founders on how they could generate initial sales, identify early customers and build and sustain mutually beneficial relationships with them. Originality/value This study contributes to the extant literature on entrepreneurship and innovation literature. It presents motivation and potential processes, including systematic activities performed by founders in generating sales in conjunction with customer development and product development, thereby making a novel contribution.

The Effect of Value Creation on Startups Performance in the Digital Environment: Evidence from Chinese Digital Startups

The use of digital technology has enabled consumers to play an essential role in the success of startups. Priem et al. proposed a demand-value creation-performance framework, which argues that firms can create value for the consumer by exploring consumer demand, and this type of value-creation activity can help firms gain better performance. However, empirical evidence supporting this framework remains scarce. To address this challenge, this study empirically tests Priem et al.’s framework in the context of entrepreneurship. A unique on-site survey dataset of 323 digital startups in the digital environment was employed to explore how consumer demand drives startups to value creation activities and gain better performance. The study results show that consumer demands, in terms of demand heterogeneity, demand uncertainty, and demand interactivity, are positively related to value creation, as reflected by opportunity recognition and consumer innovation. Furthermore, both opportunity recognition and consumer innovation are positively related to the performance of startups. These findings support the demand-side perspective by providing empirical evidence for its key arguments from an entrepreneurial view and extend the demand-side perspective by contextualizing it in the increasingly digital environment.

The Effect of Venture Capital on the Growth of Startups in Indonesia: A Case Study on BRI Ventures

The low success rate of startups has caused venture capital firms to bear a large risk of investment failure (BRI Ventures, 2021). Venture capital firms play an important role in identifying potential startups and being the driving force for startup success. This study aims to find out the role of BRI Ventures (BVI) in increasing the success rate of startups in Indonesia, how BRI Ventures (BVI) makes funding decisions, and the criteria set before funding startups. The data analysis uses descriptive qualitative analysis, which includes content, thematic, and constant comparative analysis and is processed using the NVivo 12 Pro software application. This study uses the diffusion of innovation theory to examine the role of BRI Ventures (BVI) in increasing the success rate of startups in Indonesia. The results show that BRI Ventures (BVI) uses the 5Ps approach, a self-designed investment analysis tool to assess whether a startup is feasible to fund. The indicators of 5Ps include people, product, potential market, performance, and potential upsides. The people indicator, which consists of the founder and the team, plays an important role in the success of a startup. The findings of this study suggest that BRI Ventures proactively provide innovations through mentoring programs to increase the success rate of startups. This research is expected to be useful in the financial sector, especially in terms of funding and innovation, for the business sustainability.

Discovering Success Factors in the Pioneering Stage of a Digital Startup

Abstract Background and Purpose: Successful digital startups can generate income for the country and improve people’s lives. However, for prospective founders who will launch their startups, the success factor in pioneering digital startups remains unknown. The purpose of this study is to identify key success factors for digital startups in pioneering stages. Methodology: Thematic analysis is a method for identifying success factors in pioneering stage digital startups. The data will be collected from the interviews of ten startup founders. Results: The findings show that fifteen critical factors are success factors in the digital startup pioneering stage, namely; problems, business ideas, teams, business models, capital or funding, products, incubators, validation, competitors, marketing, mastery of technology, market analysis, founders and co-founders, partners, and passion. These findings are expected to be ground-breaking for anyone interested in launching a digital startup. Conclusion: The first conclusion that we can draw is that there are fifteen important factors that can be claimed and used as success factors in the classification of the digital startup pioneering stage. The second conclusion, based on the findings of the ten founders’ analyses, is that problem factors and team factors are two of the fifteen most dominant and influential digital startup success factors. Problem factor is critical for detecting problems encountered by many people and can motivate digital startup founders to develop solutions to these problems. While team factor is important because with a team, all problems raised are quickly and easily resolved, and all work is handled productively and collaboratively.

Start-up strategies of electromethanogenic reactors for methane production from cattle manure

This study qualitatively assessed the impacts of different start-up strategies on the performance of methane (CH4) production from cattle manure (CM) in electromethanogenic reactors. Single chamber MECs were operated with an applied voltage of 0.7 V and the impact of electrode acclimatization with a simple substrate, acetate (ACE) vs a complex waste, CM, was compared. Upon biofilm formation on the sole carbon source (ACE or CM), several MECs (ACE_CM and CM_ACE) were subjected to cross-feeding (switching substrate to CM or ACE) during the test period to evaluate the impact of the primary substrate. Even though there was twice as much peak current density via feeding ACE during biofilm formation, this did not translate into higher CH4 production during the test period, when reactors were fed with CM. Higher or similar CH4 production was recorded in CM_CM reactors compared to ACE_CM at various soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) concentrations. Additionally, feeding ACE as primary substrate did not significantly impact either COD removals or coulombic efficiencies. On the other hand, the use of anaerobic digester (AD) seed as an inoculum in CM-fed MECs (CM_CM), relative to no inoculum added MECs (Blank), increased the initial CH4 production rate by 45% and reduced the start-up time by 20%. In CM-fed MECs, Geobacter dominated bacterial communities of bioanodes and hydrogenotrophic methanogen Methanoculleus dominated archaeal communities of biocathodes. Community cluster analysis revealed the significance of primary substrate in shaping electrode biofilm; thus, it should be carefully selected for successful start-up of electromethanogenic reactors treating wastes.

Early Joiners and Startup Performance

We show that early joiners---non-founder employees in the first year of a startup---play a critical role in explaining firm performance. We use administrative employee-employer matched data on all US startups and utilize the premature death of workers as a natural experiment exogenously separating talent from young firms. We find that losing an early joiner has a large negative effect on firm size that persists for at least ten years. When compared to that of a founder, losing an early joiner has a smaller effect on firm death but intensive margin effects on firm size are similar in magnitude. We also find that early joiners become relatively more important with the age of the firm. In contrast, losing a later joiner yields only a small and temporary decline in firm performance. We provide evidence that is consistent with the idea that organization capital, an important driver of startup success, is embodied in early joiners.

Collab Pro –A Project Repository

Abstract: In today’s digital world, many college students learn new technology through digital medium and use this technology innovatively to create new projects/outcomes during their college curriculum. Unfortunately, these projects are not used effectively, or they don’t get any recognition. Many students dedicatedly learn new technology and use them very innovatively, many of such ideas have caliber of forming a successful startup. Many of thecurrent startups have been have succeeded which were started by youths. We studied the existing collaboration software and have proposed an android platform for university student to showcasetheir projects and get recognition. The application will also help other students to study the uploaded projects and suggest any reviews. The referee will have control to approve the projects uploaded by students to avoid plagiarism. The application will also help the company recruiters to find innovative projects and consider the author for further recruitment processes. The android application wasdeveloped using Java. The data of the application isstored/managed on Google Firebase. Android Studio served as IDE at the development stage. The project is dedicated for providing a dedicatedplatform for students to showcase their projects andget national recognition and provide a platform to recruiters for hiring talented authors.

The role of narcissism in entrepreneurial activity: a systematic literature review

PurposeRecent years have seen a meteoric rise in the study of narcissism in entrepreneurship, although little consolidation has occurred in this area. The purpose of this paper is the development of an integrative framework to harmonise the academic discussion and serve as a structured foundation for future research.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted an artificial intelligence-aided, structured literature review focused on content analysis of concepts and contexts to map out current findings and research gaps in startup narcissism research.FindingsAccording to the findings of this study, narcissistic tendencies have the potential to positively influence startup success early on in an entrepreneur's journey, but after a certain point in the process, the influence of narcissism on success becomes predominantly negative.Research limitations/implicationsThe research field is currently not very harmonised regarding research measures, research subjects and key research terms. Further research must use a standardised approach to add value to the research body.Practical implicationsNarcissism is a two-sided sword for founders. In the early stages of a company, many of the founder’s tasks can benefit from narcissistic tendencies. In the later stages of a company, that might shift to overwhelmingly negative effects of narcissism.Originality/valueMethodically, this study is the first one to establish an artificial intelligence component to add value to the results of a review paper to the best of the authors’ knowledge. The results of this study provide a clear framework of entrepreneurial intention, entrepreneurial activity and entrepreneurial performance to give researchers the opportunity of a more differentiated way of organising work.

Successful Indonesian startups’ product blogs: A digital genre analysis and its pedagogical implications

Blogs can be deemed as an alternative digital media which have been strategically employed for business communication. One of the realizations is product blogs. As startups, which are identically linked to digital media, have been skyrocketing in number, product blogs play an integral role to accommodate their business communication. In writing an article for the product blogs, startups often open an internship vacancy for, among others, polytechnic students majoring English for business communication. However, generic structure of a product blog article is quite different from academic essays. There is a need to equip the students with adequate product blog article writing skills before they embark on internship. This study aims at empirically delving into generic structure of successful Indonesian startups’ product blogs. To achieve the aim, this research employed corpus-based research methodology. There were 33.430 tokens of product blogs from two unicorn startups. The framework for analysis was adapted from Askehave and Nielsen (2005). The findings show that there were three moves in the corpus, namely contextualizing product, detailing product, and soliciting response. Each move consisted of steps which were categorized into reading mode and navigating mode. The findings lead to pedagogical implications—inculcating the moves to polytechnic students majoring English for business communication—as an attempt to link and match between vocational pedagogy and industry requirements.

ANALISIS FAKTOR KEBERHASILAN PERUSAHAAN RINTISAN (STUDI KASUS STARTUP DALAM DAFTAR MIKTI DAN BEKRAF)

Startups are one of the businesses currently favored by young people. The digital development is so fast, Indonesia announced “The Digital Energy of Asia” with a focus on building creative industries. This study aims to analyze the factors that influence the success of startups with a study of startups registered in the Information Technology Creative Industry Society (MIKTI) and the Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf) 2018. The research method used is Multiple Linear Regression using the SPSS 24 application. The research data used is primary data with cross-sectional data. The number of respondents in this study were 150 respondents with the sampling method using purposive sampling. The independent variables used in this study are human capital, innovation and social capital with the dependent variable, namely business success. The results showed that human capital has a positive effect on business success. Innovation has a negative influence on business success. Social capital has no influence on business success.
 Keyword: human capital, innovation, social capital, business success

Drivers of entrepreneurial start-ups and challenges on start-ups success: implications for entrepreneurial education in Ghana

Drivers of entrepreneurial start-ups and challenges on start-ups success: implications for entrepreneurial education in Ghana

Drivers of entrepreneurial start-ups and challenges on start-ups success: implications for entrepreneurial education in Ghana

Drivers of entrepreneurial start-ups and challenges on start-ups success: implications for entrepreneurial education in Ghana

Дослідження проблематики розвитку та підтримки стартапів в Україні: інвестиції, каталізатори, бар’єри

The article examines the problem of development and support of startups in Ukraine, which is relevant for the Ukrainian economic present. A review of various studies by economists on startups and their management is carried out. The factors of the micro and macro environment influencing the launch and development of startups in Ukraine are identified. On the basis of the carried out research, the catalyst factors and barrier factors for the development of startups in Ukraine have been defined. Among the priority problems identified are the following: macroeconomic instability; fragmentation of innovation infrastructure; lack of the State support programs; increased business risks. It is proposed to promote the chain «education – business – the State», which provides for the introduction of programs to stimulate small business, strengthen the regulatory framework, stimulate international participation and increase public investment in entrepreneurial and infrastructure projects. The significant role of higher education institutions in stimulating startups is also substantiated, an analysis of the experience of higher education institutions in different countries is provided. As an example of successful stimulation of startup activity, the experience of the National Technical University «Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute» (NTU «KhPI») is presented, which is the pioneer of numerous startup projects, each of those aimed at solving unique problems in different sectors of life activities. The article discusses in detail some of the projects of NTU «KhPI», highlights their goals, potential advantages and limitations. Prospects for further research in this direction are: deepening the modern understanding of startup management; studying the relationship between management experience and startup success; study of the role of the State support in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in the startup sector and determining the level of «favorability» of the economic environment for the development of startups in Ukraine.

Explaining the success of a young gaming start-up: a case study of Warhorse Studios

Explaining the success of a young gaming start-up: a case study of Warhorse Studios

ІННОВАЦІЙНА АКТИВНІСТЬ БІЗНЕС-СТАРТАПІВ: СУЧАСНИЙ СТАН ТА ПЕРСПЕКТИВИ ДЛЯ ПОВОЄННОЇ ВІДБУДОВИ ЕКОНОМІКИ УКРАЇНИ

In the post-war period, the Ukrainian authorities should understand the importance of business development, its role and place in the transformation of the economy and the development of local economic development. The article studies the subjects of the startup ecosystem (startup companies, service companies, state and local authorities, investors, competence centers, expert environment, change agents, infrastructure companies, stock exchanges and brokerage companies) and their leading functions. The article identifies the newest global startups and the most successful domestic startups in the pre-war period. Even during the war, Ukrainian startups (CareTech Human, Lab, Mindly Pleso therapy, MISU, Cardio.AI) continue to develop and are supported internationally. Today, at the level of our country, thanks to the institutional support of the Government, the foundation is being laid for creating a favorable environment for the development of startups, in particular for the development of small business: transfer of the Innovation Development Fund to the management sphere of the Ministry of Digital Transformation; grant funding and technology support needed to strengthen the country. It has been found that for the development of a national system of "sustainable development – security," the core should be innovative security with the supporting effect of high-quality socio-economic deve­lopment of national security. The main tasks of managing the component in the context of sustainable development and post-war recovery are: 1) the use of new technologies, the digital economy and science in solving the problems of recovery; 2) the use of new technologies as a tool for creating new jobs and development opportunities; 3) strategic forecasting to ensure that technologies meet the needs and requirements in various industries; 4) strategic forecasting and evaluation activities. Emphasis is placed on the fact that systemic innovation policy, regardless of the types of innovations, must meet the goals of sustainable development. The paper presents the ratio of the growth of innovation activity of Ukrainian startups (product startups, MilitaryTech and cybersecurity, HealthTech and mental health, FoodTech and sustainable development, EdTech and educational projects, projects for the restoration of infrastructure and construction) to further assess their impact on the economic development of the region and the effectiveness of public management decisions by local authorities in terms of institutional support, in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals, regions and society as a whole.

Startup Culture: MLMs, Mormons, and Entrepreneurship

Startup Culture: MLMs, Mormons, and Entrepreneurship

The Impact of the Business Model on the Size of Investments Received by a Startup at the Series A Stage in the US Market

Numerous studies have been devoted to the factors influencing the market success of startups. However, at early stages of startup development, obtaining investments is a priority. Nevertheless, the topic of the influence of various factors, specifically the choice of business model, on the amount of investment received by a startup remains underexplored. Therefore, the aim of this research is to assess the impact of the business model on the amount of investment received by a startup at the Series A stage. The hypothesis being put forward is that the business model patterns utilized by the startup impact the amount of investment received at the Series A stage. To achieve this goal and test the hypothesis, Student's t-test and Mann-Whitney test were applied to a sample of 2313. As a result of the study, the influence of the business model for different industries was revealed. Considering that different business models have varying effects on the amount of investment, models leading to an increase or decrease in investment size were identified for startup founders. The results of this article enable startups to compare their chosen model with those that allow for larger investments and to adjust their chosen strategy. Additionally, this study stands out due to the uniqueness of the methods applied within the scope of the issues covered in the article and the unique sample size in assessing the impact of the business model factor. The findings of this research serve as a catalyst for incorporating the business model factor into further studies dedicated to a comprehensive assessment of a startup's investment attractiveness and the creation of a machine learning model to predict the success of obtaining investments and the amount of investment a startup can expect.

РОЗВИТОК ВІТЧИЗНЯНИХ ЗАКЛАДІВ ВИЩОЇ ОСВІТИ НА ОСНОВІ КОНЦЕПЦІЇ ПОТРІЙНОЇ СПІРАЛІ

The paper is devoted to the studies of the problems of activity and development of higher education institutions in the conditions of the war economy and subsequent post-war reconstruction at a qualitatively new high-tech level. It is emphasized that domestic educational institutions have limited financial autonomy and operate under strict legal restrictions. The regulatory and financial constraints that hold back the prospects for the development of higher education institutions are analyzed. The need for an accelerated transition to the full implementation of the institutional model of the triple helix at the macro level of the country is substantiated. The features of the functioning of the triple spiral model are defined, the specifics of the interaction of the institutional spheres involved in it, as well as the functions of each of them, are outlined. The determining role of universities in ensuring the dynamics of the development of the innovative economy according to the triple spiral model has been proven. Evolutionary models of university functioning are studied. The characteristic features of the university at each stage of evolutionary development are explained. It was noted that the transformation of universities from educational and educational-scientific to educational-scientific-innovative is accompanied by the hybridization of their missions. The concept of a research university is being replaced by the concept of an innovative or entrepreneurial university. The relevance of the entrepreneurial “University 3.0” concept to the needs of the development of the innovative economy is substantiated. On the example of the National Technical University of Ukraine "Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute" and the All-Ukrainian innovation ecosystem "Sikorsky Challenge Ukraine", which is developing on its basis, the experience of the development of domestic higher education institutions as entrepreneurial universities was analyzed. The all-Ukrainian innovation ecosystem "Sikorsky Challenge Ukraine" unites the country’s institutions interested in the development of the Ukrainian innovation economy: universities, scientific institutions, state and local self-government bodies, business companies, foundations, and public organizations. The article identifies the reasons that hold back the development of universities based on this concept, summarizes the obstacles on the way to successful startups, and outlines the ways to solve them.

Entrepreneurs Personal Branding, Attitudes, and Startups Success Relationships: The Mediating Role of Earlier Start-up Intentions: A Study of Small Apparel-Fashion Enterprises in the Emerging Markets

Entrepreneurs Personal Branding, Attitudes, and Startups Success Relationships: The Mediating Role of Earlier Start-up Intentions: A Study of Small Apparel-Fashion Enterprises in the Emerging Markets

An efficient and sustainable novel approach for prediction of start-up company success rates through sustainable machine learning paradigms

The primary objective is to construct a sustainable machine-learning model that utilizes multiple variables to forecast the success of a startup enterprise. It incorporates a Flask application for creating a user-friendly interface, where users can input specific parameters related to a startup, such as financial metrics, industry sector, and location. These inputs are then passed through a sustainable machine learning prediction model, which has been trained on a comprehensive dataset of startup information. The model employs sustainable advanced algorithms to evaluate their startup ventures' potential success. Through the development and deployment of the Flask application and the integration of sustainable machine learning prediction model, this model contributes to the field of startup analysis and decision-making. It offers a sustainable and efficient solution for predicting startup success, empowering users to make data-backed decisions and optimize their resource allocation.