There is a massive gender gap in the tech startup industry. 1% of the CTOs at venture-backed companies in Europe are women and only 1% of the venture capital in Sweden is given to all-female founding teams. The author believes that gender equality should improve because of the fundamental right to have equal opportunities, but also because it could benefit the industry. Research indicates that gender equality, for example, can lead to increased profitability. This thesis is a qualitative study aiming to understand the effects of the industry gender gap by investigating how women in the industry perceive gender inequality. The study will answer to what extent gender equality is seen as a problem, what barriers female tech entrepreneurs face and present some explanations for the gender gap. The foundation for the results and discussion sections is a literature review on entrepreneurship and gender and semi-structured qualitative interviews. The interviews were carried out with women who had worked in the tech startup industry in Stockholm. A total of 12 respondents with various professions and degrees of technical skills were interviewed. They worked or had worked as founders, investors or at incubators. Throughout the analysis, two distinct views on the extent of the problem were identified. Some women perceived the gender gap as mainly unproblematic and their gender as beneficial yet insignificant. These respondents have been labeled the Positive Gender Neutral (PGN) group. They stated that their gender was more advantageous than impeding. Being a minority makes one stand out, which can be beneficial. The other group of respondents raised that this visibility can be both advantageous and tiring. This group has been labeled the Structure Acknowledging (SA) group. They expressed that there are layers of gender inequality in addition to the gender discrepancy. They stated that there are significant barriers to female entrepreneurs and wished to decrease gender inequality. Both groups expressed that there are certain barriers to women, although the PGN group tended to view the barriers as relating to individual women and the SA group to structures in the industry and society. Some expressed that women have internal barriers such as a lack of confidence and unwillingness to take risk. Some structural barriers expressed were the male entrepreneurial norm and male domination of the industry, including a ”bro culture” and homosociality. The two distinct views on gender inequality can be seen as coping strategies for succeeding in a male-dominated environment. That could be an indication that there is a strong male norm in the industry. Many raised rhetoric such as master suppression techniques or excluding entrepreneurial language as barriers. The respondents furthermore also often explained the gender gap with women being attracted to other industries or lacked tech entrepreneur role models. Finally, comparing the results to previous research, all respondents have a high gender awareness level, in particular, the respondents in the SA group. Gender awareness can lead to change. Thus, hopefully, there is a positive trend of gender awareness in the industry, which this thesis hopes to contribute to. / Det finns ett stort könsgap i tech startup-industrin. 1% av CTOs på företag backade av riskkapital i Europa är kvinnor och endast 1% av riskkapitalet i Sverige ges till helt kvinnliga grundarteam. Författaren anser att jämställdheten bör förbättras dels på grund av den grundläggande rättigheten att ha lika möjligheter, dels för att det kan gynna industrin. Forskning tyder på att jämställdhet till exempel kan leda till ökad lönsamhet. Denna avhandling är en kvalitativ studie som syftar till att förstå effekterna av industrins könsdiskrepans genom att undersöka hur kvinnor i branschen upplever ojämställdhet. Studien ämnar besvara till vilken utsträckning jämställdhet ses som ett problem, vilka hinder som kvinnliga teknikföretagare står inför och presenterar några förklaringar för könsskillnaden. Grunden för resultaten och diskussionen är en litteraturstudie om entreprenörskap och kön samt halvstrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer. Intervjuerna genomfördes med kvinnor som arbetat i tech startup-industrin i Stockholm. Sammanlagt tolv respondenter med olika yrken och grader av tekniska färdigheter intervjuades. De arbetade eller hade arbetat som grundare, investerare eller på inkubatorer. I analysen identifierades två olika synsätt på problemets omfattning. Vissa kvinnor upplevde könsskillnaden som huvudsakligen oproblematisk och deras kön som fördelaktigt men likväl obetydligt. Dessa respondenter har benämnts den positiva könsneutrala gruppen (PGN). Att vara en minoritet gör att man sticker ut, vilket kan vara fördelaktigt. Den andra gruppen av svarande hävdade att denna synlighet kan vara både fördelaktig och tröttsam. Denna grupp har benämnts den strukturerkännande gruppen (SA). De uttryckte att det finns ojämställdhet utöver könsgapet. De uppgav att det finns betydande hinder för kvinnliga entreprenörer och att de ville minska könens ojämlikhet. Båda grupperna gav uttryck för att det finns vissa hinder för kvinnor, även om PGN-gruppen tenderade att se hindren i relation till andra kvinnor medan SA-gruppen nämnde samhälleliga strukturer. Några uttryckte att kvinnor har interna hinder som brist på självförtroende och ovillighet att ta risk. Några strukturella hinder som uttrycktes var den manliga entreprenörsnormen och den manliga dominansen i branschen, inklusive en "grabbig” kultur och homosocialitet. De två distinkta föreställningarna om jämställdhet mellan könen kan ses som strategier för att lyckas i en manligt dominerad miljö, vilket kan kopplas till att det finns en stark manlig norm i branschen. Andra hinder som lyftes var härskartekniker, manligt entreprenörsspråk och brist på förebilder. Slutligen visar en jämförelse av resultaten med tidigare forskning att respondenterna har en hög könsmedvetenhetsnivå, i synnerhet SA-gruppen. Könsmedvetenhet kan leda till förändring. Således finns det förhoppningsvis en positiv utveckling av könsmedvetenhet inom branschen, som denna avhandling hoppas bidra till.

The rapid pace of digitalization has resulted in increased management of software development, and today a majority of startups are reliant on software. How to manage software development projects is a well-researched area and agile methods are widely adopted by companies in all industries and sizes. However, prior to working with agile methods or any other software development methodology, the founders and management of a startup have to make several technical decisions that could potentially affect the whole software development process and the company's success. Furthermore, studies show that only three programming languages are known by more than 50% of developers, suggesting that the potential effects of technical decisions stretch outside the software development process.  By performing a multiple-case study on startups with a mixed-methodology approach, the researcher has analyzed the literature, interviewed several founders and Chief Technology Officers, and quantitatively analyzed hundreds of thousand lines of code, to find how to organize to make better technical decisions in order to enhance growth and generate less technical debt. The results show that the effects of technical decisions stretch outside the software development process, having an apparent effect on a startup's ability to attract and retain talent. Furthermore, the results show that access to talent is an important but not deciding factor in technical decision-making. Additionally, it is found that in the initial stage of a startup, ease of development and speed are important factors in technical decisions as the main objective is to find product-market fit. When product-market fit has been found and the startup matures, the focus shifts and quality and durability are becoming prominent factors. It is found that scooping features only to implement the absolute core functionality is an effective approach to develop quickly and generate less technical debt while maintaining customer satisfaction. Lastly, it is found that programming language affects the number of issues generated per line of code and the time spent on building features. However, as found in the literature, there is no evidence of this being related to the type of programming language.  The findings have both practical and academic implications. In academics, this thesis lays the foundation for further studies and provides new insights into the field of startups in general, and technical decision-making in particular. For practitioners, this thesis provides a basis for discussion and execution of technical decisions in the early stages of a startup. / Den snabba digitaliseringen har resulterat i en ökad ledning av mjukvaruutveckling och idag är majoriteten av startups beroende av någon form av mjukvara. Hur man leder mjukvaruutvecklingsprojekt är ett välutforskat område och agila metoder är välanvända i företag i alla industrier och storlekar. Innan man arbetar med agila metoder eller någon annan mjukvarutvecklingsmetod så måste grundarna och ledningen ta flera tekniska beslut som potentiellt kan påverka hela mjukvaruutvecklingsprocessen och företagets framgång. Samtidigt finns det studier som visar att endast tre programmeringsspråk hanteras av mer än 50% av utvecklarna, vilket indikerar att de potentiella effekterna av tekniska beslut sträcker sig långt utanför mjukvaruutvecklingsprocessen.  Genom att utföra en flerfallsstudie på startups med både kvalitativa och kvantitativa moment, har forskaren analyserat literaturen, intervjuat flertalet grundare och tekniska chefer, och kvantitativt analyserat hundratusentals rader kod, för att undersöka hur startups kan organisera sig för att ta bättre tekniska beslut som förbättrar tillväxten samt genererar mindre teknisk skuld. Resultaten visar att effekten av tekniska beslut sträcker sig långt utanför mjukvaruutvecklingsprocessen genom att ha en direkt påverkan på startups möjlighet att attrahera och behålla talang. Tillgången till talang visar sig även vara en viktig faktor i teknisk beslutsfattande, däremot är den inte en avgörande faktor. Dessutom visar resultaten att i det initiala stadiet av en startup så är enkelhet och hastighet viktiga faktorer i tekniskt beslutsfattande eftersom fokus ligger på att hitta produkt-marknads-anpassning. När produkt-marknads-anpassning är funnen och startupen mognar, så skiftar dessa faktorerna över till kvalité och hållbarhet. Resultaten visar även att en effektiv metod för att utveckla snabbt och skapa mindre teknisk skuld är att skala ner förfrågningar till dess absolut grundfunktionalitet, samtidigt visade det sig att kundnöjdheten inte minskade. Slutligen visar resultaten att val av programmeringsspråk har en effekt på antalet issues genererade per rad kod och även tiden spenderad för att bygga features. Däremot, precis som i tidigare forskning, finns det inga bevis på att det är relaterat till typen av programmeringsspråk.  Resultaten har både praktiska och akademiska implikationer. I den akademiska världen så lägger detta arbetet en grund för framtida forskning och ger nya insikter i startupfältet generellt, och tekniskt beslutsfattande i startups i synnerhet. För utövare, lägger detta arbetet en bra bas för diskussion och verkställande av tekniska beslut i startups.

Tanto as incubadoras como as aceleradoras são organizações especializadas no suporte de empreendimentos em fases iniciais, em especial, aqueles intensivos em inovação conhecidos como startups. Apesar da grande disseminação dessas organizações, há poucas informações na literatura que evidenciem as suas diferenças e as contribuições na jornada do empreendedorismo inovador. Assim, o objetivo principal deste estudo é comparar a diferença entre as propostas de valor das aceleradoras e das incubadoras a partir da percepção das startups que tenham sido tanto incubadas como aceleradas. Entre os objetivos específicos temos: discutir possíveis relações entre as aceleradoras e as incubadoras de negócios; apresentar a evolução das incubadoras e os fatores que induziram o surgimento das aceleradoras, descrevendo os diferentes arquétipos e as implicações que essas organizações têm no ecossistema de empreendedorismo; apresentar o cenário nacional do fenômeno de aceleração e de incubação. O levantamento de dados contará com duas etapas: análise documental de fontes de dados secundárias e estudos de caso com uso de técnica de entrevista e questionário semiestruturado. A análise documental foi feita a partir de banco de dados de artigos científicos, dados oficiais de governos, fundações, revistas e páginas web especializadas e editais de chamamento das próprias organizações. A análise documental fornecerá o retrato de como as incubadoras e as aceleradoras se promovem no ecossistema como organizações importantes no apoio às startups. Em seguida, através de abordagem exploratória descritiva e qualitativa, foram realizadas entrevistas com roteiros semiestruturados com fundadores de startups que foram incubadas e aceleradas, para compreender o valor que cada um desses processos forneceu ao desenvolvimento dessas empresas. Concluiu-se que existe uma dissonância entre o valor percebido pelas startups e o que as incubadoras e as aceleradoras promovem. Também foi possível identificar que a busca por recursos pelas startups tende a não seguir um processo linear, capturando as melhores oportunidades que estejam disponíveis no momento. Por fim, esta pesquisa é um passo exploratório para trazer novas evidências do fenômeno das startups e dos diferentes instrumentos que as constroem. Sugerem-se encaminhamentos que possam preencher lacunas na literatura a respeito dos fenômenos citados, indicando a necessidade de estudos futuros que adensem o conhecimento desse fenômeno. / Both incubators and acelerators are specialized organizations to support early-stage ventures, especially innovation-intensive ones known as startups. Despite the great spread of these organizations, there is a few information in the literature that show their differences and contributions in the journey of innovative entrepreneurship. The main objective of this study is comparing the difference between value porposition of accelerators and incubators from the perception of startups that have been both incubated and accelerated. The specific objectives are: to discuss possible relationships between accelerators and incubators; to present the evolution of the incubators and the factors that led to the emergence of the accelerators, describing the different accelerators archetypes and the implications in entrepreneurship ecosystem; to present the national scenario of acceleration and incubation. The data collection stage had two stages: documentary analysis of secondary data sources; and the case study using interview technique through semi-structured questionnaire. The documentary analysis was made from a database of scientific articles, official data from governments, foundations, journals and specialized web pages and incubators and accelerators calls for proposals. Documentary analysis provided a picture of how incubators and accelerators are promoted to the ecosystem and startups. Then, through a descriptive and qualitative exploratory approach, interviews were conducted with semistructured scripts with founders of startups that were incubated and accelerated to understand the value that each of these processes provided to the development of these companies. It was concluded that there is a dissonance between what the incubators and the accelerators promote and the value perceived by the startups, they are not being able to identify enough characteristics that distinguish them. The reason for it is the diversity of the needs and demands of the startups, different models of accelerators and incubators are formulated that, in many cases, overlap in the benefits offered. It was also possible to identify that the search for resources by startups, whether radical or disruptive startups, does not follow a linear process, capturing the best opportunities available in the ecosystem through a minimally tactical and selective approach. In order to contribute to the understanding of the growing formation of organizations supporting startups, such as incubators and accelerators, and considering the findings of this research, a tool was suggested to define the types of these organizations, loosely termed \"startup guiders\". This tool analyzes three basic dimensions: business model, value proposition and stage of intervention in the development of early-stages ventures. Finally, this research is an exploratory step in bringing new evidence of the phenomenon of startups and of the different instruments that construct them. It is suggested that there be gaps in the literature regarding the mentioned phenomena, indicating the need for future studies that increase the knowledge of this phenomenon.

Submitted by Maicon Juliano Schmidt (maicons) on 2015-06-15T14:37:24Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Viviane da Silva Almada.pdf: 6620557 bytes, checksum: 448047a59fae3134d2a471fc9152b07d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-06-15T14:37:24Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Viviane da Silva Almada.pdf: 6620557 bytes, checksum: 448047a59fae3134d2a471fc9152b07d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-16 / Nenhuma / As organizações, especialmente as empresas startups, estão inseridas em mercados onde a necessidade de um olhar direcionado para a resolução de problemas complexos e a busca de inovação é cada vez mais crescente. Neste contexto destaca-se o design estratégico, uma abordagem que permite a expansão do espaço do problema a ser resolvido, do mesmo modo que aumenta as possibilidades de inovação e traz uma dimensão projetual de constante experimentação. Esta pesquisa tem como objetivo fornecer indícios para analisar a contribuição da abordagem do design estratégico na busca de inovação, em conjunto com o uso da ferramenta Business Model Canvas (BMC), dentro da realidade das startups. O contexto empresarial destas empresas foi escolhido tendo em vista que são organizações alavancadoras de inovação, embrionárias e que não atingiram a maturidade de recursos financeiros, porém com grande importância econômica para a geração de empregos e de inovação tecnológica. Já o Canvas, que tem como objetivo tornar as organizações inovadoras e encontrar novos formatos de negócios, permitindo que qualquer pessoa possa criar ou modificar seu modelo de negócio, foi escolhido por se tratar de uma ferramenta de gestão de uso fácil e reconhecida no mercado atual das organizações. Frente a isso, a pesquisa conta com uma fundamentação teórica que embasa o estudo, o entendimento do ambiente a ser pesquisado e a aplicação da abordagem do design estratégico, através da pesquisa-ação, realizado na startup BoardShore, empresa de e-commerce que comercializa equipamentos para esportes aquáticos, em Porto Alegre. Assim, buscou-se analisar a possibilidade de uma reflexão mais profunda sobre a provável contribuição do design estratégico, em conjunto com a aplicação do BMC, visto que esta ferramenta tem o objetivo de desenvolver novos modelos de negócios. Os resultados deste estudo mostraram a importância da aplicação e adaptação das ferramentas de design e gestão ao meio específico da organização e a relevância do papel do designer estratégico nesse processo de projeto. / Organizations, specifically startups, are situated in markets where the need to look into solving complex problems and the search for innovation are increasingly growing. In this context we highlight the strategic design as an approach that allows space expansion of the problem to be solved in the same way that increases the possibilities for innovation and brings project dimension of constant experimentation. This research aims to provide clues to analyse the contribution of the strategic design approach in the search for innovation, along with the use of the Business Model Canvas tool (BMC), within the reality of startups. The business environment of these companies was chosen considering organizations that drive innovation, embryonic and that have not yet reached the maturity of financial resources but with great economic importance in the job creation and technological innovation scene. Whereas Canvas, which aims to turn organizations more innovative and find new business formats allowing anyone to create or modify their business model was chosen because it is a user-friendly management tool and recognised in the current market organizations. Based on that, the research has a theoretical framework that supports the study, the environmental understanding to be searched and the implementation of the strategic design, through research-action, conducted at BoardShore startup, an e-commerce company that sells equipment for water sports, in Porto Alegre. Thus, we sought to examine the possibility of a deeper reflection about the possible contribution of strategic design, in conjunction with the implementation of the BMC as this tool aims to develop new business models. The results of this study show the importance of applying and adapting the design and management tools to a particular environment of the organization and the relevance of the strategic designer role in this design process.

Aujourd’hui, l'entrepreneuriat et l’innovation sont promus par les gouvernements et les organisations mondiales et nationales. Les Libanais perçoivent de bonnes opportunités pour créer de nouvelles entreprises, mais une grande partie des entreprises nouvelles vivent un échec. Le manque d’analyse des compétiteurs, de connaissances d’opportunités externes et de capacités à développer et à gérer leurs entreprises sont les raisons principales qui expliquent cette situation. L’acquisition de nouvelles compétences et la mise en place d’activités entrepreneuriales sont influencées par l’absence d’un écosystème national d’entrepreneuriat et d’innovation. Dans notre recherche, nous présentons l’approche co-innopreneuriat qui propose une méthode de co-innovation et de co-création de valeurs par convergence et par collaboration basée sur des théories en SIC et des concepts en TIC. Notre but est d’améliorer la performance de l’innovation et les avantages compétitifs des entreprises nouvelles, les facteurs d’innovation et les avantages compétitifs, qui sont tous des facteurs clés de succès de l’entrepreneuriat et du développement des compétitivités des nations. L’expérimentation et l’évaluation de notre approche a été réalisée auprès de participants réels appartenant à différentes communautés du savoir externes et correspondant aux activités principales du processus d’innovation et à travers un outil open source. Cette évaluation nous a permis de valider deux hypothèses d’étude concernant l’efficacité et l’efficience de l’innovation pour améliorer la performance de l’innovation et les avantages compétitifs des entreprises nouvelles. / Today, entrepreneurship and innovation are promoted by governments and global and national organizations. Lebanese foreseen good opportunities for starting a business, but a lot of startups face a failure. The lack of competitors’ analysis, knowledge of external opportunities and abilities to develop and manage their companies are the main reasons for this situation. The acquisition of new skills and the development of entrepreneurial activities are influenced by the absence of a national entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem. In this research, we present co-innopreneuriat which provides a method for co-innovation and co-creation of values by a convergence and collaboration approach based on Information and communication sciences’ theories and Information and communication technologies’ concepts. Our objective is to improve innovation performance and competitive advantages of the startups. Innovation and competitive advantages are key success factors of the entrepreneurship and the development of economic competitiveness factors. The experimentation and the evaluation of our approach were conducted with participants from different knowledge communities related to the main activities of the innovation process. This evaluation allowed us to validate two research hypotheses concerning the effectiveness and efficiency of innovation in order to improve the innovation performance and competitive advantages of startups.

Today’s economy of the European Union is statistically proven to be largely made up of startup enterprises. Startups, that has been and will be an essential part of the economy, be it present or future. However, it is a well-known fact that startup failure rates are quite high, both in the economy as a whole as well as the restaurant industry which is of focus in this paper. Therefore, there is a pressing need among both scholars and entrepreneurs to figure out how to reduce the micro-enterprise startup failure rates.   It is why; this paper was written with the purpose of studying the components of a traditional business plan model, to look for gaps and parts that are worth developing more. Primary concern was to find out the necessary steps a startup must take in the business plan to better avoid financial failure in the pre-established startup period – which is over 42 months.    Therefore the following research question was posed: “How can the components of the traditional business plan be adapted or complemented by contemporary research, and, entrepreneurs’ views and experiences in order to better avoid financial failure of a micro-enterprise start-up within the European restaurant industry?”   In order to answer this question a qualitative study was done; contemporary research was reviewed and compared with primarily collected data which was gathered by conducting semi-structured interviews with managers and employees of restaurants. The abductive approach allowed the authors to “enrich” the established theories used.     It was made clear that two prominent gaps were found in the traditional business plan models; networking and a red-thread strategy. The first gap, networking, includes the need to establish a “network identity” within the network that the startup operates in, and to plan how the network that the business operates in can be used, as well as clearly state what purposes and benefits it provides.  The second gap, red-thread strategy, emphasizes the need of a strong overall focus on the desired goals and visions of the organization in order for it to better operate and function, and specifically, how it is to be implemented to permeate throughout daily operations. It is to make the operational inferences of the vision clear, and how the startup will ensure that the aim will stay the same through their day-to-day operations.      To conclude, it was found that by allegedly filling up those two gaps by including them in detail in the business plan, the startup could have a bigger chance of avoiding financial failure within the startup period.

Submitted by Guilherme Eiras (guilherme.eiras@gmail.com) on 2018-01-18T16:12:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 estratégia-eiras-V3.pdf: 905748 bytes, checksum: 9835676522f5a042ecc6f993ee42334c (MD5) / Rejected by Mayara Costa de Sousa (mayara.sousa@fgv.br), reason: Guilherme, Serão necessários alguns ajustes no trabalho: 1. O nome Getulio é sem acento. 2. O título deve estar todo em caixa alta. 3. Em "SÃO PAULO - SP", tirar o SP, deixar somente SÃO PAULO. 4. As palavras-chave do resumo/abstract devem estar separadas por ponto e vírgula. Att, Mayara 3799/3438 on 2018-01-18T16:53:11Z (GMT) / Submitted by Guilherme Eiras (guilherme.eiras@gmail.com) on 2018-01-18T17:03:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 estratégia-eiras-V3.pdf: 905902 bytes, checksum: df4b06ee62c4a3a1bee83577f07c2d20 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Mayara Costa de Sousa (mayara.sousa@fgv.br) on 2018-01-18T17:06:26Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 estratégia-eiras-V3.pdf: 905902 bytes, checksum: df4b06ee62c4a3a1bee83577f07c2d20 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-01-18T17:44:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 estratégia-eiras-V3.pdf: 905902 bytes, checksum: df4b06ee62c4a3a1bee83577f07c2d20 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-12-14 / Startups são fundamentais para a geração de valor na economia e o surgimento de empresas desse perfil tem aumentado a cada ano. No entanto, das poucas empresas que conseguem passar da fase inicial (o chamado vale da morte das startups) para a fase de expansão, poucas atingem o nível de crescimento potencial esperado e se perpetuar no mercado, devido principalmente a estratégias mal definidas e mal executadas. O objetivo principal desse estudo foi analisar o processo de surgimento e crescimento de novos negócios inovadores de alto crescimento, e estudá-los a partir de três casos no agronegócio, bem como o diferencial que estes apresentam. Para isso, foram abordados: (1) base teórica sobre o assunto, na qual são destacadas as principais estratégias de crescimento de empresas, destacando as que dão suporte para o crescimento acelerado de novos negócios, analisando pontos positivos e negativos de cada estratégia e (2) análise prática de um modelo de casos múltiplos, três startups da cadeia do agronegócio, sendo duas de abrangência nacional e outra internacional participaram do estudo e foram analisadas, e os resultados são discutidos e confrontados com a literatura. Ainda, o conhecimento a partir das lições aprendidas foi abordado e espera-se contribuir e auxiliar as novas startups a definir suas estratégias de crescimento para gerir os recursos da maneira correta, executá-las da melhor maneira garantir a sobrevida dessas empresas, aumentando ainda mais o valor gerado por essas empresas. / Startups are fundamental to generate value in the economy and the rise of such companies has increased each year. However, the few businesses that pass the initial phase (the so-called startup Death Valley), only a few reach the desired potential exponential growth and are able to perpetuate in the market, mainly because of poorly defined and executed strategies. The main objective of the study was to analyze the emergence and growth of new high growth innovative businesses, from three cases from the agribusiness industry, as well as the differentials they present. To this end, the following were addressed: (1) theoretical base on the subject, in which they are highlighted as main growth strategies of companies, standing out as the support for the accelerated growth of new business, analyzing the positives and negatives of each strategy and (2) practical analysis of a multi-case model, three startups of the agribusiness chain, two of which are national (in Brazil) and one internationally involved in the study and analysis, and the results are discussed and compared with the literature The knowledge generated from lessons learned is aimed to help new startups to define their growth strategies to manage the resources correctly, execute their strategies to guarantee their perpetuation in the market and increase the value generated from these companies.

Advanced information and communication technologies, social media, Internet, etc. have tremendously impact on flourishing Internet based Startup around the world. Although some Internet Startups e.g. Facebook, Google, Uber, Airbnb, and Amazon are very successful, but most of the startups fail in their early stage of journey. Previous research findings show that inadequate funding, fierce competition, lack of appropriate strategies and business model, etc. are main reasons for failure of startup firms. Researchers suggest that adequate fund and proper digital business strategies can significantly support these Startups to survive and grow. Digital technologies, which include hardware, software, applications, and interactive communication technologies can significantly enhance and increase capabilities of startups through creating values and competitive advantages. Although, now days digital capabilities in large organization is getting more importance to many researchers, however a few researchers are focusing on investigating the impact of digital capabilities of Internet based startups. The study is conducted to examine how digital technologies create values for Internet based Startups Consultancy. Besides, the study investigates  the digital capabilities of and how digital technologies enhance and increase the capability of Internet based Startups Consultancy firms. Five Internet based startup consultancy firms have been investigated. Case based qualitative research methodology has been followed. As research method semi-structured and informal interviews, and observation with the companies have been conducted. The study finds that Internet based digital technologies profoundly facilitate startup companies. From businesss creation to service delivery,  digital technologies have enormously increase  digital capabilities of internet startup firms. In addition to academic researchers, the outcome of the research will be particularly important for existing startups firms and future entrepreneurs who has plan to establish new startup.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-11-18T01:12:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 000476187-Texto+Completo-0.pdf: 569 bytes, checksum: 4a21621f6f0cf81a1cf6e2c01f5ac7b2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / The main agents of technological change are the new businesses of high-tech sectors, they stimulate socio-economic development through innovative products and processes. In order to challenge existing technological paradigms, the technology-based firms (TBFs) set new market competition standards, regulating the behavior of the existing players. Due to uncertainty and information asymmetry of their activities, TBFs found in financial restriction a limiter to its development. For TBFs, the venture capital industry has been seen as a relevant financial intermediary, providing capital to companies that would otherwise have difficulty obtaining resources. The investment by venture capital companies is risky, because it has low liquidity and is highly dependent on a small group of entrepreneurs / managers. The selection of which company to invest, is a complex process with significant financial repercussions. Therefore, this is a strategic selection, involving a structured decision-making process. Given this context, a research based on the study method of multiple cases was developed, in which three cases were analyzed through nine semi-structured interviews. The results indicate that there is a structured process of decision-making by the venture capital firms with five key steps: business origin, information search, analysis, negotiation and monitoring. The venture capital firms perform both active and passive prospecting, the network recommendations and the entrepreneurial itself, are important sources of information. At the stage of analysis Venture Capitalist invest more time, four main aspects are evaluated: Marketing, Finance, Business and People. Among the main criteria considered to invest, it stands out companies based on innovative product or service and the profile and experience of the entrepreneur and his team. The valuation of TBCFs is performed using the methodology of discounted cash flow. The investment agreement between the two parties is negotiable, however, due to the minority role played by venture capital firms, they have protection clauses that are irreducible. After performing the investment, monitoring is made with active participation of the Venture Capitalist in the invested company in order to ensure the development of it and better divestment. / Os principais agentes de mudanças tecnológicas são as novas empresas de setores de alta tecnologia, pois estimulam o desenvolvimento socioeconômico através de produtos e processos inovadores. Ao desafiarem os paradigmas tecnológicos existentes, as Empresas de Base Tecnológica (EBTs) estabelecem novos padrões de concorrência de mercado, disciplinando o comportamento dos atores existentes. Devido à incerteza e assimetria informacional de suas atividades, as EBTs encontram na indisponibilidade de recursos financeiros um limitador para seu desenvolvimento. Para as EBTs, a indústria de Venture Capital tem se mostrado como um relevante intermediário financeiro, disponibilizando capital a empresas que de outra maneira teriam dificuldade em obter recursos. O investimento realizado pelas empresas de Venture Capital é arriscado, pois apresenta baixa liquidez e é altamente dependente de um pequeno grupo de empreendedores/gestores. A escolha, de qual empresa investir, é um processo complexo com relevante repercussão financeira. Por isso, esta é uma seleção estratégica, envolvendo um processo estruturado de tomada de decisão. Dado este contexto, foi desenvolvida uma pesquisa baseada no método de estudo de casos múltiplos, em que três casos foram analisados através de nove entrevistas semiestruturadas. Os resultados indicam que existe um processo estruturado de tomada de decisão por parte das empresas de Venture Capital com cinco principais etapas: origem do negócio, busca de informações, análise, negociação e monitoramento. As empresas de Venture Capital realizam tanto prospecção ativa, quanto passiva, sendo as recomendações da rede de relacionamento e o próprio empreendedor importante fontes de informação. A etapa de análise é a que o Venture Capitalist investe mais tempo, sendo quatro principais aspectos avaliados: Mercado, Finanças, Negócio e Pessoas. Dentre os principais critérios considerados para investir, destaca-se empresas baseadas em produto ou serviço inovador, além do perfil e experiência do empreendedor e sua equipe. O valuation (determinação do preço justo) das EBTs é realizado utilizando-se a metodologia do Fluxo de Caixa Descontado. O contrato de investimento entre as duas partes é negociável, no entanto, devido ao papel minoritário assumido pelas empresas de Venture Capital, elas possuem cláusulas de proteção que são irredutíveis. Após realizado o investimento é feito um monitoramento com participação ativa do Venture Capitalist na empresa investida, a fim de garantir o desenvolvimento dela e um melhor desinvestimento.

Tanto as incubadoras como as aceleradoras são organizações especializadas no suporte de empreendimentos em fases iniciais, em especial, aqueles intensivos em inovação conhecidos como startups. Apesar da grande disseminação dessas organizações, há poucas informações na literatura que evidenciem as suas diferenças e as contribuições na jornada do empreendedorismo inovador. Assim, o objetivo principal deste estudo é comparar a diferença entre as propostas de valor das aceleradoras e das incubadoras a partir da percepção das startups que tenham sido tanto incubadas como aceleradas. Entre os objetivos específicos temos: discutir possíveis relações entre as aceleradoras e as incubadoras de negócios; apresentar a evolução das incubadoras e os fatores que induziram o surgimento das aceleradoras, descrevendo os diferentes arquétipos e as implicações que essas organizações têm no ecossistema de empreendedorismo; apresentar o cenário nacional do fenômeno de aceleração e de incubação. O levantamento de dados contará com duas etapas: análise documental de fontes de dados secundárias e estudos de caso com uso de técnica de entrevista e questionário semiestruturado. A análise documental foi feita a partir de banco de dados de artigos científicos, dados oficiais de governos, fundações, revistas e páginas web especializadas e editais de chamamento das próprias organizações. A análise documental fornecerá o retrato de como as incubadoras e as aceleradoras se promovem no ecossistema como organizações importantes no apoio às startups. Em seguida, através de abordagem exploratória descritiva e qualitativa, foram realizadas entrevistas com roteiros semiestruturados com fundadores de startups que foram incubadas e aceleradas, para compreender o valor que cada um desses processos forneceu ao desenvolvimento dessas empresas. Concluiu-se que existe uma dissonância entre o valor percebido pelas startups e o que as incubadoras e as aceleradoras promovem. Também foi possível identificar que a busca por recursos pelas startups tende a não seguir um processo linear, capturando as melhores oportunidades que estejam disponíveis no momento. Por fim, esta pesquisa é um passo exploratório para trazer novas evidências do fenômeno das startups e dos diferentes instrumentos que as constroem. Sugerem-se encaminhamentos que possam preencher lacunas na literatura a respeito dos fenômenos citados, indicando a necessidade de estudos futuros que adensem o conhecimento desse fenômeno. / Both incubators and acelerators are specialized organizations to support early-stage ventures, especially innovation-intensive ones known as startups. Despite the great spread of these organizations, there is a few information in the literature that show their differences and contributions in the journey of innovative entrepreneurship. The main objective of this study is comparing the difference between value porposition of accelerators and incubators from the perception of startups that have been both incubated and accelerated. The specific objectives are: to discuss possible relationships between accelerators and incubators; to present the evolution of the incubators and the factors that led to the emergence of the accelerators, describing the different accelerators archetypes and the implications in entrepreneurship ecosystem; to present the national scenario of acceleration and incubation. The data collection stage had two stages: documentary analysis of secondary data sources; and the case study using interview technique through semi-structured questionnaire. The documentary analysis was made from a database of scientific articles, official data from governments, foundations, journals and specialized web pages and incubators and accelerators calls for proposals. Documentary analysis provided a picture of how incubators and accelerators are promoted to the ecosystem and startups. Then, through a descriptive and qualitative exploratory approach, interviews were conducted with semistructured scripts with founders of startups that were incubated and accelerated to understand the value that each of these processes provided to the development of these companies. It was concluded that there is a dissonance between what the incubators and the accelerators promote and the value perceived by the startups, they are not being able to identify enough characteristics that distinguish them. The reason for it is the diversity of the needs and demands of the startups, different models of accelerators and incubators are formulated that, in many cases, overlap in the benefits offered. It was also possible to identify that the search for resources by startups, whether radical or disruptive startups, does not follow a linear process, capturing the best opportunities available in the ecosystem through a minimally tactical and selective approach. In order to contribute to the understanding of the growing formation of organizations supporting startups, such as incubators and accelerators, and considering the findings of this research, a tool was suggested to define the types of these organizations, loosely termed \"startup guiders\". This tool analyzes three basic dimensions: business model, value proposition and stage of intervention in the development of early-stages ventures. Finally, this research is an exploratory step in bringing new evidence of the phenomenon of startups and of the different instruments that construct them. It is suggested that there be gaps in the literature regarding the mentioned phenomena, indicating the need for future studies that increase the knowledge of this phenomenon.