This paper focuses on identifying factors influencing the financing decisions of growth-oriented start-ups. A sample of 8 business incubator start-ups has been studied within a qualitative research so as to reach that goal. Their fundraising choices are analyzed using supporting financial and psychological theories. Also, the thesis examines the start-ups’ interaction with a business incubator and investors.It is found that growth oriented start-ups use internal funds in the first instance, the lack of financial capital representing the main reason behind this decision. Moreover, it is clear that bank loans are not a viable alternative for start-ups mainly because of the collaterals required. However, debt financing, coming from more accessible sources, is used despite the higher costs, this if it helps in achieving growth. Lastly, equity capital is regarded positively by growth oriented start-ups although it dilutes the control. The reasoning is that control is traded-off with the skills and experience the external investors bring in once with their investments.

Background Exploring the literature stream of the knowledge perspective as well as that of start-ups andincubation, and subsequently bringing the two together. Aim To construct propositions regarding the process of developing managerial capability in incubatedstart-ups. Methodology The study entails 3 start-ups that provide a high technology product. The development ofmanagerial capability was explored through a comparative case study in which founders, businesscoaches and externally recruited employees where interviewed. Findings The process of managerial capability development in incubated start-ups can be deconstructedinto two processes, knowledge acquisition and knowledge integration, where each process presentdistinct attributes in different stages of development of the start-up. This managerial capabilityformation is an incremental process that drives growth.

Start-ups face several issues and challenges in the course of their development as a compa-ny. Open innovation has been discussed in research for more than a decade as a concept, which can bring benefits to a company. Even though most of the research has been focus-ing on large enterprises, some researchers discuss also benefits for small companies like start-ups. Nevertheless, it can be observed that some start-ups decide to adopt the opposite of open innovation, namely closed innovation, through not sharing internal knowledge to the outside world. Hence, start-ups perceive the benefits of open innovation differently and decide accordingly whether to adopt open innovation or not. The purpose of this study is to explore if start-ups decide to actually do the former and what reasons they have to do so. Therefore, this study will further discover at what point in the development of their start-up and with whom they adopt open innovation. As an attractive industry for start-ups, the mobile services industry is selected as a scope for this study. Furthermore, Sweden is selected as the country of study, due to its reputation as one of the most innova-tive countries in the world. A qualitative study has been conducted using in-depth interviews with founders and co-founders of start-ups to retrieve narrative stories about their start-up’s development from the first day of an idea to a scalable business, and their experiences and motivations in re-gards to the application of open innovation practices. The analysis of this study detects pat-terns among the interviewed start-ups and concludes that start-ups in the mobile services industry in Sweden adopt open innovation in each phase of their development process. Furthermore, these patterns include several reasons why the start-ups applied open innova-tion practices and with whom, which are changing over the course of their development.

This thesis presents the results of a research that examines technology appropriation (TA) awareness and identification in digital services start-up companies. Technology appropriation refers to the unexpected ways in which people adopt and adapt technology to make it serve their personal needs and motives. The research questions(Chapter 1) are: (1) How to identify TA within the development of digital services in the context of start-ups? (2) How aware are service providers of the phenomenon of TA? (3)What are the enablers for the appropriation of services by users? To address these questions, the thesis presents in chapter 2 a literature review that illustrates the context of the research, and explains its key concepts: digital services, user involvement in the development of digital services, technology appropriation, and levels of user engagement. Specific research methodological choices as well as specially designed research data collection and analysis tools are subsequently explained in chapter 3. An exploratory study is then introduced in chapter 4 to demonstrate how users can be involved in the development of digital services, evidencing the need for further research in TA. This initial work is concluded in chapter 5 by the introduction of a theoretical framework for TA (TF TA). Chapter 6 outlines the design and planning of the main study consisting of five case studies which provide empirical data for the core findings of this research. A first set of findings deriving from a comparison of TA examples found in the case studies based on the TA three levels proposed framework (TF TA) is presented in chapter 7. A second set of findings presented in chapter 8 helps to respond to the questions: (1) how aware are service providers of the phenomenon of TA, and (2) what are the enablers for the appropriation of services by users? These findings establish the level of TA awareness of each case study, outline the taxonomy of TA service types, and introduce emerging themes resulting from a thematic analysis, which also serves to propose enablers for TA within digital start-ups. Chapter 9 and 10 identifies and presents a third set of findings and contributions to knowledge. Main contributions are: a new tested and revised TA Level Framework created by examining the empirical findings against the TA Theoretical Framework (TA TF). And a new TA Identification Method within the development of digital services in the context of start-ups, underpinned by the tools previously developed in the research. Minor contributions explained in chapter 10 are: A taxonomy of TA services (pro-active/re-active/inactive), an account of the Key Aspects of TA Awareness, a Typology of TA Outcomes (Soft TA, Hard TA, and Hard & Soft), and a revised classification of TA Impact and TA levels. It also comprises an explanation of the relationship of TA Levels & TA Impact, a revised model of the user involvement approach, a new categorisation of TA User Actions (Expected/Engage/TA savvy), and an identification of TA Enablers (User Lead & Service Control). This research has found that the Key Aspects of TA Awareness are TA Concept, Systematic Programme of User Involvement, Mode of User Involvement, Identifying TA Actions, and the TA Enablers (User Lead & Service Control). The research has also found that the users actions and outcomes related to the adoption and adaption the technology, can be classified in High (when the users lead parts of the service), Medium (when the users customised and personalised the service) and Low levels (when the users used the service as intended, but give feedback to the service providers about its used). Additionally, this work has determined that the services and service providers TA Level Awareness is determined by how much they understand and know about TA. This awareness can be classified as proactive (when the service provider understands, identifies, and knowingly foster TA within the service), reactive (when the service provider understands TA in other services but cannot identify TA and reacts to users feedback and TA) and inactive (when the service provider does not recognised and cannot identify TA within the service). This investigation also has established that the aspects of the TA Level Framework can be integrated and employed as a method for TA identification within the services. This study has recognised that TA impact, the extent to which services are employed in the process of appropriation, can be classified as high, medium and low depending on how the service providers change and further develop their service because of their understanding and identification of TA. The enquiry also found that the level of TA impact is different from the TA Level, that the knowledge and awareness of TA impact are underpinned by the user actions and outcomes, as well as by their change and development. Another finding of this research is that the users TA outcomes (this is the tangible consequence of the user adoption and adaptation of technology) can be classified as Soft TA, Hard TA and Soft & Hard TA. Soft TA corresponds to the changes made by users related to the social practices evolution of the service, Hard TA refers to the changes made by the users in the API of the service. Soft & Hard TA relates to the combination of user changes in social aspects and the manipulation of the service s API. The study found that the service providers main approaches to user involvement are: listening to and collaborating, testing and experimenting and active observation. Last, this investigation determined that users actions concerning TA can be expected (users do nothing else other than the expected use of the service), engaged (where users are involved in the development of the service for personal motives) and TA savvy (where users are involved in in the development of the service for personal motives, but they have software and programming skills). The conclusions section summarises the research and explains its limitations. It also presents a personal reflection and indicates avenues for future research.

This thesis investigates the pre-seed funding process for technology start-ups. Furthermore, it aims to investigate, how the process of acquiring pre-seed funding is, and which challenges entrepreneurs are facing during this process. The data of this thesis were collected through semi-structured interviews with tech start-ups that recently have gone through the funding process and where therefore able to contribute with perspectives of the pre-seed funding process. After analysing the data from the interviews, we investigated how entrepreneurs experience the process of acquiring early-stage funding. We found that the pre-seed funding process for tech start-ups first of all is time consuming. The applications to funding-organisations takes up valuable time for the start-up. Furthermore, entrepreneurs should consider the framing and pitching of the business when applying for funding. The entrepreneurs face several challenges during the process, including limitations on how the money can be spent. Many of the funding programme applications are very bureaucratic and demanding, and some startups require external assistance just to fill out these applications. The lack of network for early-stage entrepreneurs is a challenge, when applying for funding for the company. For entrepreneurs, credibility is also an important part when applying for early-stage funding. These are the areas this thesis will touch upon, as they are central aspects to processes and challenges that entrepreneurs are facing during the pre-seed funding phase. Since this thesis comprises a small group of tech start-ups from Uppsala and Stockholm in Sweden, it is not able to say anything about the possible differences in the pre-seed funding processes in other countries. However, this study gives an initial view about the process of acquiring pre-seed funding in these cities and should stimulate for further research addressing this subject in Sweden and abroad.

The entrepreneurial journey can be filled with challenges. Having a successful mentorship forsupport and guidance can be crucial for the development of a startup and for learningentrepreneurial skills. For many young entrepreneurs, mentorship is an available alternative.At the same time, there are other options that could present a more tempting course of action.This study has investigated what value young entrepreneurs put into traditional mentorshipand what other alternatives are utilized. Through a study on members from student firmsunder the Swedish organization Ung Företagsamhet, this investigation is pursuing to find outthe value of mentorship. Semi-structured interviews have been constructed with 42 studentsfrom 12 different firms to get a deeper understanding for how these young entrepreneurs thinkwhen they integrate with a mentor, how they act and why, and what kind of methods theyprefer to use.Prior studies are telling us that mentorship is a delicate matter, and even under the rightconditions, mentorship is not always successful. The respondents of this investigation belongto a group of people who spend more time on the internet and on social media than anygeneration before them. The result of this research is indicating that traditional mentorship isstill considered to be a very valuable tool, despite many available options.

Abstract Background: Innovation is a key factor in the development of new businesses as well as in the sustainable success of existing organisations. Especially for family businesses, innovation is the main strategic instrument to ensure economic growth, prosperity, and transgenerational survival. However, many organisations are unable to achieve success by themselves; thus, collaborative innovation becomes increasingly important. While collaborative innovation with start-ups is highly promising for corporations, it remains unclear how feasible the decision for this approach is for family firms due to their distinct attributes. Purpose: This thesis aims to research how particular family business attributes influence the decision for collaborative innovation with start-ups. Thereby we contribute to existing academic literature and provide valuable insights for family firms to further increase their innovation potential. Method: To fulfil the purpose of this exploratory research study, secondary data, in the scope of a literature review as well as additional valuable sources and primary data, in the form of qualitative interviews, are gathered. The in-depth interviews allow us to collect responses on sensitive information on firm insights, while triangulation with secondary data enables us to generate a deep understanding of different perspectives significant to this study. In total, ten semi-structured interviews from six family businesses are conducted. Later, Grounded Theory is used for analysing the data. Conclusion: The results show that two of the examined attributes, namely risk aversion and unwillingness to collaborate with external partners, have a negative influence on the decision for collaborative innovation with start-ups. The other two attributes, long-term orientation and unwillingness to invest in innovation purposes both demonstrate ambivalent findings. Thus, their influence cannot be clearly evidenced in this study.

Context: Misalignment of stakeholder objectives generally takes place in any of the software company irrespective of the small, middle, large scale companies if the misalignment takes place then the goal the project doesn't reach and the objective changes. These misalignment's lead to project failure. Failures of the project in start-ups company some times lead to the shutdown of a company permanently. Minimizing the misalignment in a company means to avoid the risk. Mostly it is more critical for the software start-ups.  Objectives:  The main aim of our research is to know the factors responsible for the misalignment of the stakeholder objectives in software start-ups along with the significant challenges and possible solutions. Methods: In this qualitative research, we conducted the semi-structured interviews from the twelve start-up companies and collected the data for the research questions. The collected information is then thematically analyzed. We referred to many articles from the google scholar to find the significant challenges responsible for the misalignment of the stakeholder objectives. Results:  The main findings in our research are as follows RQ1 external sponsor with his focus on return on investment discussed by the ten out of twelve software start-ups. In the twelve companies, ten companies are dependent on the external sponsor. Human factor and the requirements prioritization are the factors discussed by the six and five interviewees of the start-up companies. The remote working, last-minute change of requirements, deadlines are discussed by two interviewees. The one interviewee discusses the technology factor. In the findings from RQ2, we observed that the challenges related to the humans, return on investment, the external sponsor is more dominant compared to others factors like technology factor, deadlines, remote working, a last-minute change of requirements. In the findings of RQ3, about the possible solutions for the challenges with the misalignment of stakeholder objectives. Conclusions: The results of this study may help the furthers researchers who can research on the misalignment of the stakeholder objectives in software start-ups. These solutions may help the software industry people to minimise the general challenges in future in a better way. This results also may use for the people who want to start a software start-up so that they can know the factors, challenges, solutions of the misalignment of the stakeholder objectives in software start-ups.

Companies within the high-technology industry are largely dependent on a specialised knowledge base to make advances in technological innovations and maintain a competitive advantage. Technology start-ups (TSUs) have limited resources and face various organisational challenges which place them at a disadvantage in the recruitment of skilled knowledge workers. This research investigates the factors which attract highly skilled knowledge workers to technology start-ups (TSUs) in South Africa, despite their numerous challenges. This study used a mixed method design involving 129 knowledge workers. Exploratory interviews were conducted in the first phase to investigate which factors attracted knowledge workers to TSUs. An Adaptive Choice-Based Conjoint (ACBC) experiment in the second phase tested the relative importance of the attributes that were identified during the interviews and in the literature. The findings revealed that intellectual challenge and financial package were the most important individual attributes while non-financial job attributes were most important overall. Different preferences existed between genders although not between job types. The entrepreneurial aspirations of the knowledge worker were also found to be a significant factor in their attraction to a TSU. Recommendations are made to TSUs for recruiting talent based on the findings.Copyright / Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2011. / Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) / unrestricted

Sustainability has become a major concern for society, adding pressure on companies to become more sustainability-driven, while at the same time attending to the questions of economic growth and financial performance. Although the existing literature has provided frameworks that highlight the need for balancing environmental, social, and economic impact, there is still limited knowledge about how company representatives perceive and deal with the implicit trade-offs. In this study, we approach this issue by exploring how owners and managers of start-up companies, which operate under constant resource and capital constraints, perceive and deal with the potential trade-offs between sustainability, growth, and profitability. A qualitative research design with semi-structured interviews is used to explore how in their decision-making, owners, and managers of start-ups talk about and attempt to resolve these trade-offs. The primary findings from the study are that: (1) start-up representatives have limited knowledge about sustainability concepts, (2) they do not perceive a trade-off between sustainability and growth, but (3) they do recognize and contend with the trade-off between sustainability and profitability.