What Matters for Early-Stage Startups? A Qualitative Content Analysis Based on Case Studies

The process of starting a business has plenty of challenges and difficulties. Decisions can influence future development and even determine the survival and success of a startup at an early stage. This study identifies the critical domains of decision that founders need to focus on during the early stages of their ventures. A qualitative content analysis was conducted on 25 case studies published in business school repositories. The case studies selected describe the venture creation process, revealing the critical decisions and the decision-making processes described in the case studies. The most critical decisions based on the case studies are made at the early stages in the domains of product definition, core people, funding, and market segment selection, while the decision process emphasizes implementation, feedback, evaluation, and diagnosis of the situation. Founders and researchers can use the results to identify what they need to focus on during the early startup stage and as insights into what stages of the decision-making process impact other founders' experiences.