Sustainable development start-ups as a new category of enterprises in Poland

Objective: The objective of the article is to review entities operating in Poland on the basis of sustainable business models in order to determine the scale and development potential for this phenomenon and to define the profile of this type of enterprises operating in Poland. Research Design & Methods: The study was based on a desk research analysis divided into two phases: Part one: creation of a picture of the positive impact start-up market, taking into account the following data: establishment year of the enterprise, the city, in which the business is registered, the industry, in which the company operates, type of activity. Part two: creation of a picture of the positive impact start-up market in terms of the use of new technologies. Source of data: the database of Positive Impact Start-ups, prepared and published by Koźmiński Business Hub, which is the only list of enterprises operating in Poland based on sustainable business models. Findings: Based on the analysed data, a profile of a Positive Impact Start-up was created with the most typical characteristics of this type of enterprise. A profile is a set of features that are most frequent within each analysed category. Implications & Recommendations: The study describes a new type of enterprises in Poland, including the scale of development of such type of enterprises and their characteristics. That can help the policy-makers in proper definition of business landscape in Poland – both today and in a near future – and defining the regulatory needs of such type of enterprises. Contribution & Value Added: The study contributes to the literature on the sustainable business models, by analysing the development and characteristics of sustainable business model based enterprises operating in Poland, as well as defining the profile of such enterprise operating in Poland.