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Startups’ Roads to Failure

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Cantamessa

    (Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Turin, Italy)

  • Valentina Gatteschi

    (Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Turin, Italy)

  • Guido Perboli

    (Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Turin, Italy
    ICT for City Logistics and Enterprises Center, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Turin, Italy
    Centre Interuniversitaire de Recherche sur les Réseaux d’Entreprise, la Logistique et le Transport (CIRRELT), Montreal, H3T 1J4 QC, Canada)

  • Mariangela Rosano

    (Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Turin, Italy
    ICT for City Logistics and Enterprises Center, Politecnico di Torino, 10129 Turin, Italy)

Abstract

The role of a relatively small cadre of high-tech startup firms in driving innovation and economic growth has been well known and amply celebrated in recent history. At the same time, it is well recognized that, while the overall contribution of startups is crucial, the high-risk and high-reward strategy followed by these startups leads to significant failure rates and a low ratio of successful startups. So, it is curious to notice that literature tends to focus on successful startups and on quantitative studies looking for determinants of success while neglecting the numerous lessons that can be drawn by examining the stories of startups that failed. This paper aims to fill this gap and to contribute to the literature by providing a repeatable and scalable methodology that can be applied to databases of unstructured post-mortem documents deriving startup failure patterns. A further and related contribution is the analysis carried out with this methodology to a large database of 214 startup post-mortem reports. Descriptive statistics show how the lack of a structured Business Development strategy emerges as a key determinant of startup failure in the majority of cases.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Cantamessa & Valentina Gatteschi & Guido Perboli & Mariangela Rosano, 2018. "Startups’ Roads to Failure," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-19, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:7:p:2346-:d:156535
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. Alessia Pisoni & Emanuele Aversa & Alberto Onetti, 2021. "The Role of Failure in the Entrepreneurial Process: A Systematic Literature Review," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 16(1), pages 1-53, August.
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    9. Andrew Page & Jonny Holmström, 2023. "Enablers and inhibitors of digital startup evolution: a multi-case study of Swedish business incubators," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-28, December.
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