TITLE:
Challenges of Start-Ups—An Analysis of Individually Tailored Recommendations Based on the Development Phases, Branches, Business Models and Founding Teams
AUTHORS:
Tobias Wetzel, Julia Eiche
KEYWORDS:
Entrepreneur, Entrepreneurship, Start-Ups, Challenges, Business Strategies, Business Model, Founder, Development Phase, Financing, Growth, Innovation
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Business and Management,
Vol.12 No.3,
May
14,
2024
ABSTRACT: Start-ups are driving the current technological change and subsequently influence the world of tomorrow with unique ideas, sustainable concepts and innovative business models. The diversity of challenges in today’s business world is also evident in the start-up ecosystem in Germany. These challenges have not only led to an 18% reduction in the number of new start-ups in 2022, the dropout rate of start-ups has also reached an all-time high during that time. The goal of this paper is to develop individual strategic recommendation based on the current economic conditions, which will help founder to better overcome the challenges facing them in the German market. In order to define the current challenges, a theoretical analysis and clustering of the thematic sub-areas of the Canvas Business models, together with an evaluation of the most significant studies in this area, will be performed. This data base was obtained using an empirical survey of 152 German start-ups. Based on the combination of both sources, it’s possible to answer the research questions regarding the current and future challenges as well as the associated support possibilities. The results of the study show that the establishment of an effective sales and customer care system, the implementation of financial planning and a sustainable pricing/costing calculation are currently the most significant aspects for a start-up. If we look to the future company scalability, ability to maintain market control against strong competitors and increasing government regulations will have a higher relevance. Based on these insights, individually tailored recommendations have been developed depending on the development stage, market sector, business model, and founding team of the start-ups.