From social entrepreneurship concept validation to business model’s lessons learned

: the case of a social tech start-up

Abstract

This work was carried out with the purpose of identifying how a social technological start-up develops and sustains its activity. To this end, it was necessary to identify an appropriate entrepreneurship methodology for the social sector, focusing on its verification initiatives to understand its applicability. This theme stems from a reality studied in the literature in which in today society, there is a variety of social initiatives being executed. However, the common scenario shows a lack of an efficient and effective approach for a social start-up to achieve its mission. After the literature review on the current state of social innovation, its concepts and identification of different applicable development methodologies, a social technology start-up was then selected to carry out a case study (Yin, 2018) to analyse its development path, confronting it with the "Six Stages of Social Innovation" model in each of its stages. The study culminated with the understanding that the company in question, regardless of its technological nature, did not support its development in any methodology, failing the validation of its concept and the development of a business model appropriate to its social nature, culminating with its extinction due to lack of financial sustainability. The study, among other conclusions, draws attention to the need to introduce a culture of error valuation and agile validation methodologies that guide the venture through the various stages.

Date of Award	20 Dec 2021
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Maria Cristina Geraldes Malheiro Machado Guimarães (Supervisor)