Unveiling the critical factors of disruptive technologies development

: a case study with Deloitte Digital and technological start-ups

Abstract

Innovation, entrepreneurship and technology are enablers for the new path of growth towards the Information Era. Because of this, it is imperative to master the dynamics of creating, developing and scaling ventures. This master thesis aims to deepen the knowledge on start-up development. In order to analyze each of the six development stages, we will focus on the critical factors throughout the process as well as major challenges and strategies to accelerate start-up development. To explore these topics, an exploratory case study was conducted with interviews to 14 technological start-ups included in a two month accelerator organized by Deloitte Digital Portugal and Beta-i.
The results demonstrate (i) the accelerator had a positive impact on start-up development, (ii) client feedback and interaction was considered a critical factor throughout all stages, (iii) the biggest challenges of recruiting the right people and having a good network to access the market can be surpassed by adopting a set of proposed strategies. The merge of these findings and current literature allowed the design of a framework with a set of key activities and good practices that should be taken by ventures to ensure the accomplishment of their visionary goals.

Date of Award	28 Jul 2017
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Gianmario Verona (Supervisor) & Catarina Alexandre Nunes Runa Miranda (Co-Supervisor)