Why start-ups fail in Portugal?

Abstract

This work aims to understand what Portuguese entrepreneurs demand from incubators and
what kind of support are these entities are not currently providing to entrepreneurs. At the same
time, it aims to appreciate the initial stage as a major obstacle during the start-up’s life path and
goals to demystify the complexity that this period comprehends. By doing so, this thesis labels
these two analyses as failure causes. And so, this paper suggests that entrepreneurial failure should
be scrutinized in order to avoid same errors. In the end, it is found that Portuguese entrepreneurial
ecosystem has favourable conditions to exploit the entrepreneurial activity. Portugal possesses the
proper infrastructures, the required capital sources and the necessary geographical and climate
characteristics able to attract more foreign investors and to sustain the national start-ups
headquartered here. However, there’s a need to restructure the educational system, to disclosure
and to promote the Portuguese market, to join synergies between the government and these nongovernmental
entities and to coordinate the incubator’s work in order to promote a sustainable and
bright entrepreneurial future in Portugal.

Date of Award	17 May 2018
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Cláudia Isabel de Sousa Costa (Supervisor)