STUDENTS’ PERCEPTION OF GROWTH AND SCALABILITY OF STARTUP IDEAS

Abstract

This study deals with the development of startup ideas, created in three entrepreneurial hackathons. We present a case of two similar interactive workshops, which took place after these three entrepreneurial hackathons. International students, with their startup ideas were involved in the process of further developing their ideas. This study focuses on students’ perception of growth and scalability of their startup ideas as well as their capability as an entrepreneur to implement these ideas. This study follows a quantitative research methodology. For the purpose of data collection, a survey was developed. Empirical data was collected with the survey at the end of workshops, which took place at two different locations. Our analysis shows that according to students’ perception, the ‘number of business activities’ is the most important aspect of business growth, whereas the ‘age of the startup’ is the least important one. Secondly, students consider ‘major business goals’ as the most important management factor for growth and scalability of the startup and ‘business processes’ the least important. Further, participants would most probably adopt a business model that is free from capacity constraints, has enriched value proposition or one that would provide a platform for other businesses while implementing their startup ideas. The study also provides some insight into the confidence and risk tolerance profile of participating students as a potential entrepreneur. The results indicate that the workshops equally enhanced students’ productivity to further develop their startup business ideas. This study is connected to our current knowledge and contributes to the entrepreneurial education literature by providing insights into the practice of developing startup ideas.