Removing blurring for better understanding the main challenges facing digital entrepreneurs in the digital era: An empirical investigation study from emerging country.

The purpose of this study is to examine the main challenges that these entrepreneurs in developing nations confront. This study utilizes a digital startup database maintained by the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship (MoDEE) in Jordan and conducts semi-structured interviews with a random selection of 85 early-stage digital entrepreneurs. In order to understand the cognitive and psychological characteristics of digital entrepreneurs and their motives for entering the field, this study draws on the theory of planned behavior. Using NVivo 20, a theme analysis is carried out. Based on the interviews conducted, the top industries among the startups that were looked at were big data and business analytics, internet-of-things (IoT), cybersecurity (CT) technology, food service and agri-tech, warehouse automation (WA) and elastic logistics (ELs), conversional artificial intelligence (CAI), financial technology (FinTech), and block chain technology (BCT). 42.5 % of the target population is represented by the large sample size that was used. These obstacles could include long-term funding, a dearth of one-on-one coaching and guidance, unforeseen risks or setbacks, and financial constraints. The study's conclusions may provide policymakers with a tactical manual for removing the main barriers that emerging digital entrepreneurs and their firms must overcome.

From garages to ecosystems: the coevolution of life science incubators and accelerators.

Incubators and accelerators catalyze the launch of life science startups and have evolved from simple facilities to vibrant ecosystems offering research infrastructure, programs, and funding. Analysis of financing activities indicates the outperformance of incubator companies relative to accelerators in fundraising, mergers and acquisitions (M&As), and initial public offerings (IPOs), attributed to extended interactions with investors and peers.

The impact of digital platforms on new startup performance: Strategy as moderator.

Recent studies have acknowledged the contribution of digital platforms to entrepreneurial activity. However, little has been discovered regarding the way digital platforms impact new start-ups' performance and how strategy affects this relationship. This study investigated this phenomenon using a structural equation model based on entrepreneurial bricolage and environmental strategy performance theory. The current findings indicate that broader market outreach, cost-effectiveness, and network effect produce a favorable, direct, and substantial effect on new startup performance. Furthermore, strategy moderates the effects of broader market outreach, network effect, and cost-effectiveness on new startup performance. Furthermore, strategy moderates the impact of broader market outreach, network effect, and cost-effectiveness on new startup performance. The Chinese government in particular, and governments of various emerging nations generally, must pay close attention to the results of this research to design policies that will not only lengthen the lifespan of small businesses but also promote rapid expansion as well as innovation of digital start-ups.

Spinning Out Greentech Start-ups.

The Paris Agreement has made combating climate change a priority and has incentivised innovationfor the greentech industry. Higher education institution[s] (HEI[s]) play an important role in fueling this innovation by developing disruptive technologies and support the creation of start-up companies that take the risk to bring these technologies to the market. The successful spinning out of such start-ups relies on the HEIs nurturing anecosystem with multiple actors as well as internal mechanisms to transfer such technologies to the start-up. HEIs have dedicated offices involved in technology transfer (TTO) that provide an interface between all the different actors (inventors, founders, start-up, investors, etc.). The TTO of an HEI also plays a central role in the technology transfer by providing the licence agreements granting start-ups the rights to use a technology developed by the HEI. This review summarises the role of a TTO and the practice of making the licensing process as transparent as possible for start-up founders and investors.

PMDedu: Assessing the educational needs of startups and academic investigators focused on pediatric medical device development.

Background: The pediatric medical device development (PMDD) process is highly complex, beset by a variety of financial, technical, medical, and regulatory barriers. Startup company innovators and academic investigators often struggle with accessing specialized knowledge relating to regulatory requirements, product development, research, and marketing strategies. Objectives: The West Coast Consortium for Technology & Innovation in Pediatrics (CTIP) conducted an educational needs assessment to understand knowledge gaps and inform our educational strategy. Methods: We surveyed a total of 49 medical device startups and 52 academic investigators. Electronic surveys were developed for each group on Qualtrics and focused on manufacturing, regulatory, research, commercialization, and funding. Descriptive statistics were used. Results: A larger proportion of academic investigator respondents had a clinical background compared to the startup respondents (45% vs. 22%). The biggest barriers for academic investigators were understanding regulatory and safety requirements testing (52%) and finding and obtaining non-dilutive funding was the most difficult (54%). Among startups, understanding clinical research methods and requirements was the biggest barrier (79%). Conclusion: Startup companies and academic investigators have similar, but not identical, educational needs to better understand the PMD development process. Investigators need more support in identifying funding sources, while startup companies identified an increased need for education on research regulatory topics. These findings can help guide curriculum development as well as opportunities for partnerships between academia and startups.

Analyzing the Impact of Dual Learning on the Performance and Sustainable Innovation Practices of Start-ups in the Sports Sector / Análisis del impacto del aprendizaje dual en el desempeño y las prácticas de innovación sostenible de las empresas emergentes en el sector deportivo

This paper discusses the relationship between dual learning (research learning and applied learning) and sustainable development performance evaluation in the sports sector. According to the basic theory of learning, the basic theory of continuous innovation ability, the basic theory of sustainable development performance evaluation, the cooperation theory and contingency theory, this paper discusses the harm of dual learning and complementation to the sports enterprise sustainable development performance evaluation under the dynamic environment. According to the empirical research on the questionnaire survey of 179 units in Jiangsu and Henan, dual learning and complementarity have a positive impact on innovation ability, and continuous innovation ability has a positive impact on sustainable development performance evaluation. Continuous innovation ability plays a part of the intermediary role in the impact of dual learning and complementation on the performance evaluation of sustainable development. The management plan obtained from scientific research reminds us that sports enterprises must "go forward" with dual learning to obtain excellent continuous innovation ability and sustainable development performance evaluation. Startups attach great importance to sustainable innovation capability, and pay more attention to the complementary effect of dual learning on sustainable innovation capability under the dynamic environment.(AU)

What fuels the employees in startups?: Data on hybrid/colocated/virtual working environment towards efficiency.

Purpose: This article examines the concepts of workplace satisfaction and productivity using data. The data will be used to investigate the variables contributing to employee satisfaction to achieve optimum efficiency through various startup working environments. Design/ Methodology/ Approach: Descriptive causal investigation. A structured instrument scale questionnaire via the internet to 256 employees working for highly organized organizations in Bangalore, India, using Qualtrics. The researcher adopted a simple random sampling method. Findings: The respondents in the data believed that the pre-covid workplace was advantageous. The hybrid model's prevalence of autonomy and flexibility increases work productivity. When employees are given more responsibility, their job satisfaction and productivity increase. Research Limitations/ Implications: Collecting data in a startup was extremely difficult due to the difficulty of obtaining permission, and through the analysis, it was determined that businesses have a responsibility to provide supplemental benefits to remote employees, which may increase the level of job satisfaction and enjoyment experienced by these individuals.

Enablers and inhibitors of digital startup evolution: a multi-case study of Swedish business incubators.

Global advances in digital technology are facilitating corresponding rises in digital entrepreneurship and its startup manifestation. There are many uncertainties on the road to digital startup evolution, some of which may be successfully navigated with the assistance of business incubators. While these organisations provide valuable guidance and support to the startup community, their efforts are at least partly constrained by the lack of a consistent, coherent roadmap to guide both them and their incubatees. T0 help efforts to develop such a map, this paper seeks to identify factors that influence digital startup evolution within an incubator setting through a multiple-case study focusing on digital startups under the umbrella of three business incubators in the Swedish city Umeå. Sets of enabling and inhibitory factors are identified through literature searches and the case studies. The latter may include inertia and possibly attitudes towards failure. In addition, present the Ideation Dynamics Model as a guide for both incubators and digital startups is proposed.

Founder personality and entrepreneurial outcomes: A large-scale field study of technology startups.

Technology startups play an essential role in the economy-with seven of the ten largest companies rooted in technology, and venture capital investments totaling approximately $300B annually. Yet, important startup outcomes (e.g., whether a startup raises venture capital or gets acquired) remain difficult to forecast-particularly during the early stages of venture formation. Here, we examine the impact of an essential, yet underexplored, factor that can be observed from the moment of startup creation: founder personality. We predict psychological traits from digital footprints to explore how founder personality is associated with critical startup milestones. Observing 10,541 founder-startup dyads, we provide large-scale, ecologically valid evidence that founder personality is associated with outcomes across all phases of a venture's life (i.e., from raising the earliest funding round to exiting via acquisition or initial public offering). We find that openness and agreeableness are positively related to the likelihood of raising an initial round of funding (but unrelated to all subsequent conditional outcomes). Neuroticism is negatively related to all outcomes, highlighting the importance of founders' resilience. Finally, conscientiousness is positively related to early-stage investment, but negatively related to exit conditional on funding. While prior work has painted conscientiousness as a major benefactor of performance, our findings highlight a potential boundary condition: The fast-moving world of technology startups affords founders with lower or moderate levels of conscientiousness a competitive advantage when it comes to monetizing their business via acquisition or IPO.

Telepsychiatry in an Era of Digital Mental Health Startups.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Telepsychiatry practiced by psychiatrists is evidence-based, regulated, private, and effective in diverse settings. The use of telemedicine has grown since the COVID-19 pandemic as people routinely obtain more healthcare services online. At the same time, there has been a rapid increase in the number of digital mental health startups that offer various services including online therapy and access to prescription medications. These digital mental health firms advertise directly to the consumer primarily through digital advertising. The purpose of this narrative review is to contrast traditional telepsychiatry and the digital mental health market related to online therapy. RECENT FINDINGS: In contrast to standard telepsychiatry, most of the digital mental health startups are unregulated, have unproven efficacy, and raise concerns related to self-diagnosis, self-medicating, and inappropriate prescribing. The role of digital mental health firms for people with serious mental illness has not been determined. There are inadequate privacy controls for the digital mental health firms, including for online therapy. We live in an age where there is widespread admiration for technology entrepreneurs and increasing emphasis on the role of the patient as a consumer. Yet, the business practices of digital mental health startups may compromise patient safety for profits. There is a need to address issues with the digital mental health startups and to educate patients about the differences between standard medical care and digital mental health products.

The Gap Between AI and Bedside: Participatory Workshop on the Barriers to the Integration, Translation, and Adoption of Digital Health Care and AI Startup Technology Into Clinical Practice.

BACKGROUND: Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital health technological innovations from startup companies used in clinical practice can yield better health outcomes, reduce health care costs, and improve patients' experience. However, the integration, translation, and adoption of these technologies into clinical practice are plagued with many challenges and are lagging. Furthermore, explanations of the impediments to clinical translation are largely unknown and have not been systematically studied from the perspective of AI and digital health care startup founders and executives. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to describe the barriers to integrating early-stage technologies in clinical practice and health care systems from the perspectives of digital health and health care AI founders and executives. METHODS: A stakeholder focus group workshop was conducted with a sample of 10 early-stage digital health and health care AI founders and executives. Digital health, health care AI, digital health-focused venture capitalists, and physician executives were represented. Using an inductive thematic analysis approach, transcripts were organized, queried, and analyzed for thematic convergence. RESULTS: We identified the following four categories of barriers in the integration of early-stage digital health innovations into clinical practice and health care systems: (1) lack of knowledge of health system technology procurement protocols and best practices, (2) demanding regulatory and validation requirements, (3) challenges within the health system technology procurement process, and (4) disadvantages of early-stage digital health companies compared to large technology conglomerates. Recommendations from the study participants were also synthesized to create a road map to mitigate the barriers to integrating early-stage or novel digital health technologies in clinical practice. CONCLUSIONS: Early-stage digital health and health care AI entrepreneurs identified numerous barriers to integrating digital health solutions into clinical practice. Mitigation initiatives should create opportunities for early-stage digital health technology companies and health care providers to interact, develop relationships, and use evidence-based research and best practices during health care technology procurement and evaluation processes.

What do software startups need from UX work?

Empirical research on software development practices in startups is growing. However, little has been investigated about how User eXperience (UX) work has been carried out in software startups. The primary objective of this paper is to investigate what software startups need from UX work. To achieve this goal, we conducted open-ended interviews and retrospective meetings with 16 software professionals from two software startups in Brazil. We analysed the data qualitatively using different coding approaches: initial coding, focused coding, and theoretical coding. We found 14 UX work-related needs which emerged from the daily practices used for software development in the two startups studied. Based on our findings, we propose an initial theoretical framework that highlights two theoretical themes and four groups underlying the needs identified. Our study reveals several relationships between UX work-related needs which are helpful to understand in order to identify what startups need from UX work in practice and to focus startup teams' efforts on the most urgent needs. As future work, we plan to explore ways in which these needs may be addressed so that UX work may be put into practice in software startups.

Commentary: Patient Perspectives on Artificial Intelligence; What have We Learned and How Should We Move Forward?

Artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare has now begun to make its contributions to real-world patient care with varying degrees of both public and clinical acceptability around it. The heavy investment from governments, industry and academia needed to reach this point has helped to surface different perspectives on AI. As clinical AI applications become a reality, however, there is an increasing need to harness and integrate patient perspectives, which address the distinct needs of different populations, healthcare systems and clinical problems more closely. Despite this need, patient perspectives on AI implementation have little presence in academic literature and within implementation science and are not sufficiently considered throughout the MedTech and eHealthtech product development cycle, which brings its own challenges and opportunities. This joint patient expert/clinician commentary aims to briefly summarise views on AI. It reflects upon recommendations on how stakeholders such as clinicians and Health & MedTech small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can make practical usage of these views. The recommendations of the authors centre around how to work better with patients to enable both product centric and patient centric innovation and person-centred care.

Entrepreneurship challenges: the case of Jordanian start-ups.

This study investigates challenges facing entrepreneurs in Jordan, identifies some of problems specific to SMEs, and offers some solutions to help these companies improve their conditions. This study collected primary data through interviews with entrepreneurs in four start-up companies specialized in diverse fields, including information technology, consulting, training, and e-marketing. This study found many obstacles facing entrepreneurs in Jordan, the most important of which are financial and logistical support, the challenge of distributing work, owning operating experiences, obtaining information, commercial relations, and networking. The results of this study showed that women face greater challenges in relation to financing and investment opportunities. Finally, this study proposes some solutions which expected to be applied to improve the business environment, the most important of which is that the Jordanian Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship should activate pilot projects and stimulate investment in them, facilitating the development and deployment of technical knowledge in private sector development.

Diachronic profile of startup companies through social media.

Social media platforms have become powerful tools for startups, helping them find customers and raise funding. In this study, we applied a social media intelligence-based methodology to analyze startups' content and to understand how their communication strategies may differ during their scaling process. To understand if a startup's social media content reflects its current business maturation position, we first defined an adequate life cycle model for startups based on funding rounds and product maturity. Using Twitter as the source of information and selecting a sample of known Portuguese IT startups at different phases of their life cycle, we analyzed their Twitter data. After preprocessing the data, using latent Dirichlet allocation, topic modeling techniques enabled the categorization of the data according to the topics arising in the published contents of the startups, making it possible to discover that contents can be grouped into five specific topics: "Fintech and ML," "IT," "Business Operations," "Product/Service R&D," and "Bank and Funding." By comparing those profiles against the startup's life cycle, we were able to understand how contents change over time. This provided a diachronic profile for each company, showing that while certain topics remain prevalent in the startup's scaling, others depend on a particular phase of the startup's cycle. Our analysis revealed that startups' social media content differs along their life cycle, highlighting the importance of understanding how startups use social media at different stages of their development.

Psychological and sociological determinants of entrepreneurial intentions and behaviors.

Research concerned with the personality of entrepreneurs entails an important part of the research into the management of small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurship. This research has added new knowledge about the role of entrepreneurs' personality characteristics, their family entrepreneurial background, and the local supportive entrepreneurial background in entrepreneurial start-up intentions and behaviors. Hypotheses and a model were developed and verified using structural equation modeling and regression analysis considering data from a sample of entrepreneurs and students. This research revealed that several personality and sociological factors can be important for entrepreneurship when it comes to starting a business. The most important were the Big Five personality factors openness, extraversion, and non-agreeableness and, to a smaller extent, emotional stability (non-neuroticism), and conscientiousness. The second-most important group of factors were the specific motivational characteristics entrepreneurial self-efficacy, internal locus of control, and risk-taking propensity. Sociological factors were much less important than psychological elements for establishing business.

Corporate immunity, national culture and stock returns: Startups amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Small and medium-sized firms, particularly startups, are highly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic because of their financial instability. Using a sample of listed startups across four countries, we investigate whether a startup's built-up capacity pre-COVID-19 can stimulate corporate immunity to endure the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, reflected via stock performance. We find that the increase in the accumulated COVID-19 confirmed cases worsens stock returns and that the negative effect is alleviated if startups are greater in size as well as have low debt, large board size and CEO duality. Moreover, national cultural dimensions significantly moderate the relationship between stock returns and COVID-19. The COVID-19 negative impact is relieved in societies where people are more collectivistic and cooperative, less tolerant towards uncertainty, and more long-term oriented. Overall, our results support the consolidation of corporate capacities and suggest policymakers consider national culture when formulating COVID-19 or similar infectious pandemic strategies.

The Impact of Firm's Unethical Behavior in Investment Decisions Among Young Investors in China.

Purpose: There is ample evidence that investors respond negatively to firm's unethical behavior. However, researchers cannot explain investors' reactions and the mechanisms of change when faced with firm's unethical behavior. By collecting and analyzing data from questionnaires, this study investigated the effects of firm's unethical behavior on investors' willingness to invest and further focused on different targets involved in unethical events. Moreover, this study explored the roles of firm development stages and the moderation effect of investors' moral support level. It aims to reveal investors' decisions on firm's unethical behaviors in different situations. Methods: This study employed a 2 (behavioral ethics: unethical behavior versus normal behavior) X 2 (stages of firm development: startups versus mature firms) X 4 (targets involved in the events: employees, peers, customers, and society) mixed design. Two hundred and fifty-seven participants were finally recruited for final analysis, and then repeated-measures ANOVAs were adopted to assess the valid data collected from 257 participants. Results: The results showed that disclosure of unethical behavior in due diligence reports significantly decreased investors' willingness to invest. However, investor willingness was higher for startups with unethical behavior than for unethical mature firms. Investors' willingness to invest decreased most significantly when evaluating firms with unethical behavior toward employees, followed by society and peers. Their willingness to invest decreased the least when evaluating firms exhibiting unethical behavior toward customers. The level of investors' moral support moderated the above effects, that is, the higher the moral support, the more considerable the decrease in investment willingness in unethical firms. Conclusion: Current results demonstrated that when facing firms with unethical behaviors, investors would make investment decisions after considering the firm's stage of development and the stakeholder of the unethical event. This study provides a valuable theoretical basis for decision-making by government, institutional investors, and firm managers.

The effect of personality traits on employees' annual salaries in Chinese startups.

Personality is a relatively regular habit of a person. It exerts a specific influence on personal behavior and the corresponding results. At the same time, personality can provide a certain degree of explanation for the differences among individuals in behavior and the related consequences. Economic differences are one of the discrepancies that exist among individuals. In order to explore the quantitative relationship between personality and individual income, this study takes 376 active employees of Chinese startups as the primary research objects. Additionally, considering the simplification and convenience of the survey, the annual salary investigated by this study is the pre-tax income of active startup employees. It uses quantitative methods to analyze the relationship between their personality traits and annual salary. Unlike the measures used in previous studies, this study employed the HEXACO-60 Inventory created by Ashton and Lee to investigate employees' personality traits. Compared to the Big Five model, HEXACO (Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, eXtraversion, Consciousness, Open to Experience, and Agreeableness) adds a new dimension to evaluate personality traits, called Honesty-Humility (H-H). H-H did not appear in previous studies related to personality and individual income. Therefore, there is no reference to the relationship between H-H and personal earnings. Considering that the content of H-H is highly consistent with the components of inter locus of control and the core spirit advocated by the Confucian culture, which influences Chinese people profoundly, this paper proposes a bold hypothesis, that is, H-H has a positive correlation with employees' annual salaries. Meanwhile, other corresponding hypotheses for the correlation between the other personality traits in HEXACO and employees' annual salaries are proposed. After that, the above hypotheses are tested with the help of correlation analysis. Then, the following conclusions can be quickly drawn. Consciousness, eXtraversion, Open to Experience, and Honesty-Humility positively correlate with employees' annual salaries. In comparison, Emotionality and Agreeableness negatively correlate with employees' annual salaries.