What start-ups need to succeed from the start

How do people start businesses in Baden-Württemberg? And what do start-ups need in the early stages to get off to a successful start? This was investigated by a team of social scientists at the Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Science (ENI) at the University of Stuttgart. “The UpStart BW Report provides data and interview-based insights into the reality of life for early-stage start-ups in Baden-Württemberg,” says Professor Alexander Brem, Vice Rector for Science Transfer and International Affairs and Director of the ENI Institute. "We can identify the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities of the existing start-up infrastructure and thus see which offerings work well or less well and for what reasons. From this, we can derive measures for improvement – not only for our university transfer offerings, but also for offerings throughout our entire start-up ecosystem in Baden-Württemberg."

According to the start-ups surveyed, anyone wishing to set up a start-up in Baden-Württemberg is spoiled for choice when it comes to information and support services. The ecosystem brings together a diverse group of stakeholders who address a broad spectrum of challenges and provide support and funding opportunities. But this offer comes with a problem: "It's confusing. Many people interested in starting a business are unclear about who can advise them on what and where they can apply for funding," explains Johannes Engels, research assistant at ENI and author of the report. This is because the start-up ecosystem in Baden-Württemberg is decentralized. A common wish among entrepreneurs – and now also a key recommendation from the ENI research team I – is the establishment of a central point of contact that consolidates legal and organizational expertise, ensures it remains up to date, and provides tailored guidance.

Even though the start-ups surveyed view networking between individual players as positive, they criticize the public visibility of information and networking events for those interested in starting a business. Those who are not involved in a university environment only find out about events by chance or through personal contacts. “Respondents find information events particularly valuable, but would like to see a more accessible platform for finding out about such events,” says Dr. Andreas Wahl, who conducted the study together with Engels.

A surprising result: Start-ups today no longer follow the traditional path with a specific business idea in mind, but are driven by idealistic motivation. “We can observe a trend whereby founding a company is a means to an end for many people, enabling them to realize their vision,” says Wahl. “The focus is more on social value than on marketing a product,” adds Engels. This trend must be addressed by establishing appropriate support options tailored to the respective goals of the start-ups.

Those interested in starting a business demand that entrepreneurship should be possible for all social classes, because every idea has potential. However, the reality so far has been high equity capital and low risk appetite among investors. In addition, the bureaucratic hurdles to obtaining financial support programs are high. That is why many people interested in starting a business shy away or abandon the application process because they do not believe they have a chance of success. More financial resources and fewer restrictions could improve the situation for those interested in starting a business, according to Wahl and Engels. We believe it makes sense to consider an individualized assessment of each applicant. Instead of uniform funding, each start-up should be given the resources it needs to realize its ideas.

The UpStart BW Report [DE] is freely accessible via the Opus platform, the University of Stuttgart's publication server.

Knowledge and technology transfer at the University of Stuttgart
The Transfer Center TRACES is the central point of contact at the University of Stuttgart for research and knowledge transfer. In cooperation with the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research (ENI), the Technology Transfer Initiative TTI GmbH, and Department 1 – Research and Transfer, TRACES forms an innovative transfer and start-up ecosystem for founders. It provides support and advice from the initial idea to the spin-off. With a wide range of courses, start-up coaching, and advice on applications, funding programs, and patents and property rights (de), the University of Stuttgart supports start-up projects by students and employees. Thanks to its fantastic innovative spirit, the University of Stuttgart regularly ranks among the top 10 German universities with the most patent applications per year. The “Entrepreneurship” newsletter from ENI provides twice-monthly updates on the latest news, events, and competitions in the startup ecosystem.