Startup questions answered.

Last week, I had the pleasure of presenting the findings from the State of Dutch Tech 2025 (SODT) on stage. In the discussion that followed, it became clear that data analysis often results in more questions than answers.  Fortunately science provides (adjacent) answers to many of these questions.  I wanted to share a few research highlights, which relate to questions which raised during the event (thank you for that). 

What drives start-Up formation rates?

Short answer: Social norms.

In SODT we’ see a 35% decline in start up formation growth rates. Assenova and Amit (2024)  conducted a study across 172 countries and find that  more flexible social norms play a significant role in fostering entrepreneurship. In fact, “looser” cultures explain over 56% of a nation’s start-up formation rate (Assenova & Amit, 2024). 

Assenova, Valentina A. and Raphael Amit (2024), “Why Are Some Nations More Entrepreneurial than Others? Investigating the Link between Cultural Tightness–Looseness and Rates of New Firm Formation,” Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, , October, Wiley, doi:10.1002/sej.1520

Do accelerator programs truly pay off for startups?

Short answer: Yes.

Startup accelerators boost startup performance, increasing revenue growth and the amount of funding a start up secures. These effects are stronger for serial founders, who can better evaluate the advice provided by the accelerator program. And a number of interesting insights in the paper relate to impact of the design of the accelerator program. Free to download. 

Valentina Assenova and Raffi Amit (2024), Poised For Growth: Exploring the Relationship Between Accelerator Program Design and Startup Performance, Strategic Management Journal, 45 (6), pp. 1029-1060. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.3581

Does founder personality impact start-up success?

Short answer; yes founder personality and personality of founder teams matter.

A study of 21,000 founders revealed some shared traits among successful entrepreneurs: Preference for variety and novelty (openness to adventure), Exuberance (higher activity levels), Lower levels of modesty (enjoy being the center of attention) are associated with start-up success. However, the research didn’t identify a single “founder personality type” that guarantees success.

For scale-ups, it raises an important question: Would the same personality traits drive success, or do scale-up founders require something different?

McCarthy, P.X., Gong, X., Braesemann, F. et al. The impact of founder personalities on startup success. Sci Rep 13, 17200 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-41980-y

What else ?

The insights can lead to an acceleration in action. The better we understand the dynamics of the ecosystem, the more effective the actions will be. With a lot of questions already answered, we should be able to start doing things tomorrow. Science, is a short hand for action.

What other questions do you think are relevant for making our ecosystem thrive ? Please send them in the comments. May be we already have an answer.