Abstract
Context: Software startups perform many high-risk activities regarding both business and product development. Being aware of important risks and effectively managing them is important for startups, particularly in an era of a global pandemic such as this. Even though there are many studies about the failure and success factors of software companies, not much is understood about risk management for startups. Aim: Our aim is to characterize how startups identify, manage, and control different kinds of risks during their software product development. We also intend to investigate whether there is a mismatch between startups’ risk exposure and their risk management approaches. Method: We designed an online questionnaire with 72 questions and collected opinions from 89 software startups in different stages. Results: we preliminarily revealed the relevant team composition, methodology, and product risks in each stage of a startup. Our findings suggest that perceived risk exposures are reduced as startups progress from early to later stages. There was no observable difference in the ways risks are managed among startups in different stages. Startups rely on team-based, informal, and unstructured methods to identify, analyze, and control their risks. Contribution: Our results have direct implications for startup founders and project managers to become effective in managing software startup risks.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Nguyen-Duc, A., Münch, J., Prikladnicki, R., Wang, X., Abrahamsson, P.: Fundamentals of Software Startups. Springer, Heidelberg (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35983-6
Duc, A.N., Abrahamsson, P.: Minimum viable product or multiple facet product? The role of MVP in software startups. In: Sharp, H., Hall, T. (eds.) Agile Processes, in Software Engineering, and Extreme Programming. XP 2016. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol. 251, pp. 118–130. Springer, Cham (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33515-5_10
Bajwa, S.S., Wang, X., Nguyen Duc, A., Abrahamsson, P.: “Failures” to be celebrated: an analysis of major pivots of software startups. Empir. Softw. Eng. 22(5), 2373–2408 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-016-9458-0
Guo, Y., Spínola, R.O., Seaman, C.: Exploring the costs of technical debt management – a case study. Empir. Softw. Eng. 21(1), 159–182 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10664-014-9351-7
The Impact of COVID-19 on Global Startup Ecosystems. https://startupgenome.com/covid19
Klotins, E., et al.: A progression model of software engineering goals, challenges, and practices in start-ups. IEEE Trans. Softw. Eng. 47(3), 498–521 (2019)
Barki, H., Rivard, S., Talbot, J.: An integrative contingency model of software project risk management. J. Manag. Inf. Syst. 17(4), 37–69 (2001)
Schwalbe, K.: Information Technology Project Management. Cengage Learning (2015)
Todeschini, B., Boelter, A., Souza, J., Cortimiglia, M.: Risk management from the perspective of startups. Eur. J. Appl. Bus. Manag. EJABM 3(3), 40–54 (2017)
Razdan, R., Kambalimath, S.: Super lean software startup engineering management. In: 2019 IEEE Technology & Engineering Management Conference (TEMSCON), pp. 1–6. IEEE (2009)
Wallace, L., Keil, M., Rai, A.: Understanding software project risk: a cluster analysis. Inf. Manag. 42(1), 115–125 (2004)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Kazemi, G., Cico, O., Nguyen, QT., Nguyen-Quang, A. (2021). Risk Exposure and Management in Software Development – A Survey of Multiple Software Startups. In: Wang, X., Martini, A., Nguyen-Duc, A., Stray, V. (eds) Software Business. ICSOB 2021. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 434. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91983-2_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-91983-2_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-91982-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-91983-2
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)