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How Do Software Startups Pivot? Empirical Results from a Multiple Case Study

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Software Business (ICSOB 2016)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 240))

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Abstract

In order to handle intense time pressure and survive in dynamic market, software startups have to make crucial decisions constantly on whether to change directions or stay on chosen courses, or in the terms of Lean Startup, to pivot or to persevere. The existing research and knowledge on software startup pivots are very limited. In this study, we focused on understanding the pivoting processes of software startups, and identified the triggering factors and pivot types. To achieve this, we employed a multiple case study approach, and analyzed the data obtained from four software startups. The initial findings show that different software startups make different types of pivots related to business and technology during their product development life cycle. The pivots are triggered by various factors including negative customer feedback.

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Acknowledgement

We are thankful to Pertti Seppänen from University of Oulu, Finland for his help and support in conducting this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazza Domenicani 3, 39100, Bolzano, Italy

    Sohaib Shahid Bajwa & Xiaofeng Wang

  2. Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 7491, Trondheim, Norway

    Anh Nguven Duc & Pekka Abrahamsson

  3. Software Startups Research Network, Trondheim, Norway

    Sohaib Shahid Bajwa, Xiaofeng Wang, Anh Nguven Duc & Pekka Abrahamsson

Authors
  1. Sohaib Shahid Bajwa
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  2. Xiaofeng Wang
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  3. Anh Nguven Duc
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  4. Pekka Abrahamsson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sohaib Shahid Bajwa .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Lappeenranta University of Technology, Lappeenranta, Finland

    Andrey Maglyas

  2. University of Limerick, Lero-The Irish Software Research Centre, Limerick, Ireland

    Anna-Lena Lamprecht

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

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Bajwa, S.S., Wang, X., Duc, A.N., Abrahamsson, P. (2016). How Do Software Startups Pivot? Empirical Results from a Multiple Case Study. In: Maglyas, A., Lamprecht, AL. (eds) Software Business. ICSOB 2016. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 240. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-40515-5_14

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