Title: Sources for success - new venture creation in seed and business accelerators

Authors: Lotta Frimodig; Marko Torkkeli

Addresses: School of Business and Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, P.O. Box 20, FI-35851, Finland ' School of Business and Management, Lappeenranta University of Technology, P.O. Box 20, FI-35851, Finland

Abstract: The aim of this study is to explore how an accelerator could succeed. We found that fundamental preconditions for success might be the access to relevant business competences and the ability to transfer it to a startup. On the other hand, the dynamics of acceleration organisation might be a restricting factor for business knowledge use and action. The success of an accelerator is a multidimensional topic. Generally, accelerators should construct great value proposition that facilitates the generation of long-term attraction for different stakeholders. However, the access to knowledge and funding can be viewed as the prerequisites of the existence of an accelerator but a prevailing startup ecosystem and service providers can also have a significant influence on new venture creation. Generally, the success of an accelerator can improve a local startup ecosystem and might have an influence on the economic development of a region.

Keywords: accelerator; new venture creation; high growth; knowledge gap; equity gap; professional entrepreneurship; knowledge transfer; startup; tacit knowledge; self-transcending knowledge; rapid growth; investor; sweat equity.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2017.085015

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2017 Vol.12 No.4, pp.489 - 507

Received: 05 Nov 2015
Accepted: 05 Feb 2016
Published online: 10 Jul 2017 *

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