Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship (벤처창업연구)

The Korean Society of Business Venturing (한국벤처창업학회)
권호 표지

A Study on the Importance and Priorities of the Investment Determinants of Startup Accelerators

스타트업 액셀러레이터 투자결정요인의 중요도 및 우선순위에 대한 연구

  • Heo, Joo-yeun (Management of Technology, Graduate School of Yonsei University)
  • 허주연 (연세대학교 일반대학원 경영학)
  • Received : 2020.11.11
  • Accepted : 2020.12.22
  • Published : 2020.12.31
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Startup accelerators have emerged as new investment entities that help early startups, which are not easy to survive continuously due to lack of funds, commercialization capabilities, and experiences. As their positive performance on early startups and the ecosystem has been proven, the number of early startups which want to receive their investment is also increasing. However, they are vaguely preparing to attract accelerators' investment because they do not have any information on what factors the accelerators consider important. In addition, researches on startup accelerators are also at an early level, so there are no remarkable prior studies on factors that decide on investment. Therefore, this study aims to help startups prepare for investment attraction by looking at what factors are important for accelerators to invest, and to provide meaningful implications to academia. In the preceding study, we derived five upper level categories, 26 lower level accelerators' investment determinants through the qualitative meta-synthesis method, secondary data analysis, observation on US accelerators and in-depth interviews. In this study, we want to derive important implications by deriving priorities of the accelerators' investment determinants. Therefore, we used AHP that are evaluated as the suitable methodology for deriving importance and priority. The analysis results show that accelerators value market-related factors most. This means that startups that are subject to investment by accelerators are early-stage startups, and many companies have not fully developed their products or services. Therefore, market-related factors that can be evaluated objectively seem to be more important than products (or services) that are still ambiguous. Next, it was found that the factors related to the internal workforce of startups are more important. Since accelerators want to develop their businesses together with start-ups and team members through mentoring, ease of collaboration with them is very important, which seems to be important. The overall priority analysis results of the 26 investment determinants show that 'customer needs' and 'founders and team members' understanding of customers and markets' (0.62) are important and high priority factors. The results also show that startup accelerators consider the customer-centered perspective very important. And among the factors related to startups, the most prominent factor was the founder's openness and execution ability. Therefore, it can be confirmed that accelerators consider the ease of collaboration with these startups very important.

창업초기 기업들은 자금과 사업화 역량, 경험 부족 등으로 지속적인 생존이 쉽지 않다. 스타트업 액셀러레이터는 이러한 창업초기기업의 문제 해결을 돕고 해당 기업의 지분을 얻음으로써 수익을 창출하는 새로운 형태의 투자주체로서 등장하였다. 이들의 창업초기기업과 창업생태계에 미치는 긍정적인 성과들이 입증됨에 따라 이들의 투자를 필요로 하는 초기기업들 또한 증가하고 있다. 그러나 스타트업 액셀러레이터에 대한 연구 또한 초기수준에 머물고 있어 투자결정요인 등에 대한 괄목할 만한 선행연구가 부재한 상황이다. 따라서 스타트업들은 액셀러레이터들이 중요하게 생각하는 요인이 무엇인지에 대한 정보가 없어 막연하게 투자유치를 준비하는 실정이다. 이에 본 연구는 액셀러레이터들이 투자 시 중요하게 생각하는 요인이 무엇인지 살펴봄으로써 스타트업들의 투자유치 준비과정을 돕고, 학계에도 의미 있는 시사점을 제공하고자 한다. 앞선 연구에서 정성적 메타합성법, 2차 관련자료, 미국 액셀러레이터에 대한 관찰 및 심층인터뷰 등을 통해 5개 상위 카테고리, 26개의 하위 액셀러레이터 투자결정요인들을 도출하였다. 본 연구에서는 이들의 중요도와 우선순위를 도출하여 중요한 시사점을 얻고자 하였으며, 이에 중요도와 우선순위 도출에 적합한 방법론으로 평가받고 있는 분석적 계층화 기법을 활용하였다. 카테고리 별 분석 결과 액셀러레이터들은 시장 및 고객 관련 요인들(Market related)을 가장 중요하게 생각하는 것으로 나타났다. 그 다음으로 스타트업 내부인력 관련 요인(Human related)요인들을 더 중요하게 생각하는 것으로 나타났다. 그리고 26개의 하위투자결정요인들의 전체우선순위 분석 결과에서는 '고객의 니즈 정도'와 '창업자와 팀원들의 고객과 시장에 대한 이해도'가 중요도 및 우선순위가 높은 요인으로 나타났다. 이를 통해서 스타트업 액셀러레이터들이 고객중심 관점을 매우 중요하게 생각함을 알 수 있다. 그리고 창업자 관련 요인 중에서 가장 높게 나타난 요인은 '창업자의 유연한 사고와 실행력'으로 나타났는데, 본 연구에서는 창업자의 유연한 사고를 액셀러레이터 등 전문가의 의견 등을 잘 청취하고 적절하게 반영하는 역량으로 정의하고 있다. 따라서 액셀러레이터들은 이러한 스타트업과의 협업용이성 등을 매우 중요하게 생각함을 확인할 수 있다. 이러한 연구 결과를 통해 창업 초기기업은 기업의 생존과 액셀러레이터의 투자를 유치하기 위해서 어떤 준비를 선행해야 하는지 알 수 있다. 더불어 액셀러레이터들은 어떤 요인에 우선순위를 두고 투자대상 스타트업을 선정해야 하는지 등의 준거기준으로 활용할 수 있으며, 정책입안자들 또한 이의 결과를 바탕으로 다양한 스타트업 선정기준을 마련할 수 있다. 마지막으로 본 연구는 기존 연구들 대비 가장 많은 투자결정요인을 다룸으로써 누락되는 것이 없도록 하였으며, 이의 결과는 후속 연구들에게 좋은 발판이 되리라 생각한다.

Keywords

References

  1. 김진수.이창영.이우진.김용태(2013). 유망 창업자 발굴을 위한 선정 평가 모델 개발. 대전: 창업진흥원.
  2. 김주성.홍다혜(2013). 엑셀러레이터의 국내.외 현황 및 운영사례 분석. 전자통신동향분석, 28(5), 164-173.
  3. 민재형(2015). 경영과학: 스마트한 의사결정을 위한 지침서. 파주:생능출판.
  4. 이규녀(2016). 계층적 분석기법(AHP)을 이용한 지식재산 이러닝 콘텐츠의 상대적 중요도 분석. 지식재산연구, 11(1),227-253.
  5. 이정우(2016). 창업대중화의 주역, 액셀러레이터. Entrepreneurship Korea, 1, 7-10.
  6. 정새롬(2017). 우리가 와이콤비네이터에서 3개월 간 배운 것. Platum, Retrieved from https://platum.kr/archives/78235.
  7. 최윤수.김도현(2016). 투자 행태를 통한 액셀러레이터와 벤처캐피탈의 비교 연구. 벤처창업연구, 11(4), 27-36.
  8. 한주형․황보윤(2020). 액셀러레이터의 투자결정요인. 벤처창업연구, 15(1), 31-44.
  9. 허주연(2020). 스타트업 액셀러레이터의 투자결정요인에 대한 연구. 벤처창업연구, 15(5), 13-35.
  10. Andrew, L. Z., Jeffery, S. M., & Shepherd, D. A.(2007). Venture Capitalists' Decision Policies across Three Countries: An Institutional Theory Perspective. Journal of International Business Studies, 38(5), 691-708. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jibs.8400291
  11. Auerswald, P. E., & Branscomb, L. M.(2003). Valleys of Death and Darwinian Seas: Financing the Invention to Innovation Transition in the United States. The Journal of Technology Transfer, 28(3), 227-239. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1024980525678
  12. Bachher, J. S., & Guild, P. D.(1996). Financing early stage technology based companies: investment criteria used by investors. Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, 996.
  13. Balachandra, R., & Friar, J. H.(1997). Factors for success in R&D projects and new product innovation: a contextual framework. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 44(3), 276-287. https://doi.org/10.1109/17.618169
  14. Block, J., Fisch, C., Vismara, S., & Andres, R.(2019). Private equity investment criteria: An experimental conjoint analysis of venture capital, business angels, and family offices. Journal of Corporate Finance, 58, 329-352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2019.05.009
  15. Carpentier, C., & Suret, J. M.(2015). Angel group members' decision process and rejection criteria: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Business Venturing, 30(6), 808-821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2015.04.002
  16. Choi, Y. S., & Kim, D. H.(2016). A Comparative Study of the Accelerator and Venture Capital through Investment Behavior. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship, 11(4), 27-36.
  17. Cohen, S.(2013). What do accelerators do? Insights from incubators and angels. Innovations: Technology, Governance, Globalization, 8(3-4), 19-25.
  18. Cohen, S., & Hochberg, Y. V.(2014). Accelerating startups: The seed accelerator phenomenon. Available at SSRN 2418000.
  19. Cohen, S., Fehder, D. C., Hochberg, Y. V., & Murray, F. (2019). The design of startup accelerators. Research Policy, 48(7), 1781-1797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2019.04.003
  20. Drover, W., Busenitz, L., Matusik, S., Townsend, D., Anglin, A., & Dushnitsky, G.(2017). A Review and Road Map of Entrepreneurial Equity Financing Research: Venture Capital, Corporate Venture Capital, Angel Investment, Crowdfunding, and Accelerators. Journal of Management, 43(6), 1820-1853. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206317690584
  21. Feeney, L., Haines Jr, G. H., & Riding, A. L.(1999). Private investors' investment criteria: insights from qualitative data. Venture Capital: An international journal of entrepreneurial finance, 1(2), 121-145. https://doi.org/10.1080/136910699295938
  22. Fehder, D. C., & Hochberg, Y. V.(2014). Accelerators and the regional supply of venture capital investment. Available at SSRN 2518668.
  23. Festel, G., Wuermseher, M., & Cattaneo, G.(2013). Valuation of early stage high-tech start-up companies. International Journal of Business, 18(3), 216-231.
  24. Frimodig, L., & Torkkeli, M.(2013). Success factors of accelerators in new venture creation. In ISPIM Conference Proceedings(p. 1). The International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM).
  25. Goswami, K., Mitchell, J. R., & Bhagavatula, S.(2018). Accelerator expertise: Understanding the intermediary role of accelerators in the development of the Bangalore entrepreneurial ecosystem. Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, 12(1), 117-150. https://doi.org/10.1002/sej.1281
  26. Haines, G. H., Madill, J. J., & Riding, A. L.(2003). Informal Investment in Canada: Financing Small Business Growth. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 16(3-4), 13-40. https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.2003.10593306
  27. Hallen, B. L., Bingham, C. B., & Cohen, S.(2014). Do accelerators accelerate? A study of venture accelerators as a path to success-. Academy of Management Proceedings, 2014(1), 12955-12955. https://doi.org/10.5465/AMBPP.2014.185
  28. Harrison, R. T., Dibben, M. R., & Mason, C. M.(1997). The role of trust in the informal investor's investment decision: An exploratory analysis. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 21(4), 63-81. https://doi.org/10.1177/104225879702100405
  29. Han, J. H., & Hwang, B. Y.(2020). Determinants of Accelerators' Investment. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship, 15(1), 31-44. https://doi.org/10.16972/apjbve.15.1.202002.31
  30. Heo, J. Y.(2020). A Study on the Determinants of Investment in Startup Accelerators. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Venturing and Entrepreneurship, 15(5), 13-35. https://doi.org/10.16972/APJBVE.15.5.202010.13
  31. Jayaswal, S., Jewkes, E., & Ray, S.(2011). Product differentiation and operations strategy in a capacitated environment. European Journal of Operational Research, 210(3), 716-728. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2010.11.028
  32. Jeong, S. R.(2017). What we've learned in the Wi-combinator for three months. Platum, Retrieved (2017.03.31.) from https://www.platum.kr.
  33. Kim, J. S., & Hong, D. H.(2013). Analysis of Domestic and Foreign Status and Operating Cases of Accelerators. Electronics and Telecommunications Trends, 28(5), 164-173.
  34. Kim, J. S., Lee, C. Y., Lee, W, J., & Kim, Y. T.(2013). Development of a selection evaluation model for discovering promising start-ups, KSIED.
  35. Kim, J. H., & Wagman, L.(2014). Portfolio size and information disclosure: An analysis of startup accelerators. Journal of Corporate Finance, 29, 520-534. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2014.10.017
  36. Lee, J. W.(2016). Accelerator, the main driver of startups' popularization. Entrepreneurship Korea, 1, 7-10.
  37. Lee, K. N.(2016). An Analysis of the Relative Priority of Intellectual Property e-learning Contents Using the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP). The Journal of Intellectual Property, 11(1), 227-253. https://doi.org/10.34122/jip.2016.03.11.1.227
  38. Love, H.(2016). The Start-Up J Curve: The Six Steps to Entrepreneurial Success. Greenleaf Book Group.
  39. Macmillan, I. C., Siegel, R., & Narasimha, P. N. S.(1985). Criteria used by venture capitalists to evaluate new venture proposals. Journal of Business Venturing, 1(1), 119-128. https://doi.org/10.1016/0883-9026(85)90011-4
  40. Mason, C., & Stark, M.(2004). What do Investors Look for in a Business Plan?: A Comparison of the Investment Criteria of Bankers, Venture Capitalists and Business Angels. International Small Business Journal, 22(3), 227-248. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242604042377
  41. Maxwell, A. L., Jeffrey, S. A., & Levesque, M.(2011). Business angel early stage decision making. Journal of Business Venturing, 26(2), 212-225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2009.09.002
  42. Maxwell, A. L., & Levesque, M.(2014). Trustworthiness: A critical ingredient for entrepreneurs seeking investors. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 38(5), 1057-1080. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6520.2011.00475.x
  43. Merrifield, D. B.(1987). New business incubators. Journal of business venturing, 2(4), 277-284. https://doi.org/10.1016/0883-9026(87)90021-8
  44. Min, J. H.(2015). Management science-Guidelines for Smart Decision Making. Paju: Life and Power Press.
  45. Osnabrugge, M. S. V.(1998). The financing of entrepreneurial firms in the UK: a comparison of business angel and venture capitalist investment procedures. Oxford University, UK.
  46. Paul, S., Whittam, G., & Wyper, J.(2007). Towards a model of the business angel investment process. Venture Capital, 9(2), 107-125. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691060601185425
  47. Picken, J. C.(2017). From startup to scalable enterprise: Laying the foundation. Business Horizons, 60(5), 587-595. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2017.05.002
  48. Regmi, K., Ahmed, S. A., & Quinn, M.(2015). Data Driven Analysis of Startup Accelerators. Universal Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 3 (2), 54-57. https://doi.org/10.13189/ujibm.2015.030203
  49. Rostamzadeh, R., Ismail, K., & Zavadskas, E. K.(2014). Multi criteria decision making for assisting business angels in investments. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 20(4), 696-720. https://doi.org/10.3846/20294913.2014.984364
  50. Saaty, R. W.(1987). The analytic hierarchy process: what it is and how it is used. Mathematical Modelling, 9(3), 161-176. https://doi.org/10.1016/0270-0255(87)90473-8
  51. Saaty, T. L. (1994). How to Make a Decision: The Analytic Hierarchy Process. Interfaces, 24(6), 19-43. https://doi.org/10.1287/inte.24.6.19
  52. Sudek, R.(2006). Angel Investment Criteria. Journal of Small Business Strategy, 17(2), 89-104.
  53. White, B. A., & Dumay, J.(2020). The angel investment decision: insights from Australian business angels. Accounting & Finance, 60(3), 3133-3162. https://doi.org/10.1111/acfi.12427
  54. Yin, B., & Luo, J.(2018). How Do Accelerators Select Startups? Shifting Decision Criteria Across Stages. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 65(4), 574-589. https://doi.org/10.1109/tem.2018.2791501
  55. Zacharakis, A. L., & Meyer, G. D.(2000). The potential of actuarial decision models: Can they improve the venture capital investment decision?. Journal of Business Venturing, 15(4), 323-346. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0883-9026(98)00016-0
  56. Zhang, J.(2011). The advantage of experienced start-up founders in venture capital acquisition: evidence from serial entrepreneurs. Small Business Economics, 36(2), 187-208. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-009-9216-4
  57. Zinecker, M., & Bolf, D.(2015). Venture Capitalists' Investment Selection Criteria in CEE Countries and Russia. Business: Theory and Practice, 16(1), 94-103. https://doi.org/10.3846/btp.2015.441