Studies identify psychological factors in start-ups launched by researchers

From the lab to the start-up – with a lot of psychology

The interdisciplinary studies reveal psychological factors that impede start-up processes both on the individual level and on the team and organizational level:

When scientists go into business, they need to bridge the gap between the meticulous mindset of a researcher and the pragmatic approach needed as an entrepreneur. Many find this difficult. They focus more on developing their technology and less on meeting customer needs.

There were also obstacles to cooperation within the team. Successful start-up teams have the ability to combine knowledge from different disciplines through clear working processes and agreed communication formats. But only one third of the teams investigated succeeded in making comprehensive use of the expertise of the individual members.

There were also shortcomings in the support provided to the teams. Many start-up advisers work with more than 20 teams at their universities. Their role in providing business advice leaves them little time to address the psychological dynamics in the start-up teams. Some teams also tend to overstate their progress and overpraise their team – sometimes subconsciously – in consulting sessions.

The project also highlights psychological factors that bolster start-up processes. These formed the basis for the research group’s recommendations on how universities can provide better support for entrepreneurship:

The best way for universities to start entrepreneurship training is through game-like activities. In interdisciplinary formats such as makeathons, participants not only learn new things – they also discover that entrepreneurship can be fun. This focus, with no business pressures, helps participants to acquire initial entrepreneurial skills such as good planning, how to deal with setbacks, and attitudes such as a user-focused approach. After this learning experience, many participants strongly identify with the role of entrepreneur.

Coaching helps them to reflect on the dual role of researcher and entrepreneur and to develop a constructive dynamic in the team. The coaching should raise awareness at an early stage for typical challenges such as self-management, time management, leadership or nonviolent communication. It should also teach methods for working professionally with others.

“Teams that are serious about succeeding with their start-up need individual support. We recommend to complement the advice on business aspects with personality-based and team-oriented coaching. This helps to mediate conflicts and disagreements between team members and will develop competencies so that failures in the team do not lead to the failure of the company,” says Nicola Breugst, Professor of Entrepreneurial Behavior at TUM, who led the project along with Prof. Holger Patzelt from the Chair of Entrepreneurship.

Universities should also provide their start-up advisors with psychological training to help them identify and moderate team psychology effects and their impacts. That will also enable them to recognize contradictions in the way a team presents itself more easily and thus act more quickly. The research group also recommends that advisers should be located as near as possible to the start-up teams they are supporting and attend meetings with potential partners, customers and investors.

The study team also suggests to firmly anchor entrepreneurship in universities through the support of university leadership, greater visibility for entrepreneurial role models, and by opening up space for entrepreneurial ideas, for example by offering sabbaticals to scientists launching start-ups. Other factors for success include cross-disciplinary cooperation to bring together different perspectives on a topic and the ongoing exchange of ideas with the private sector.