Growth of Startups: A Complex Adaptive System View

The importance of entrepreneurs’ contributions to society and economy has attracted many extensive researches on entrepreneurship-related issues. Although scholars have studied the startups in all respects, they have mostly inspected them from a single-level perspective. Therefore, this study intends to take a holistic view, it adopts the Complex Adaptive System theory to explore the whole picture of the evolvement of startups. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to the case studies of three types of startups: market-based, technology-based, and laboratory-based, as well as the entrepreneurial intermediary organizations (accelerators). The study reports five major findings. First, the motivation to start a venture often comes from the entrepreneurs’ ability to find a space in the market. Second, in the process of growth, both individuals and teams of startups will continue to self-organize and evolve with the environment. Third, the startups and the accelerators will have the effects of recycling and recirculating resources. Fourth, there will be a “tagging” behavior among the startup teams, the accelerators, and the investors. Finally, regardless of the type of startups, the interaction with the environment is a complex process of adaptation that varies according to their own circumstances.