The founder's profile, VC investments and top startups : an empirical analysis on the Italian startups ecosystem

Start-ups’ founders are seen as the heroes of the modern technological world. The start-up’s journey and that of its founders starts with an almost mythological vision of a goal, that only few others can see. The path is uncertain and full of obstacles and the end is not clearly visible. Despite this, the unique vision they have stays strong and leads them to abandon the status quo and venture to the uncertain path of innovation. At the beginning of their journey, founders can have an extreme influence on their start-ups, because they constitute the firm itself. The start-up profile is shaped by its founders, through their ability to acquire resources and make the best decisions for the firm’s survival and development. The past experience, the type of education and the personality of an individual influence his way of thinking, of facing problems and solving them. The same happens with founders; their decisions and their behaviours result from the vision of reality through their own highly personalized lenses. The aim of this work is thus to provide a complete analysis of the founder’s role and its importance within a start-up. To do so, this research analyzes the profile of the start-ups founders in order to understand the factors that can influence the development of a start-up and how they do that.