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Purpose of This Chapter: This chapter examines the gender-based skewness witnessed in terms of women-led unicorns, as well as, in the field of entrepreneurship in general in India. India has been witnessing a booming startup landscape lately, with the country producing several new unicorns. Competing internationally, India comes third in world rankings regarding the number of unicorns made.

Design / Methodology / Approach: The methodology adopted in this chapter is case-based analysis of individuals with the help of secondary data available in the public domain. The authors employ comparative analysis methodology keeping two major parameters of interest as the verticals that form the basis of the comparative analysis.

Findings: The special provisions in place that are especially meant for women entrepreneurs in order to help them scale up their business and target higher profits have loopholes in them and as a result, a very low number of women-led businesses have been able to mark their presence in the unicorn club.

Research Limitations / Implications: A lesser number of women entrepreneurs in the unicorn club, so making generalizations has not been possible.

Practical Implications: The chapter gives a better understanding of the dynamics of the entrepreneurship arena in India with respect to women entrepreneurs who are doing significant work on the basis of scale of operation and profits.

Originality: This is an original chapter which has not been presented or published before. This chapter can be of immense value to anyone interested in India’s current entrepreneurial scenario, and useful to policymakers, researchers, and academicians.

This paper aims to search measures that unicorn startups have implemented during the pandemic and show what lessons can be learned to help entrepreneurs and small and medium businesses to overcome the crisis.

The method is a multiple case study with five unicorn startups. This study collected data through interviews and analyzed them by the content analysis technique.

The findings show that the pandemic affects negatively unicorns’ businesses; that a digital business model innovation affects them positively; and that innovations moderate positively the negative impact of the crisis.

Most interviewees hold operational positions.

Three actions stand out to overcome the crisis: adoption of new digital platforms; strategies to increase the network of partners; and adaptations in the provision of payment services.

The cases show that entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises need to develop capabilities to innovate in their business models, and digitalization is a solution to face the crisis and overcome it in the future.

This paper aims to explain the fundraising and valuation processes of startups and discuss the conflicts of interest between entrepreneurs, venture capital (VC) firms and stakeholders in the context of startup corporate governance. Further, this paper uses the examples of WeWork and Zenefits to explain how a failure of stakeholders to demand an external audit from an independent accounting firm in early stages of funding led to an opportunity for fraud.

The methodology used is a literature review and analysis of startup valuation combined with the Fraud Triangle Theory. This paper also provides a discussion of WeWork and Zenefits, both highly visible examples of startup fraud, and explores an increased role for independent external auditors in fraud risk mitigation on behalf of stakeholders prior to an initial public offering (IPO).

This paper documents a number of fraud risks posed by the “fake it till you make it” ethos and investor behavior and pricing in the world of entrepreneurial finance and VC, which could be mitigated by a greater awareness of startup stakeholders of the value of an external audit performed by an independent accounting firm prior to an IPO.

An implication of this paper is that regulators should consider greater oversight of the startup financing process and potentially take steps to facilitate greater independence of participants in the IPO process.

Given the potential conflicts of interest between VC firms, investment banks and startup founders, the investors at the time of an IPO may be exposed to the risk that the shares of the IPO firms are overvalued at offering.

This study demonstrates how startup practices can be extended to the Fraud Triangle and issue a call to action for the accounting profession to take a greater role in protecting the public from startup fraud. This study then offers recommendations for regulators and standards entities.

There are few academic papers in the financial crime literature that link the valuation and culture of startup firms with fraud risk. This study provides a concise explanation of the process of valuation for startups and highlights the considerations for stakeholders in assessing fraud risk. In addition, this study documents an emerging role for auditors as stewards of proper valuation for pre-IPO firms.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the process of why a Brazilian digital startup company reached unicorn status the fastest.

After the literature review, the authors conducted the questionnaire containing 13 questions used in 18 in-depth interviews conducted in the case study. Saturation point combined with the independent and in-depth analysis of the researchers is used to achieve internal and external validity. The primary data collected underwent an analytical approach, followed by a resource-based view (RBV). RBV does not deal with time. There is a gap in the literature and an opportunity here: to analyze the fastest company to become a unicorn under the RBV lens.

The case reveals that value can be found in traditional sectors, as is the case of the real estate sector. This is a case of a company in the direct home-buying space.

The contribution of this paper is both practical, with the seven lessons, and theoretical. Resources allocated to a specific context in a specific geographic region shift the attention away from the absolute value of resources to the timing of aggregating them. Thus, the contribution accounting for time is new to the RBV.

The originality lies in the analysis of the dynamics of digital businesses with exponential growth.

Purpose: The goal of this study is to delve into the causes behind the Fintech sector’s rise in various areas and its prospects. Fintech is rapidly expanding because of government legislation, multiple schemes, consumer expectations, a cashless economy, digitisation, globalisation, innovation, and other drivers.

Need for the Study: Fintech firms are forming alliances with traditional financial organisations to stay afloat and compete. India is becoming a superpower regarding e-startups, especially unicorns. Many startups are undergoing initial public offerings (IPOs). Fintech is an emerging space in India, spreading its wings rapidly in every sector.

Methodology: This work is based on a literature review. It utilises secondary data from numerous research publications, magazines, newspapers, published reports, relevant websites, Forbes magazine articles, stories from The Economic Times, the RBI Portal, and information from StartupIndia, Assocham, and Pwc, among others, to develop a conceptual framework showing the growth drivers of Fintech.

Findings: The whole world has been affected severely due to COVID-19. Crisis always comes with some opportunity, and it is up to us how to turn the calamities into opportunities that further turn into innovation that has the power to lead the world. Fintech is that fruit that had been born normally but grew abnormally (tremendous growth) during the pandemic. Also, the roots are so deeper that they will flourish more and more. It has been found that the emergence of a cashless economy, ease of internet connectivity, etc., are the major factors that paved the way for growth for Fintech in India.

Practical Implications: This study contains the conceptual framework which can guide the stakeholders, policymakers, management teams, field experts, etc., in knowing about their area expertise and looking for improvement, if any.

Originality: There are many papers on the relationship between Fintech and financial inclusion, but this is the first study that builds the conceptual framework for the growth drivers of Fintech.

Tech startup is the new hope for sustaining economic growth and job creation in a knowledge-based economy. However, research on the entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE) is always constructed upon macro-level analysis and is still very limited to the developed economies. This study aims to tackle those issues by exploring the connections within an EE in an emerging economies context with a micro and meso-level social network approach to unravel the pattern of networks and interactions between each actor in the EE.

This research used multi-layered social network analysis, exploring actors in the ecosystem and their interactions. The authors conducted interviews with startups, support organizations and government agencies. The authors used Atlas.ti software to visualize the network structures.

The authors found that the content of interaction within the EE in the emerging economies differs greatly with EE in the developed economies and they produced distinctive characteristics as follows: lack of a dense network, resource scarcities and structural gaps and weak institutional policies.

The research is based on a case study of tech-based EE in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Therefore, the authors encourage other researchers to investigate networks and connections in other EEs in emerging economies. This research contributes a conceptual framework to better understand the network of connections in an emerging-economies-based EE.

The research shows grants provision alone cannot contribute to the functioning of EE. The authors argue strategic networks which promote collaboration among actors can reduce holes and structural gaps, as well as resource scarcities in the ecosystem. In addition to that, strong institutional policies and effective policy integration are needed to create a successful EE.

This research promotes the importance of networks, particularly networks between tech startups and strategic organizations to provide resources and support productive entrepreneurship in hopes of sustaining and accelerating tech startup growth within an EE.

The research proposes to add to the existing EE literature by shedding light on governance of EE, as well as exploring network of connection and interaction among actors within the ecosystem. As a result, the study addresses the need for a more micro or operational-level understanding of an EE. Recent calls for EEs literature have also focused on a certain actor’s dynamic function in the ecosystem. By focusing on the role of the government, the research added to the underdeveloped EE literature.

The case is aimed at providing students with an opportunity to understand various aspects of corporate governance and the consequences of poor corporate governance. The case addresses the following objectives: The students need to assess the role of the board in implementing corporate governance. The students should be able to explain the conflicts experienced by various stakeholders in an organization. The students need to evaluate the balancing act of growth and governance in a startup. The students should be able to determine the current state of business sustainability of the high-growth startups in India.

The case presents the challenges faced by the CEO of BharatPe, Suhail Sameer. Beginning in 2022, Bharatpe was in deep trouble as there were allegations of financial mismanagement, toxic work culture and widening losses. Co-founder Ashneer Grover and his wife Madhuri had to leave the company following charges against them. As Grover was the face of the company, Sameer would have to quickly act on filling the void and reassuring investors. Because of the uncertainty, scores of employees had already quit or were looking for other jobs. Questions were also raised about the board’s inaction and lack of proactive measures. After a meteoric rise for three years, BharatPe was struggling to survive the whole episode and put its focus back on business.

The case is intended for MBA students in corporate governance, organizational behaviour, business ethics and strategic management areas. As the case reveals the impact of poor corporate governance, it can also be used for executive training purposes on corporate sustainability, governance and leadership with a special focus on Indian startups.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

The learning objectives are intended to stimulate the students’ comprehension of the various challenges faced by Indian startups in the digital ecosystem. With the changing working dynamics in organizations around the globe, managers are expected to explore unconventional business models to facilitate operational growth. The case study is a valuable resource for graduate students to enhance and evolve their critical thinking and solution-oriented skills as forthcoming managers of digital businesses. Students should be able to analyze the case, respond to the questions and evaluate the consequences of workplace flexibility, moonlighting and its applicability in an organizational context. With the Indian Government introducing schemes such as the Digital India initiative and Startup India, it is predicted that numerous startups will opt for digital business standards and a remote work approach. The case bridges classroom theories and a real-life digital company to help students connect with emerging market scenarios.

During the digital era, India witnessed a shift in companies’ work culture, which amplified when COVID-19 hit the country. Organizations started to work remotely and experienced the numerous benefits it brought. The comfort of working from home was greater for digital businesses whose significant operations could be performed online. However, is it really that productive for digital companies to telecommute? The case illustrates how a digital company, Career Pandit, formed in 2018, unfurls and expands its business and further highlights the challenges the pandemic raised concerning people management. In addition to the discussion, the purpose of the case is to determine the implication of workplace flexibility and moonlighting and how Indian startups cope with the uncertain future challenges it brings.

Under graduate and postgraduate students.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

The purpose of this paper is to begin to explore the strategic priorities of unicorn ventures as pursuers of market disruption. This study approaches this task by drawing on the positive deviance concept for studying outliers with the intent of understanding the strategic priorities of these ventures.

This is a comparison study of the priorities of 75 unicorn ventures, 37 early-stage ventures and 45 Fortune 500 organizations. The authors use computer-aided text analysis to conduct within-sample and between-sample means comparison tests of 12,487 newswires from 2022.

Where early-stage ventures emphasize their mission, and Fortune 500 companies emphasize financial results, unicorn ventures, occupy the middle of the spectrum, balancing their priorities between pursuing market disruption and achieving financial results. These high-growth outliers indicate their priorities by using significantly less positive tone, affective and prosocial language, and focusing less on corporate social responsibility initiatives, compared to early-stage ventures (and using more of this language compared to Fortune 500 ventures). An additional finding emphasizes that public Fortune 500 companies focus significantly more on money than their topic of interest.

This work has implications for understanding the strategic priorities of entrepreneurial ventures in different development stages. The results suggest that unicorn ventures actively work to balance their startup mission, which allows them to experience high-growth and achieve market disruption, with the financial demands of venture capital investors. This novel conclusion demonstrates the value of using positively deviant outlier cases, such as unicorn ventures, as a viable sample for studying market disruption.