Winner of the Information Age Publishing Outstanding Doctoral Student Paper Award
DOCTORAL PAPER: There is an unexplained startup failure phenomenon occurring in U.S. HealthTech. The U.S. HealthTech startup failure rate is above 90% whereas U.S. technology startups in other industries fail at a rate of 60-70% (BLS). The purpose of this research is to examine U.S. HealthTech startup Founder / CEO individual entrepreneurial orientation (EO), the moderating role of Founder / CEO individual pre-existing healthcare industry tacit knowledge (TK), the mediating role of Founder / CEO individual market orientation (MO), and how these variables may influence U.S. HealthTech startup firm financial performance at exit (ROI to investors). To begin to explore the U.S. HealthTech startup environment, a pre-study focus group was conducted with U.S. HealthTech entrepreneurs. The qualitative study uncovered major themes that are used as the basis of a quantitative study. The quantitative study sampling targets 458 U.S. HealthTech startup Founders / CEOs who achieved exits (favorable and unfavorable) between 1/1/2003 and 12/31/2023. The findings of this study will better inform U.S. HealthTech startup entrepreneurs and investors about how Founder / CEO individual characteristics of EO, pre-existing healthcare industry TK, and MO may be determinants of a U.S. HealthTech startup firm’s success or failure.
