Business mating: when start-ups get it right

Abstract

The importance of forming business relationships is critical for the prosperity of start-ups; still, few studies have examined how conditions inside and around the start-up together lead to business mating – occurrence of a new business relationship. To clarify the importance of proper fit among management style and invention features for high mating chances, this paper tackles this need by taking a configurational approach. We use qualitative comparison analysis (QCA) to analyze case studies from 16 invention-based start-ups seeking marketing partners. Findings indicate different solutions leading to high chances of forming business relationships. This study contributes with a typology to the business relationship and start-up literature, as well as discusses future directions to the emerging sub-domain of business mating research.