File:A Evolução dos Ecossistemas de Startups de Software- um Modelo de Maturidade.webm

English: Video from PhD presentation on May 2nd at Google Campus São Paulo

Resulting from the technological revolution over the last few decades, many software startup ecosystems have emerged around the globe. Boosted by the Internet, the omnipresence of mobile devices, and the abundance of cloud-based services, software companies with scalable business models, known as startups, became all the hype.

With tech entrepreneurs as their main agents, some of these ecosystems have existed for over 50 years, while others are newly born. This difference in evolution and maturity makes comparing tech hubs a challenge. Moreover, if they are to evolve towards fruitful and sustainable environments, nascent ecosystems need a clear vision of how to develop their community.

This thesis presents a multiple-case study research in three different ecosystems, and it was divided in three phases. During the first phase, we analyzed the Israeli entrepreneurship ecosystem and, using grounded theory, created a conceptual generalized framework to map ecosystems. We also developed a methodology and a systematic interview protocol to be used to analyze any ecosystem.

The second phase was performed in São Paulo, with the objective of refining and validating both the methodology and the conceptual framework. The second phase resulted in the discovery of how important it is to analyze ecosystem dynamics and evolution process, leading us to create a maturity model for software startup ecosystems. The maturity model was based on the conceptual model we created, mapping the most important factors that define an ecosystem.

To validate and refine the Maturity Model created in the second phase, we ran a third case-study iteration in New York City. Based on the feedback from over a dozen experts, we generated the final model and a practical guide to determine an ecosystem’s maturity level. With this model, it is possible not only to compare different ecosystems, but also to identify gaps and propose customized practical actions that can yield meaningful improvements and lead ecosystems to the next level of development.

Evaluation Committee

Prof. Dr. Fabio Kon (President) - IME-USP Prof. Dr. Guilherme Ary Plonsky - FEA-USP Prof. Dr. Paulo Lemos - UNICAMP Prof. Dr. Marcelo Nakagawa - INSPER

Profa. Dra. Xiaofeng Wang - Free University Bolzen Bolzano