Critical success factors for tech start-ups in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Majority of the tech start-ups fail to establish themselves and become successful. This is not just in relation to the Sri Lankan start-ups but a common problem faced globally. While most of the start-ups fail, some start-ups manage to establish themselves and become successful. Even among them, only a very few start-ups go on to become extremely successful. While success of these start-ups can be attributed to many factors, it is imperative to understand the specific/key success factors particularly in the Sri Lankan tech start-up context. As we see a rapid increase in the number of Sri Lanka tech start-ups, understanding of such factors could help the budding start-ups to align their strategy to benefit from critical success factors while avoiding some of the pitfalls. This study attempts to establish the most critical factors that affected the success of tech start-ups in Sri Lanka. These factors are identified by studying the start-ups that are now established in the industry. Gaining understanding on what paths were taken as a start-up and what paths to be avoided is the main focus. The methodology employed for the study was a series of interviews with industry leaders who founded start-ups and was an eventual success in the industry. A case-by-case account of each of these individuals was used to create the model which this study attempts to design. Grounded theory was employed to analyses the data that was gathered. Findings showed that industry experience, communication, passion, planning, innovation, R&D expenditure, market scope, brand, recognition, credibility, networking, financial resources and IT workforce are among the critical success factors for tech start-ups in Sri Lanka.