Navigating the Pivot: How Startups Balance Scientific Rigor and Entrepreneurial Instinct A Qualitative Study on the Factors Shaping Scientific Intensity in Startup Pivot Decision-Making
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2025-07-02
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en
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Startups oMen pivot to adapt their business models under condi5ons of uncertainty, but liPle is known
about how they apply a scien5fic approach in doing so. This thesis explores how the scien5fic approach
is used in prac5ce during startup pivot decision-making and what factors shape its intensity. Drawing
on 28 retrospec5ve interviews with startup founders or other key decision-makers, the study finds that
startups rarely apply all four components of the scien5fic approach in full. Instead, scien5fic
approaches are oMen fragmented, typically limited to market research or product tes5ng without
systema5c hypothesis formula5on or evalua5on. To explain this varia5on, the study iden5fies three
main drivers: scien5fic mindset, stakeholder pressure, and resource availability. Addi5onally, it
introduces pivot complexity as a modera5ng factor that influences the extent to which scien5fic
approaches are applied. This study contributes to entrepreneurial decision-making literature by
offering a more nuanced, prac5ce-based understanding of scien5fic intensity. It also provides prac5cal
insights for founders, incubators, and investors seeking to support more evidence-based pivot
strategies.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen