Purpose

The purpose of this study is to explore the exogenous and endogenous drivers of the high-growth of Unicorn start-ups along their life cycle, with a particular focus on Unicorns in the fintech industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The study employs an explorative longitudinal analysis with a matched-pair of two cases of Unicorns start-ups with similar antecedent features to understand holistically drivers over the longer term.

Findings

High-growth patterns over the longer term are the result of a combined industry- and company-life cycle perspective. Drivers and growth patterns vary significantly according to the time of entry in the industry and its development status. The findings are systematised within a set of propositions to be tested in future research.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations lie in empirical evidence, as the analysis is limited to one-matched-pair. The revealed Unicorns' drivers for long-term growth might encourage future research to further investigate these drivers on a larger scale.

Practical implications

The study offers practical recommendations for start-ups with high-growth ambitions and advice to policy makers regarding the development of tailor-made support programs.

Originality/value

The study significantly extends extant work on growth and high-growth by examining endogenous and exogenous triggers over time and by linking the Unicorn-life cycle to the industry life cycle, an approach which has, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, not yet been applied.

中文翻译：

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独角兽初创企业的生命周期观：长期高增长的驱动力

目的

本研究的目的是探讨独角兽初创企业在其生命周期中高增长的外生和内生驱动因素，特别关注金融科技行业的独角兽。

设计/方法论/途径

该研究采用探索性纵向分析，对两个具有相似先行特征的独角兽初创企业案例进行配对，以全面了解长期的驱动因素。

发现

长期的高增长模式是行业和公司生命周期综合视角的结果。根据行业进入时间和发展状况的不同，驱动因素和增长模式也有很大差异。研究结果被系统化为一组命题，将在未来的研究中进行测试。

研究局限性/影响

局限性在于经验证据，因为分析仅限于一对匹配。所揭示的独角兽公司长期增长的驱动因素可能会鼓励未来的研究在更大范围内进一步研究这些驱动因素。

实际影响

该研究为具有高增长雄心的初创企业提供了实用的建议，并为政策制定者提供了制定量身定制的支持计划的建议。

原创性/价值

该研究通过检查一段时间内的内源性和外源性触发因素，并将独角兽生命周期与行业生命周期联系起来，显着扩展了现有的增长和高增长工作，据作者所知，这种方法尚未得到证实。已应用。