An Entrepreneurial Management Framework: The Process of Decision-Making regarding Startup Advisors

Sammanfattning: Abstract Making good decisions is imperative for startup founders. The entrepreneur behind the pioneer within touch-screen watches, Mutewatch, highlights the importance of startup advisors in order to encourage inexperienced entrepreneurs to try their wings and how to gain experience with lower risks, which are enabled by the advisor's network and previous experience. The aim of this study is to investigate what makes a successful handling process of a startup advisor. We will describe the individual personality traits of the advisor, communication used and what role they had. By outlining the assumed goals of the startup we will also investigate the success rate of the relationship based on as how valuable the relationship was for the entrepreneur in order to reach their goals. We utilize one of the authors of this thesis, Mai-Li Hammargren, who is one of the entrepreneurs behind Mutewatch in order to gain in-depth knowledge on a relational level with the advisors. Mutewatch was a pioneer within crowdfunding and Mai-Li used the network in order to make the product a reality. The study therefore uses an entrepreneurial perspective when looking at each relationship. We have structured the material in a processual model. We have divided the timeline in smaller phases and structured the advisors according to what goals they where aimed to help the company to reach. The analysis of the empirical data is based on effectuation: the theory of decision-making pattern used by successful entrepreneurs introduced by S. Sarasvathy (2001). The team roles were analyzed using a model introduced by Dr. M. Belbin (2010). We found that the success rate of the relationships increased with the level of fit between the individual and communication and role, as well as with the level of success in the other relationships in the group.