Exploring key success factors of sustainable start-up business

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengeksplorasi faktor-faktor kunci penentu kesuksesan start-up lokal dalam mentransformasi isu sosial-lingkungan menjadi peluang untuk membangun bisnis start-up berkelanjutan. Untuk menjawab pertanyaan penelitian, studi kasus dilakukan terhadap dua start-up lokal yang telah berhasil menarik investor-investor besar, yaitu Bukaloka dan Gringgo. Wawancara mendalam dilakukan terhadap dua pemimpin dan pendiri start-up, empat konsumen start-up, dan tiga manajer co-working space. Beberapa dokumen juga dikumpulkan secara langsung dari para informan untuk mendukung dan memvalidasi hasil wawancara. Kode-kode dan tema diidentifikasi dari hasil analisis atas transkrip wawancara. Kemudian beberapa kutipan penting diambil untuk mendukung analisis. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa terdapat lima faktor kunci yang menentukan keberhasilan start-up dalam mentransformasi isu sosial-lingkungan menjadi peluang bisnis, yaitu: pertama, motivasi internal yang kuat dari pendiri untuk memberi solusi atas isu sosial-lingkungan; kedua, pengalaman pendiri; ketiga, pemahaman yang baik akan respon pasar; keempat, design thinking yang efektif; kelima, strategi product co-creation yang efektif. Kelima faktor ini saling terkait satu sama lain, dengan motivasi pendiri sebagai landasan dalam membangun start-up berkelanjutan.This research aims at exploring key success factors of local start-ups in transforming social and environmental problems into opportunities to develop sustainable start-up business. To address the research objective, case study was conducted on two local start-ups that have successfully attracted the attention of large investors, namely Bukaloka and Gringgo. In-depth interviews were conducted with two start-up’s leaders/founders, four start-up’s consumers, and three co-working space managers. Several documents were also collected directly from the informants to support and validate the results of the interviews. Codes and themes were identified from the interview transcripts analysis, some significant quotes were then taken to support the analysis. The results show that there are five factors explaining local start-ups’ ability to transform social and environmental problems into business opportunities, namely: first, strong internal motivation of the founders to address social and environmental problems; second, founders’ experience; third, sound understanding of market responses; fourth, effective design thinking; and finally, effective product co-creation strategy. The five factors are interrelated, with the founder’s motivation factor being the foundation of the start-ups’ building block