The Identification and Prioritization of Development Factors of Startups Using Q methodology

The aim of this paper was to identify and priority development factors of startups. This research is an applied and cross-sectional research by using qualitative research method with the aid of Q-methodology. Hence, forty participants in rural startup events program in Isfahan city were selected and studied purposively. The research instrument involved 50 Q cards which were finalized after evaluating the dialog space. The participants arranged the cards into agree, disagree and neutral categories. The PQ- method software was used to analyze the data. Findings revealed that the categorizing Q-cards were significant at the 0.01 level. It means that the attitude of participants could be categorized successfully into two dimensions; internal and external patterns. The first pattern focused on the speed of action, teamwork, the nature of the idea and the opportunity evaluation, and the second pattern emphasized on the customer, competitors, partner, and supporters. Therefore, from the perspective of the first group, attention has been paid to developing creativity and creating the requirements for the innovations in people who are prone to learning through education and creating cultural foundations in the society. While the second pattern considered supporting potential capacities, securing capital investment and the creation of a cooperative working relationships.