Startup valuation reassessed: against celebrity, sustainability and state intervention

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to showcase that the valuation of startups is still considered to be more “art than science”. Moreover, such non-rigorous approaches often lead to valuations, which turn out to be too high, which in turn has become a well-known phenomenon to a broader audience...

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Main Author: Christian Hugo Hoffmann
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Emerald Publishing 2023-05-01
Series:Journal of Ethics in Entrepreneurship and Technology
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JEET-08-2022-0012/full/pdf
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author Christian Hugo Hoffmann
author_facet Christian Hugo Hoffmann
author_sort Christian Hugo Hoffmann
collection DOAJ
description Purpose – The purpose of this study is to showcase that the valuation of startups is still considered to be more “art than science”. Moreover, such non-rigorous approaches often lead to valuations, which turn out to be too high, which in turn has become a well-known phenomenon to a broader audience due to shining examples such as We Work. This is reason enough to revisit the important topic of where we stand today with startup valuation procedures and methodologies. Design/methodology/approach – Literature synthesis and exploratory analysis. Findings – While some studies describe sound results about how to assess startups, what the authors found was that many questions remain open or have not been covered at all. This is the reason why the authors needed to apply a substantial amount of reasoning in the analysis of studies, which do not exactly deal with startup companies. The authors provided some interesting impulses for future research. Originality/value – Based on an original overview of the current state of research about the valuation of startup companies, this paper makes the following principal contribution to both the literature and practice: on the one hand, the authors assess four impact factors on startup values critically; on the other, the authors provide an outlook on promising future research avenues.
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spelling doaj.art-a28836fcedd14fefa5684befbfba923c2024-03-29T11:08:15ZengEmerald PublishingJournal of Ethics in Entrepreneurship and Technology2633-74362633-74442023-05-013171910.1108/JEET-08-2022-0012Startup valuation reassessed: against celebrity, sustainability and state interventionChristian Hugo Hoffmann0Hoffmann Economics, Freienbach, SwitzerlandPurpose – The purpose of this study is to showcase that the valuation of startups is still considered to be more “art than science”. Moreover, such non-rigorous approaches often lead to valuations, which turn out to be too high, which in turn has become a well-known phenomenon to a broader audience due to shining examples such as We Work. This is reason enough to revisit the important topic of where we stand today with startup valuation procedures and methodologies. Design/methodology/approach – Literature synthesis and exploratory analysis. Findings – While some studies describe sound results about how to assess startups, what the authors found was that many questions remain open or have not been covered at all. This is the reason why the authors needed to apply a substantial amount of reasoning in the analysis of studies, which do not exactly deal with startup companies. The authors provided some interesting impulses for future research. Originality/value – Based on an original overview of the current state of research about the valuation of startup companies, this paper makes the following principal contribution to both the literature and practice: on the one hand, the authors assess four impact factors on startup values critically; on the other, the authors provide an outlook on promising future research avenues.https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JEET-08-2022-0012/full/pdfEntrepreneurshipStartupFoundersStartup valuation
spellingShingle Christian Hugo Hoffmann
Startup valuation reassessed: against celebrity, sustainability and state intervention
Journal of Ethics in Entrepreneurship and Technology
Entrepreneurship
Startup
Founders
Startup valuation
title Startup valuation reassessed: against celebrity, sustainability and state intervention
title_full Startup valuation reassessed: against celebrity, sustainability and state intervention
title_fullStr Startup valuation reassessed: against celebrity, sustainability and state intervention
title_full_unstemmed Startup valuation reassessed: against celebrity, sustainability and state intervention
title_short Startup valuation reassessed: against celebrity, sustainability and state intervention
title_sort startup valuation reassessed against celebrity sustainability and state intervention
topic Entrepreneurship
Startup
Founders
Startup valuation
url https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/JEET-08-2022-0012/full/pdf
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