THE STARTUP SPRING: LEVERAGING PUBLIC POLICY TO INCREASE CAPITAL POOLS FOR TECHNOLOGY STARTUPS IN TURKEY AND JORDAN

Abstract

Money is an indispensible component of bringing a vision to life in the entrepreneurship space. Indeed, 90% of startups fail primarily due to a lack of sufficient funding, according to the United States Small Business Administration. To this end, governments have the potential to influence the capital pool available to startups through financial policies such as tax incentives and grants. This paper proposes a framework for governments to understand the health of their country from an entrepreneurship perspective, specifically in the technology sector, and enact tailored policies to create an ecosystem conducive to innovation and creation substantiated by comparatively increased financial means. We apply this model to technology startups in Turkey and Jordan. The methodology used to create this model involves regression and applied time series analyses to deduce the funding crunch area and financial policy priorities. This data is collected from publicly available investment tables on Crunchbase, press releases, and news articles, as well as results from surveys conducted by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor. These are supplemented by qualitative data based on 30+ interviews conducted with both investors and entrepreneurs in Turkey and Jordan through collaboration with Endeavor Global. Ultimately, we present a systematic, ‘plug-and-chug’ framework for governments to customize in order to begin taking action.