Software Development in Startup Companies: The Greenfield Startup Model

TL;DR

This paper investigates software development strategies in startups, introducing the Greenfield Startup Model that emphasizes rapid product release and iterative adjustment based on early user feedback, highlighting unique engineering challenges.

Contribution

The study presents the Greenfield Startup Model, a new framework explaining startup development priorities and strategies for balancing speed and restructuring needs.

Findings

Startups prioritize quick product release to verify market fit.

Rapid development involves low-precision engineering activities.

Startups face challenges in restructuring products before scaling.

Abstract

Software startups are newly created companies with no operating history and oriented towards producing cutting-edge products. However, despite the increasing importance of startups in the economy, few scientific studies attempt to address software engineering issues, especially for early-stage startups. If anything, startups need engineering practices of the same level or better than those of larger companies, as their time and resources are more scarce, and one failed project can put them out of business. In this study we aim to improve understanding of the software development strategies employed by startups. We performed this state-of-practice investigation using a grounded theory approach. We packaged the results in the Greenfield Startup Model (GSM), which explains the priority of startups to release the product as quickly as possible. This strategy allows startups to verify product and market fit, and to adjust the product trajectory according to early collected user feedback. The need to shorten time-to-market, by speeding up the development through low-precision engineering activities, is counterbalanced by the need to restructure the product before targeting further growth. The resulting implications of the GSM outline challenges and gaps, pointing out opportunities for future research to develop and validate engineering practices in the startup context.