AUSTRIAN

STARTUP

REPORT

2013

The Austrian Startup Report is an ongoingjoint research project to structure dataabout the development of the growingstartup community in Austria.

The Austrian Startup Report providesdetailed information about a nationwide, representative selection of startups, investors and public institutions.

Goals» raise public awareness for activities regarding the

founding and growth process of startups

» determine critical success factors for Austrian startups

» gain information about the influence of public andprivate support initiatives for startups in Austria

» make Austrias startup community internationallycompareable und therefore more noted in Europe ...

The Analysis

Qualitativesurvey

Quantitative survey

» By e-mail

» 50 intervieweeswithin ecosystem

» Questionnaire

» End of May –end of July

» 575 interviewees

Befragt von

7%6%

87%

Private investors

Public funding agency

Founders & startupemployees

The majority of the 575 interviewees arefounders or work in a startup, aged 32 yearsand male.

Average age

32,3years

88%

12%

Male Female

Gender

Region Age Gender

Silicon Valley

34,12 90/10

Tel Aviv 36,16 91/9

LA 31,55 88/12

London 35,98 91/9

Berlin 31,86 97/3

Comparison

The Results

The broad majority of founders holds a university degree, mostly business

administration.

81%

13%

3% 3%

Highest degree

University High school Apprenticeship Compulsory School

45%

31%

24%

Field of study

Business administration Engineering Other

The Startup Report shows thatmost Austrian startups arefounded by first-time foundersand are still in the ideageneration phase.

30 %Growth phase

70 %Idea / early stage phase

14%

17%

69%

Not having towork for otherpeople

Financialfreedom

Self-realisation& fun

Motives

73% First-time founders

27% Serial founders

Most founders havealready been

around for threeyears

The broad majority of founders pursue international market perspectives, one half considers the global market a goal.

14 %

20 %

17 %

48 %

The majority of startups is financedby private investors. The size of theinvestment ist growing, but still remains clearly below international levels.

Amount ofinvestment

How does establishing contact with Austrian VCs workcompared to contacting international VCs?

70 % Private

Investors

30 %Other

76% harder16% not specified11% easier

30% 36% 34%

<100.000 100-500.000 >500.000

76 % find it hard to connect with Austrian Business Angels

Subsidies?

65%find the subsidy jungle confusing

67%think that approaching public funding agencies works well

60%received subsidies from a public funding agency

Amount of subsidies

45% 35% 20%

<100.000 100-500.000 >500.000

50% of founders never attended a course or a lecture about entrepreneurship.

80% would have attended such a course if it was offered at educational institutions

Ecosystem Austria

70 %think that entrepreneurship and innovation gained attention over the last two years.

73 % don’t see the value of startups recognized by society, 75 % don’t think startups are valued enough by government.

90 %of interviewees think that our society lacks a “culture of failure”. 90% think that the absence of a culture of failure is the biggest restraint for entrepreneurship.

The

broadmajoritysupports theidea that...

… social security taxes and non-wage labor costs should be lower (93%)

… signing the first employee should beencouraged (93 %)

… the mininum corporate tax should beremoved (88 %)

… the antiquated trade regulation actshould be reformed fundamentally(80 %)

Implications

Developing alternative forms ofinvestment

Creation of tax incentives for private risk investments

Raise awareness for the topic ofstartups, entrepreneurship andfinancial education

ATTENTION!

Liberalisation of corporate andlabour laws

Simplify the information researchfor entrepreneurs

Rethink subsidies

GmbH (LLC) light!