創業加速器的發展與實踐—以IDEAS SHOW為例

Abstract

緣於臺灣人愛當老闆的天性以及相應的「一卡皮箱走天下」的創業精神，創業在臺灣其實早已存在，惟近年隨著數位經濟的興起，不論公私部門都注意到創新創業對於臺灣新經濟的重要性。依據2017年「經濟部中小企業處」統計，臺灣有43%新創團隊無法營運超過五年，如何突破所謂「創業五年魔咒」而邁向成功，靠的不只是敬業與好點子，環境良窳與奧援的有無也扮演很重要的角色。 矽谷之所以成為全球創業重鎮，就是因為人才、團隊、市場、資金、法規，及行銷等周邊環境服務能形成緊密的創業生態圈，也因此有別於過去育成中心或天使創投的概念，新型態的「創業加速器」輔導模式應運而生；從創業競賽、育成輔導、引介投資到協助國際發展一氣呵成，這個新的輔導創業模式引進臺灣經過在地化之後，一時蔚為風潮，「創業加速器」、「共同工作空間」等機構如雨後風春筍般出現，而IDEAS Show就是其中的佼佼者。本研究挑選曾參與過IDEAS Show的新創團隊作為對象，研析並分享其創業過程與經驗，讓創業中或正在規劃創業的團隊，可以借鏡他人的經驗來思考自己未來的發展與方向。 研究結果發現新創團隊成敗的關鍵為市場、資金和團隊，包含團隊為創業的根本，尤其創業初期需共同突破許多障礙；尋找可重複且規模化的商業模式，使其成為永續經營的企業；全球化思維與瞄準國際市場為新創團隊具備的基因；資金為新團隊的重要養分及成長動力；參與創業加速器是建構人脈、鏈結資源與取得資金的最佳途徑。Entrepreneurship has long been strong in Taiwan, even more so now in the digital age, into which Taiwan is rapidly drawn. The issue of Innovation and Entrepreneurship has again attracted the attention of both private and public sectors all over the world, considering its importance to the (digital) economy, as thoroughly discoursed by the famous Austrian Economist Joseph Schumpeter ever so long ago. According to the statistics made by SMEA in 2017, there is a “five year curse” for start-ups, or more precisely, 43% of the start-ups in Taiwan won’t survive the first five years from its inception. To overcome this, it takes more than just good ideas and entrepreneurial spirits to survive and prosper. It is believed that the environment and the support, be it financial or not, for business can play an important, if not the vital, role. This partly explains why Silicon Valley/California is so far the world’s most attractive place for entrepreneurs and star-ups. From all walks of life of all over the world, first-class talents/teams of diverse disciplines, such as Science, Technology, finance, market, as well as law, investment and management, have been attracted to Silicon Valley. They have interacted to form a Web of Innovation, as well as a Bio-system for Entrepreneurs and Start-ups. With this in mind/hand, it is not surprising that many new types of Entrepreneurial Accelerators to cultivate, to help, and to facilitate entrepreneurs and start-ups were invented/developed there. The concept of Entrepreneurial Accelerators is generally different from its predecessors, e.g. Incubators or Angel Investors, etc., in that it comprises the whole entrepreneurial process of competition, incubation, investment, scaling, and internationalization if necessary. This idea of Entrepreneurial Accelerator, again, has been copied to Taiwan, with III’s IDEAS Show one of the most successful examples after localization. This research hence focused on studying the experience of delividual and teams involved in the IDEAS Show. It aims to understand the KSFs for entrepreneurs and start-ups in Taiwan, with a vision in mind that it may help the new and/or would-be entrepreneurs or start-ups in the future.