Análise dos impactos da COVID-19 no ecossistema de startups brasileiro sob a ótica de especialistas

Abstract

The impact of the pandemic resulting from the spread of COVID-19 was intense, affecting people and companies around the world. Considering the business sector, startups were also affected by the pandemic leading to the cancellation of many projects that were being developed or planned. Other companies cut costs and investment projects, they froze new hires and even resigned. The overall objective of this work was to identify and analyse the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on startups embedded in Brazil's entrepreneurial ecosystem from a specialist perspective. Methodologically, a research with a qualitative approach was developed, using the technique of content analysis by categories, with interviews conducted by specialists in the field, discussing the effects of the pandemic in the Brazilian startup ecosystem. Interviews were obtained from lectures, webinars, live shows, and publicly available programs on the Internet. Results indicate that among the positive impacts are accelerating digitization, emphasizing digital transformation in all sectors. However, there were negative factors such as the reduction in revenues, investments, employee layoffs, project cancellations, and even the end of several businesses. Based on the research findings, proposals for improvement were listed, such as establishing partnerships between innovation hubs and entrepreneurship support institutions; encourage prefectures to structure startup acceleration programs; increase crisis management in ecosystems to highlight the need for leadership focused on innovation, technology and entrepreneurship.