Bachelor's Thesis Jakob von Hayek
Over the past decade Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become subject to public debate where it is increasingly understood that it is a key driver for economic and social development change. It is also understood that innovation happens primarily in the US and China and Europe falling behind the curve. In order to catch up, it is thus important to understand how AI startups understand the innovation process, which factors they see important and hence how they evaluate their future.
The literature so far has identified the following criteria: Access and quality of data, investor influence and networks, compliance and ethics, business model innovation and sustainability, and talent and skills. While the literature has reached consensus that they are important, there is little that we know about how founders themselves prioritize these factors. Through 17 semi-structured Interviews this thesis investigates how entrepreneurs navigate these competing priorities and how they anticipate AI will reshape them. In doing so, the study provides a founder-centric view on responsible and strategic AI integration in the European regulatory ecosystem and market conditions.
The approach is guided by two research questions:
- RQ1: What are the key success factors that shape founders' perspectives when integrating AI into their products and services
- RQ2: How and why do founders expect AI to positively or negatively affect each of the success factors?
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Title (de) | Einschätzungen europäischer Gründer hinsichtlich der Auswirkungen von KI auf Start-ups |
| Title (en) | Investigating European Founder Perceptions of the Impact of AI on Startups |
| Project | |
| Type | Bachelor's Thesis |
| Status | started |
| Student | Jakob von Hayek |
| Advisor | Stephen Meisenbacher |
| Supervisor | Prof. Dr. Florian Matthes |
| Start Date | 28.07.2025 |
| Sebis Contributor Agreement signed on | 25.07.2025 |
| Checklist filled | Yes |
| Submission date | 28.12.2025 |