Research Initiatives
Workforce Development and Training for the Next Generation of High-Tech Start-ups
Start-up entrepreneurial companies face the challenge of generating new value with less access to capital and resources then in years past. Since most of the value of high-tech start-ups is created by hiring the very best employees, a great deal of attention has been placed on the incentive packages offered to the top prospects in the field.
In previous decades, the most talented employees could be lured to join start-ups, through the promise of stock options and a rapid IPO. But times have changed. IPO's and acquisition dollars are not as great as they once were, start-ups are not receiving as much money from investors, and liquidation events are taking longer. And when these liquidation events occur it is frequently the senior management team only that significantly benefits from the event. This situation leads to some key questions:
- How can the top employees be hired into fast-growth start-ups, without the expectation of financial gain due to rapid acquisition or IPO?
- What can be done to reduce the cost of the core workforce in high tech start-ups? How can a cost-effective yet tech-savvy workforce be built and maintained?
- Which job skills and requirements can be off-loaded to less experienced (and less expensive) employees, who could be trained on these entry level skills?
The UMass Boston Entrepreneurship Center is one of the very first institutions in the country to tackle these questions head-on. Following in our mission of rigor and relevance, our aim is to answer these critical and timely issues, through these research objectives:
- Identify and develop new means of selection and retention that focus on employees motivated by the chance to learn, participate, and grow long-term in a career within start-up firms.
- Analyze the most common entry level positions in high tech, life science, clean tech and social venture start-ups, especially in the areas of product development, testing, marketing, sales, finance, support, and operations.
- Develop and deliver a world-class curriculum that provides the training, internships, and other preparation necessary to fuel the next generation of start-ups in our region.
Learn, Practice, Launch
Learn about entrepreneurship in the College of Management, practice in the Entrepreneurship Center, then launch your startup in the Venture Development Center. Read More
