Methodology:

1) Research Design
Exploratory research was carried out here to find out different problems faced by
Entrepreneurs in India. This qualitative research method was chosen because it helped us
understand the problems in depth which were unknown to most of the members of the
group. Also varied information was available while doing preliminary research which did not
help us come to a conclusion of major problems faced. So through secondary research a list
of problems faced by start-ups were identified.

To validate the list we did personal telephonic interviews with 2 start-up co-founders
interviewed by one of the members of the group. The nature of interviews was unstructured
and each interview lasted for half an hour on average. The topic of discussion revolved
around major problems faced by those start-ups and others they knew of.

Also focus group discussion among 7 team members was carried out where we had 2
members having past experience of working in their respective start-ups. This discussion was
carried out for 2 hours and all the members of the group participated.
Interview, secondary research and focus group discussion helped us boil down to 4 major
problems faced by start-ups which were then floated along with 6 other problems (of the
exhaustive list) in the survey form.

Focus Group Discussion and personal interviews helped us gain insights in the problems
faced and also helped prepare the questionnaire. Qualitative analysis of secondary data
available on internet was the reference for other 5 members of Focus groups having no
experience of start-ups.

Final primary research was carried out through Survey forms involving questionnaire. The
questionnaire is attached in the appendix section.

2) Sample Design
For reducing the complexity of survey a sample population of people from Mumbai and
Pune directly or indirectly involved in start-ups was chosen. Survey form was floated in start-
up groups of friends and relatives by all the group members. Majority of people involved in
the survey belonged to the age group of 15-35 years as they are the ones who are mostly
involved in budding stage start-ups. A total of 86 responses were recorded.

Thus the sampling method used here is judgement sampling where the 2 members having
start-up experience observed during their stint at the start-up that nascent stage start-ups
are generally run by people in 15-35 age groups. This was confirmed by other members of
the group during focus group discussions. Also this targeted sampling method was
convenient for group members and quick responses were recorded.

3) Measurement and Scaling

This research majorly involved understanding the problems faced by start-ups. So they were
provided with a list of problems faced and were asked to select among them. Thus a nominal
scale having multiple selection was chosen so that we could run a chi square test to observe
variation in observed and expected data.
 Also relation between background of the entrepreneurs and their choice of factors was
identified. For example, Family Income was compared with choice of cultural bottleneck
problem or scale of business was compared with top 4 problems faced by those start-ups
were observed and a pattern of problems was identified for different stages start-ups were
involved in. This helped us dive deep into the problems according to the external
factors/stages of the start-ups. (Check this once Tarun & Sid)
Demographic information like age, gender, location of stay for majority of their life,
educational qualification was obtained on a nominal scale.

4) Analysis
Chi Square analysis was done to identify whether the 4 major problems identified by the
group matched with the 4 major problems observed in the survey. Also some analysis was
carried out to understand the choice of specific problems compared to the background of
candidates and results were presented.