Investigating the Opportunities and Threats of the Iranian Startup Ecosystem
Keywords:
Startup ecosystem, opportunities, threats, entrepreneurial development, innovation, IranAbstract
This study aimed to qualitatively explore and analyze the main opportunities and threats shaping the development of the startup ecosystem in Iran, with the goal of informing strategies to strengthen its entrepreneurial infrastructure, policies, and cultural foundations. This research employed a qualitative design using library-based data sources, including academic articles, policy documents, institutional reports, and national statistics related to the Iranian startup ecosystem. A purposive sampling strategy guided the selection of credible and thematically relevant documents, and data collection continued until theoretical saturation was achieved. All textual data were imported into NVivo 14 for systematic analysis through a three-stage coding process—open, axial, and selective coding—based on thematic content analysis. Emerging codes were constantly compared to ensure consistency and reliability in theme development. The analysis revealed two overarching categories—opportunities and threats—comprising multiple subthemes. Opportunities included the expansion of digital infrastructure, the availability of youthful human capital, the rise of institutional support structures, growing domestic market potential, increasing cultural acceptance of entrepreneurship, emerging access to risk capital, and policy-level encouragement. Conversely, key threats involved financial and investment barriers, legal and regulatory uncertainty, weak technical infrastructure, human resource constraints, cultural and social risk aversion, limited access to international markets, and fragmented policy governance. These findings highlight a dual reality in which promising enablers coexist with structural constraints that impede ecosystem maturation. The Iranian startup ecosystem is in a transitional stage, endowed with significant assets yet constrained by systemic weaknesses. Strategic interventions addressing funding gaps, regulatory reform, infrastructure upgrading, talent development, and cultural change are essential to transform Iran’s entrepreneurial potential into a sustainable engine for innovation-driven economic growth.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Payam Khodagholi (Author); Soheila Sardar; Seyed Abdollah Amin Mousavi, Nazi Mohamadzadeh Asl (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
