Journal of Enterprise Information Management

Purpose – This paper reports on the results of an investigation into how the software development process is initially established within software product start-ups.

Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a grounded theory approach to characterize the experiences of small software organizations in developing processes to support their software development activity. Using the indigenous Irish software product industry as a test-bed, the authors' examine how software development processes are established in software product start-ups and the major factors that influence the make up of these processes.

Findings – The results show that the previous experience of the person tasked with managing the development work is the prime influencer on the process a company initially uses. Other influencers include the market sector in which the company is operating, the style of management used and the size and scale of the company operations.

Originality/value – The model has particular implications for start-up software product organisations that wish to successfully manage their product development from an early stage.