One influential model of startup evolution emphasizes that each stage of startup development has a very different “dominant problem” that the startup must solve, but that the solution often causes the startup’s next crisis.5 For instance, solving the early “creativity” challenge in a startup leads to a crisis of leadership, which is solved in the next stage by an increase in direction, which in turn causes a crisis of autonomy. The skills and personal characteristics needed to solve one stage’s dominant problem often become obstacles to solving the next stage’s dominant problem. The radical
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