The Role of Design in Design Intensive Start-ups

This paper analyzes the role of design in start-ups that focus on design as the primary source of value creation. These “design-intensive start-ups” (DIS) have, to-date, received little attention, in either the entrepreneurial or the design related literature. In particular, our explorative study focuses on how do DIS leverage design in the first years of the venture and suggests that this type of start-ups use design to: transform the meaning of the product/service offered, provide a different socio-cultural narrative of the how value can be created, incorporate the social-capital in the value proposition. Implications of these findings are discussed.