Challenges of Valuation and Evaluation of Information Technology Startup Companies

The valuation of a startup business has always been an important topic in the negotiations between entrepreneurs and investors. An examination of existing research shows that despite the importance of the issue, there is not enough knowledge about this important topic and it is necessary to identify a suitable solution for both entrepreneurs and investors. Recent research works on the valuation of a startup business has emphasized on the fact that the valuation of such businesses is complicated and difficult for a number of reasons. The purpose of this research is to investigate the challenges of the valuation systems of startup IT companies in Iran. Due to the lack of sufficient research works in this regard in Iran, also the hidden aspects of the problem and the differences between qualitative and quantitative research methods, this research required a qualitative research approach. At first, the literature related to this field was reviewed and quantitative and qualitative models of the valuation of the startup companies were investigated. By qualitative method and using interviews with valuation and investment experts, information on how to valuate the startup information technology companies in Iran and the weaknesses and challenges of this process were gathered. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis method, and after analyzing the interviews, 3 main themes (The current state of valuation of start-up companies in Iran, Challenges to achieving a native application model for valuing startups, Challenges of valuation of startups in Iran) and 12 subthemes were identified.