Using design science approach for designing digital business start-ups

Enterprises that thrive in uncertain and dynamic markets are distinguished by their strong commitment to innovation and strategic agility. They proactively adapt to changing market conditions, leverage new technologies, and continuously evolve their business models to seize emerging opportunities and mitigate risks. Designing digital business start-ups is inherently challenging, particularly for entrepreneurs lacking dual expertise in business management and digital systems design and development. This paper explores the importance of design science (DS) in digital start-up development, highlighting how DS approach guides the formation of both organizational and technological artifacts. The application of the designed approach is illustrated through designing several digital business start-ups at Lancaster University Management School, where postgraduate students engaged in digital start-up projects from 2021 to 2024. Their successful transition from theory to practice underscores the DS approach’s effectiveness in digital business strategy implementation. The application of the “Design Science Approach for Digital Start-Up Design” outlines a model that guides through designing business motivation to implementing and testing the start-up design and its underlying digital system. This model integrates business and digital design cycles, focusing on continuous alignment and analysis for effective digital start-up development, emphasizing iterative and intertwining refinement. Furthermore, this paper maps business planning practices to digital systems design within the DS approach. The presented research aims to create a unified design approach for entrepreneurial and digital business start-up planning and design, offering a modular approach suitable for entrepreneurs and business school curricula worldwide, merging entrepreneurial and technology innovation practices together.