Anotace:
Entrepreneurial and start-up success is a widely discussed phenomenon today with significance not only for individuals but also for the growth of entire economies worldwide. A large number of studies, however, emphasize entrepreneurial personality traits that impact venture success. In this paper we evaluate the impact of external factors within the start-up ecosystem. The start-up success factors are policies, human capital, financing, culture, support systems, and the market. We have employed a qualitative approach in the study, and in-depth interviews with the founders in the Vilnius start-up ecosystem were used as a data collection tool. Our findings suggest that entrepreneurial personality and start-up ecosystem both impact start-up success, while human capital, financing, and the market are the key elements of the local start-up ecosystem that contribute to success the most. The findings also reveal the importance of start-up ecosystem (as a set of external factors) for both entrepreneurial personality and start-up success. This study is the first attempt to evaluate the Vilnius start-up ecosystem as well as to establish the importance of ecosystem on both start-up success and entrepreneurial personality that in turn affect success.