Once Upon a Time... The function of storytelling in a startup lab

Abstract

The field of entrepreneurship and the concept of startup companies have grown rapidly in Sweden during the last years and is further considered as a key to create more job opportunities, increased growth and welfare. As a result of this, different startup initiatives have been established in society that function as support organisations to new ventures. It is suggested that startups use storytelling as a part of their organisational process in order to uphold the approval from stakeholders and the public, which in turn affect the way that the startup are structured and how processes emerge in their daily activities. This report seeks to investigate how storytelling is taking place within a support function organisation and investigates seven startups companies that are members of the organisation. Furthermore, the report will use a theoretical framework consisting of learning, becoming, decoupling and legitimacy, within the perspective of storytelling. The results indicate that the function of storytelling consists of three main topics: creation of legitimacy, creation of identity and the relationship between storytelling and performance.