Abstract
Context: The continuous proliferation of data nowadays has inspired companies to make data-informed decisions. Despite the acknowledged benefits of analytics, there is a persistent question about how companies, especially software startup companies with distinguishing characteristics, can effectively create value from it. In the startup context, analytics refers to the use of startup data and insights to inform strategies and tactics across startup business, product, team, sales, and marketing dimensions. Objective: In this study, we aim to bridge the knowledge gap by eliciting an understanding of the analytics that software startup companies hold and identifying critical challenges they face in the realm of analytics. Method: We conducted a multiple-case study with eight software startups at different startup stages. In addition to the data collected through semi-structured interviews, we considered other data sources such as analytics dashboards and online data about the startups, including websites and social media platforms. We analyzed the data using thematic analysis. Results: Our results firstly revealed a divergent understanding of analytics by software startups, based on which we reported essential characteristics of analytics perceived by them. Then we identified 22 analytics challenges classified into six main themes. The themes encompass data capture and access challenges, data interpretation and bias, communication challenges, cultural challenges, external influences and constraints, and analytics implementation challenges. Conclusions: Our findings contribute to a conceptual understanding of analytics in software startups and the identification of critical challenges faced by these startups across different stages. The conceptual understanding lays the foundation for comprehending what constitutes analytics for software startups, while the identification of challenges anticipates critical barriers to the adoption and implementation of analytics. We also provide practical implications to both researchers and practitioners.