A study to assess the impact of transformational leadership on the growth of revenues in start-up companies in Bangalore city

Entrepreneurship and Start-ups have become the buzz words during the beginning of the 21st century in general in India and particularly in Bangalore City. Dubbed as the Silicon Valley of India and home to thousands of Information Technology (IT) and Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) companies since the late eighties and blessed with a salubrious climate round the year and availability of technical manpower, it is not a surprise that Bangalore has become the leading City in India for start-ups. Whilst India has 44 Unicorns (technology enabled start-ups with a valuation of over a billion US dollars) and ranks third in the world amongst countries which have the most number of Unicorns, not surprisingly Bangalore is leading the pack and is home to 18 of these Unicorns. Undoubtedly, the enthusiasm amongst the founders of the start-ups in Bangalore is very high and highly infectious, to say the least. These founders have applied their minds, knowledge, and skills to offer innovative solutions in the areas of Fintech, Edutech, Foodtech, Agritech, e-Commerce, etc. Ideas alone do not guarantee that these start-ups will succeed. Key factors that contribute to the success of start-ups, amongst others, are leadership styles of the founders, access to capital, a sound and sustainable business model, ability of the founders to take moderate and calculated risks, and having products and services that meet the needs of customers. This research paper tries to examine the connection between the leadership style of the founders with specific reference to Transformational Leadership style and the growth of revenues of the start-ups. A survey was conducted in Bangalore City wherein a questionnaire covering demographic data and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (a standard tool used by researchers worldwide to measure Transformational, Transactional and Passive-Avoidant leadership styles) was sent to 476 founders of start-ups. The responses were analysed using statistical tools such as Regression Analysis and Anova. The hypothesis was tested using independent t-test. The analysis of data did not point towards a strong connection between Transformational Leadership and growth in revenues of the start-ups.