Communication Patterns and Performance in Early Startups

We use electronics badges to measure in-person communication across companies from an accelerator program, and analyze its relationship with their performance. Our analysis shows that both subjective and objective performance correlates with the amount communication exhibited by early stage companies. In general, more communication correlates with better performance, though too much communication with other teams seems harmful. Lower internal communication entropy correlates with higher performance. Companies that spent more time with the program mentors do better. Large companies reported higher levels of satisfaction compared to small companies.

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