However, since this market segment was less actively served in the past and remains understudied in the literature, the vendor seeks further market insights. More precisely, the scale-up market should be investigated, and recommendations developed to efficiently target and satisfy the needs of this segment. The focus of the study lies on the scale-ups operating in the healthtech, software or fintech industries that are younger than 10 years and have at least received Series A funding.

The study aims to answer the following research question: How can the software vendor efficiently target and satisfy the needs of Swiss scale-ups operating in the software, health-tech, and fintech industries? To answer this question, scale-ups’ challenges and needs, software purchasing processes, and perceptions of the software vendor were analysed. The methodologies applied were desk research, expert interviews with decision-makers, qualitative content analysis and the authors own experience from working for the vendor.

The findings show that scale-ups face their most significant challenges regarding talent management, scalability, the market environment, and business models. Furthermore, scale-ups prefer cloud over on-premises solutions as long as data security requirements are met. Moreover, the five most important factors when selecting software are: Software pricing, scalability, API, usability, and data security. This study has found that compared to mature companies, scale-ups have a decision-making process that is less standardised and formal. Furthermore, the findings suggest that the CFO is the most influential decision-maker next to the CEO and that companies with Series B funding or higher are more likely to experience needs for the vendors software. Based on the interview findings, the author has provided the vendor with a value proposition that fits scale-ups’ needs. Furthermore, the vendor is advised to focus their direct sales efforts on CFOs from scale-ups with at least Series B funding. Finally, this study suggests measures to increase the company’s visibility and credibility in the scale-up market.