DISSERTATION RESEARCH SUMMARY
Abhishek Bhatia | PhD Candidate, London Business School

My research examines how startups scale rapidly despite limited resources, often challenging traditional strategy theories. I explore three core themes: accelerated growth (“blitz-scaling”), equity-based compensation for talent acquisition, and data-driven venture capital. The first essay shows how fast customer growth reshapes organisational design and capability building. The second investigates how offering equity, instead of high cash salaries, helps startups attract top talent — especially for high-status founders. The third explores how modern venture capitalists use data and analytics to discover promising startups earlier and more widely than before. Together, these studies offer new insights into how entrepreneurial firms overcome growth barriers in dynamic, resource-constrained environments.