Startups e compliance: resolvendo o problema dos incentivos

Abstract

The innovation treated as a vector of global, social and economic growth is increasingly gaining importance in the current context of the New Economy, brought about by the Information Society and The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Startups, inserted in this context, play a fundamental role as generators of innovation and disruptors of the circular economy. Considering this scenario, it is essential to build a National Innovation System favorable to the development of these innovative companies. The current situation is deficient in this regard, making it difficult to implement an effective NIS, which discourages private investment and ends up causing a lack of resources for startups in their first years in business. Private investment coming from the angel investor is a central factor for the success of these ventures, whereas in addition to providing capital and acting in the company's most critical phase, it provides the expertise and networking, which are essential. However, the Brazilian regulatory environment is hostile to investors, creating barriers that translate into excessive transaction costs. The risks to angel investment in the country, which are due to a regulatory failure, cause disincentive to investment, startup failure and consequently low levels of innovation, hindering social and economic growth. Such a condition calls for a solution to the disincentive of the fluid relationship between the startup and the angel investor. As a solving offer, compliance appears as a legal instrument capable of reducing informational asymmetry, transaction costs and bringing more trust to the relationship. Despite the startup's lean structure and its dynamism, a compliance program can be adapted to this reality in order not to prevent the company's rapid growth. This paper’s methodology is based on the Economic Analysis of Law, especially Ronald Coase's Transaction Cost Theory and the research technique of national and foreign literature review. As a result of the research, the proposal for a structured compliance program model based on corporate governance, on Environmental Social and Governance, to be used by startups as a tool for attracting investments through the promotion of trust.