Paper Number
ECIS2026-1863
Paper Type
CRP
Abstract
Generative AI (GenAI) is influencing how startups form, operate, and create value. Yet, process-related insights into how GenAI transforms startups are limited. Our study investigates how GenAI reshapes organizational structures and value creation in startups. Using a qualitative approach with 17 expert interviews from employees at startups, we identify how GenAI drives structural recomposition across four domains: shifting roles, AI-embedded workflows, evolving capability expectations, and leaner work architectures. Our results highlight that startups integrate GenAI not as a peripheral tool but as a structural collaborator, enabling small teams to expand capacity while creating new dependencies and coordination logics. Linking these changes to four value dimensions, namely: operational, structural, innovation, and market value, our study conceptualizes AI-augmented orchestration, where human and algorithmic actors jointly configure work and value creation. The findings extend digital transformation theory by showing that GenAI moves organizing from human-driven adaptation toward technology-embedded reconfiguration.
Recommended Citation
Schmidt, Melanie and Schöbel, Sofia, "From Prompt To Process: Qualitative Insights On How Genai Use Rewrites Startup Structures" (2026). ECIS 2026 Proceedings. 5.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/ecis2026/digitrans/digitrans/5
From Prompt To Process: Qualitative Insights On How Genai Use Rewrites Startup Structures
Generative AI (GenAI) is influencing how startups form, operate, and create value. Yet, process-related insights into how GenAI transforms startups are limited. Our study investigates how GenAI reshapes organizational structures and value creation in startups. Using a qualitative approach with 17 expert interviews from employees at startups, we identify how GenAI drives structural recomposition across four domains: shifting roles, AI-embedded workflows, evolving capability expectations, and leaner work architectures. Our results highlight that startups integrate GenAI not as a peripheral tool but as a structural collaborator, enabling small teams to expand capacity while creating new dependencies and coordination logics. Linking these changes to four value dimensions, namely: operational, structural, innovation, and market value, our study conceptualizes AI-augmented orchestration, where human and algorithmic actors jointly configure work and value creation. The findings extend digital transformation theory by showing that GenAI moves organizing from human-driven adaptation toward technology-embedded reconfiguration.