CEO Characteristics and Startup Performance in the New Space Economy: Leadership Profiles, Innovation Dynamics, and Business Model Implications

This study examines how Chief Executive Officer (CEO) characteristics are associated with outcomes relevant to business model scaling, commercialisation, and value capture in the New Space Economy. Drawing on an original dataset of 206 Italian New Space Economy startups, we use cluster analysis and regression methods to identify distinct entrepreneurial leadership profiles and to assess how they relate to firm-level growth and innovation outcomes. Three CEO typologies emerge: “Young Technology Pioneers” (young, STEM-oriented, growth-focused), “Space Industry Veterans” (experienced, institutionally embedded), and “Market-oriented Managers” (managerial, pragmatically commercial). Revenue-growth models indicate a statistically significant negative association between CEO age and recorded revenue growth in our sample, while prior space-sector experience is positively associated with innovation-related outcomes. The funding interaction analysis is treated as exploratory and does not yield reliable evidence that CEO background systematically conditions the relationship between external financing and commercialisation success. Although business model design choices are not directly observed, the findings suggest that CEO profiles are associated with variation in value creation, commercialisation, and scaling outcomes in New Space ventures. The study therefore contributes to business model innovation research by identifying managerial human-capital conditions associated with venture scaling under technological and institutional uncertainty, and it offers correlational implications for investors, incubators, and policymakers interested in entrepreneurial support within the New Space Economy.