A Business and Technical Approach on Startups Applied on an Automotive System RALUCA DOVLEAC * , ALEXANDRA LORINCZ ** , ANDREEA IONICA * , MONICA LEBA ** * Department of Management ** Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering University of Petrosani Str.Universitatii, nr.20 ROMANIA raluca.dovleac123@gmail.com,elisabetalorincz@gmail.com,monicaleba@upet.ro,andreeaionica@upet.ro Abstract: A new promising trend of businesses called startup threatens to overthrow the old fashioned business life we’ve grown accustomed to. With multiple advantages, the startups are growing in popularity and applicability. The only problem is that they require another type of management and organizational skills. In our paper, we have studied the way a business model can help better manage a startup and applied it in a real life example for an automotive startup, called 4WheelSecret. Key-Words: startup, business model, onboard computer, automotive industry, car control 1 Introduction The "Communication" with the owner of a vehicle is done through the lamps in the vehicle, frequently called WITNESSES BOARD. They announce the specific vehicle damage, if there is something worn out, problems or errors in certain systems of the car. Depending on their color we can know if, there is a serious problem, a problem involving the car’s safety (red) or a replacement/repairing issue (yellow or orange). Diagnosing these problems is done with an OBD (On-Board Diagnostics) system found in most vehicles. OBD can give out important information about the operating status of the various parts of the vehicle to the technician that deals with it. The OBD2 standard uses five communication protocols and the automotive systems can be diagnosed by connecting with a device that is compliant with OBD2. Fig.1. 16-pin connector (2x8) J1962 4WheelSecret is a startup that aims to help car owners better understand their cars and be able to know the value of the car at all times, in case they ever decide to sell it. Like any other startup, 4WheelSecret started with an idea and developed around it. In this paper we presented the basic aspects of our startup and our product as well as the tool that enabled us to define the startup as a business. Growing in popularity after the dot-com boom, startups have become an asset for individuals with great ideas and a powerful desire to make things work. Due to the major advantages they bring such as: competitive pricing, ease of access, personality, agility, team chemistry, and not only, startup businesses are gaining more ground in today’s business market But what is, more precisely, a startup company? According to Wikipedia, a startup company or startup or start-up is an entrepreneurial venture or a new business in the form of a company, a partnership or temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model (1). Other put, a startup is a small, new business that offers services and/or products which are not already on the market in hopes of further development and/or being incorporated into bigger business. Their founding can come either from one or multiple investors, bank loans of even crowd funding. 2 Evaluation idea We created a device that makes the communication with the vehicle easier, and uses the information it obtains to directly inform either the owner or a service center/technician. The device we created enables us to gather and store the data from the Raluca Dovleac et al. International Journal of Economics and Management Systems http://iaras.org/iaras/journals/ijems ISSN: 2367-8925 153 Volume 1, 2016