The Directorate-General for the Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs of the European Commission (EC) has launched a public consultation to help further improve the environment for start-ups in Europe.

The recently adopted Single Market Strategy is one of the key facets of a broader European policy to boost growth and jobs in Europe. It commits the EC to 'engage with all relevant players' when designing a Start-up Initiative. The overall aim is to further improve the environment for European start-ups and fast growing firms.

Hence, by gathering the information through this consultation the EC is seeking to identify possible solutions that will enable it to design new policy and/or support measures at both EU and Member State level to address start-ups' needs throughout their life cycle.

The goal is to create serial entrepreneurs – i.e. enterprising individuals who will try again when they fail, reinvest when they succeed, and will also support a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem in Europe.

The questionnaire consists of questions related to each phase of the company's lifecycle, providing examples of policy or support measures for stakeholders to reflect upon and share their knowledge and expertise for better policy making. The questionnaire follows the lifecycle of an enterprise, which is divided into three primary phases:

• Stand-up phase - when individuals or groups are equipped with the entrepreneurial attitudes and skills to attempt the creation of new company.
  
  
• Start-up phase - when resources are mobilised and regulatory requirements fulfilled to start a new company.
  
  
• Scale-up phase - when successful companies expand their businesses to new markets or in innovative ways.
  
  
• Exit phase - when the business owners and/or investors/shareholders decide to cash out an investment made in the past through trade sale or merger with a larger player in the industry (merger and acquisitions), secondary sales to third parties or initial public offerings (IPOs).

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