Toward sustainable business models for startups from a triple bottom line perspective

Startups are pivotal to national economic development through job creation and innovation; however, their high failure rates make them vulnerable in competitive market environments. To address this challenge, this study examines the significance of business sustainability for startups across the three pillars of the triple bottom line framework: economic, social, and environmental sustainability. Specifically, it investigates the influence of entrepreneurial orientation, market orientation, and entrepreneurial network on flow experience, entrepreneurial satisfaction, and innovative performance as pathways toward a holistic startup sustainability. A theoretical model integrating these constructs was empirically validated using Partial Least Squares - Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), with data drawn across the 17 administrative regions of the Philippines. The findings reveal that entrepreneurial orientation significantly influences flow experience and innovative performance, while market orientation demonstrated no significant relationships with other constructs. Entrepreneurial network has a significant relationship among flow experience, entrepreneurial satisfaction, and innovative performance. Flow experience is found to positively influence entrepreneurial satisfaction and negatively influence social sustainability, whereas entrepreneurial satisfaction is associated with economic sustainability. Notably, innovative performance emerges as the most comprehensive driver of business sustainability, exhibiting positive relationships with all three dimensions of the triple bottom line. These results position innovative performance as a key variable for startup sustainability in developing-country contexts. The findings offer actionable insights for entrepreneurs, policymakers, and startup ecosystem builders, particularly in informing the design of sustainability initiatives and responsive policy instruments. More importantly, policymakers need to invest in innovation-enabling infrastructure, entrepreneurial education, and orientation-building programs that cultivate the internal capacities of startups. Future research is encouraged to explore government support initiatives, cross-country comparisons, sector-specific analyses, and additional constructs.