Impact of Autonomous Agentic Workflows and Integrated DevOps Maturity on Software Startup Time to Market

ABSTRACT: The rapid evolution of software startups has created a critical need to accelerate time to market, a factor that determines competitive advantage and entrepreneurial success. Nevertheless, lack of efficiencies in the classical development processes and disjointed deployment cycles tend to make startups fail to meet product releases in time. This study conceptually examines the impact of autonomous agentic workflows and integrated DevOps maturity on software startup time to market. The objectives include analysing how AI-enabled workflows improve development efficiency, evaluating the role of DevOps practices in streamlining software delivery, and exploring the synergistic effects of both on entrepreneurial performance. Using a qualitative, theory-based approach, the study integrates the information presented in journals, books, industry reports, and historical materials and applies the theory of Dynamic Capabilities, Socio-Technical Systems, and Innovation Diffusion theories in order to interpret the results. The analysis indicates that autonomous agentic workflows reduce repetitive tasks and errors, while DevOps maturity ensures collaboration, continuous integration, and standardized processes. Combined, the practices improve the agility of a startup, the quality of the product, and its responsiveness to the market. According to these lessons, one can consider the following recommendations: the need to adopt AI-driven workflows, the incorporation of DevOps practices, and the establishment of collaborative organizational cultures. The research finds that technological automation or process maturity is required to deliver software faster. Such limitations as the use of secondary data and conceptual inference are present, which implies that the validation should be empirical in further research.

KEYWORDS: Autonomous Workflows, DevOps Maturity, Software Startups, Time to Market, AI-Enabled Software, Entrepreneurial Performance.