Introduction
Organizational resilience is known as one of the most important capabilities of organizations to survive in case of crisis. This ability enables organizations to recover faster in crisis situations. Among the reasons that require the need to increase the attention of organizations to the concept of organizational resilience are major disasters such as Tsunami, earthquake, war, and infectious diseases. Such disasters have made companies to review their business procedures to better manage unexpected and unforeseen events that can disrupt their performance. These disasters have had a significant impact on the life of growing startups. The COVID-19 pandemic was the latest global crisis that started in 2019 and its different variants are spreading. This pandemic caused a lot of damage in many industries of developed and developing countries, especially in small and medium-sized companies, including startups. Considering the important role of startups in developing countries, the current study aims to develop a model for increasing the resilience of startups in Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic, while investigating the antecedents of organizational resilience.

Methods
This is descriptive-survey study using the thematic analysis and field study. To collect research data, in-depth semi-structured interviews with experts in the field of startups and the university professors active in the field of entrepreneurship were conducted, who were selected by the snowball method. Considering the 60-minute time taken by each interview and the mastery and nobility of the interviewees on the subject, the researcher reached saturation after conducting 12 semi-structured interviews. In the first stage, by studying the literatures, the factors shaping organizational resilience were identified. Then, by conducting unstructured interviews with the panel of experts, the final factors affecting organizational resilience were summarized, and the initial study model was designed using the thematic analysis method. To ensure the validity of the interview, the interview was conducted based on the seven-step model of Kvale (1996). After designing the conceptual model of the study, structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the model. 
Due to the impossibility of monitoring the random selection of participants, the sampling was done using a convenience sampling method. A researcher-made questionnaire of organizational resilience was used, including 2 questions for the subscale of employee characteristics, 7 questions for team characteristics, 4 questions for leader characteristics, and 8 questions for organization characteristics. The items were rated on a 5-point Likert scale, from very low (1 point) to very high (5 points). The content validity of the questionnaire was evaluated and its reliability was determined using Cronbach’s α coefficient. Based on the pilot study on 30 participants (employees of startups in Guilan, Iran), Cronbach’s α coefficients were equal to 0.719, 0.855, 0.837, 0.783, 0.840, and 0.812 for the subscales of employee characteristics, team characteristics, leader characteristics, organization characteristics, and the overall scale, respectively which indicates the acceptable reliability of the questionnaire. After collecting questionnaires, the data of 238 complete questionnaires were analyzed using SEM in SmartPLS3 software.

Results
By examining the findings of the theme analysis method, four themes were extracted: a) Characteristics of the leader/founder (effective communication with stakeholders, agile leadership, ability to prepare for change, ability to adapt to changes, change management, crisis management, perception of startup lifespan, long-term orientation), b) Characteristics of the organization (duality of innovation, technological capability, entrepreneurial orientation, organizational flexibility, open organizational culture, ability to absorb changes), c) Employee characteristics (workforce diversity, knowledge diversity) and d) Team characteristics (sustainable resilience exercises, dynamic capabilities, ability to adapt to changes, team capability). The characteristics of the organization with a coefficient of 0.526 had the greatest impact on organizational resilience. The characteristics of the leader had the second highest effect on organizational resilience, with a coefficient value of 0.433. The variables of team characteristics and employee characteristics were in the third and fourth ranks with coefficients of 0.298 and 0.244, respectively.

Conclusion
The findings of the study showed that startups with a stronger innovation system performed better during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using technology and innovation, these systems can help startups to quickly respond to changes and developments in the market and work environment. Also, organizational flexibility during the pandemic could help startups adapt to the rapid and sudden changes that occur in the market and work environment. Open organizational culture was one of the essential factors in achieving organizational resilience by improving the resilience climate and emphasizing the acceptance of its mechanisms. The results of this study help stakeholders and researchers in Iran gain a more appropriate understanding of the resilience of startups.

Ethical Considerations

Funding
The paper was extracted from the master's thesis of Faezeh Kamali Chirani, approved by Department of Business Administrati, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Rasht Branch, Islamic Azad University.

Authors' contributions
All authors equally contribute to preparing all parts of the research.

Conflicts of interest
The authors declared no conflict of interest.


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