IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobuve/v14y2020ics2352673420300652.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

To get out of the building or not? That is the question: The benefits (and costs) of customer involvement during the startup process

Author

Listed:
  • Newbert, Scott L.
  • Tornikoski, Erno T.
  • Augugliaro, Jeff

Abstract

Nascent entrepreneurs are frequently advised to “get out of the building” and consult with customers before any serious efforts to develop new products or services are undertaken so they can understand what their potential customers really want/need. Despite the intuitive nature of this advice, it lacks theoretical and empirical bases. As such, the worldwide popularity of the movements this approach has spawned, such as Customer Development and Lean Startup, seems to rest on the unfounded assumption that the benefits of involving customers outweighs any costs. Thus, we theorize about the pros and cons of involving customers early on in the startup process and empirically test our model using data from the PSED II. Our findings suggest that while involving customers early will help entrepreneurs create offerings customers are willing to pay for, it also results in potentially costly delays in the launch of those offerings. We also find that these benefits and costs are magnified when innovativeness is high.

Suggested Citation

  • Newbert, Scott L. & Tornikoski, Erno T. & Augugliaro, Jeff, 2020. "To get out of the building or not? That is the question: The benefits (and costs) of customer involvement during the startup process," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 14(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:14:y:2020:i:c:s2352673420300652
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbvi.2020.e00209
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352673420300652
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbvi.2020.e00209?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Joachim Wagner, 2006. "Are nascent entrepreneurs 'Jacks-of-all-trades'? A test of Lazear's theory of entrepreneurship with German data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(20), pages 2415-2419.
    2. Christian Hopp & Ute Stephan, 2012. "The influence of socio-cultural environments on the performance of nascent entrepreneurs: Community culture, motivation, self-efficacy and start-up success," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(9-10), pages 917-945, December.
    3. Maria Minniti & William Bygrave, 2001. "A Dynamic Model of Entrepreneurial Learning," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 25(3), pages 5-16, April.
    4. Smilor, Raymond W., 1997. "Entrepreneurship: Reflections on a subversive activity," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 12(5), pages 341-346, September.
    5. Baum, Joel A. C. & Silverman, Brian S., 2004. "Picking winners or building them? Alliance, intellectual, and human capital as selection criteria in venture financing and performance of biotechnology startups," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 19(3), pages 411-436, May.
    6. Benson Honig, 2001. "Learning Strategies and Resources for Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 26(1), pages 21-34, October.
    7. Moren Lévesque & Maria Minniti & Dean Shepherd, 2009. "Entrepreneurs’ Decisions on Timing of Entry: Learning from Participation and from the Experiences of Others," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 33(2), pages 547-570, March.
    8. Lichtenstein, Benyamin B. & Dooley, Kevin J. & Lumpkin, G.T., 2006. "Measuring emergence in the dynamics of new venture creation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 153-175, March.
    9. Diamanto Politis, 2005. "The Process of Entrepreneurial Learning: A Conceptual Framework," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 29(4), pages 399-424, July.
    10. Ozgen, Eren & Baron, Robert A., 2007. "Social sources of information in opportunity recognition: Effects of mentors, industry networks, and professional forums," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 174-192, March.
    11. Scott Shane, 2000. "Prior Knowledge and the Discovery of Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(4), pages 448-469, August.
    12. Dennis Lyth Frederiksen & Alexander Brem, 2017. "How do entrepreneurs think they create value? A scientific reflection of Eric Ries’ Lean Startup approach," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 169-189, March.
    13. Dimo Dimov, 2007. "Beyond the Single-Person, Single-Insight Attribution in Understanding Entrepreneurial Opportunities," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(5), pages 713-731, September.
    14. Howard Van Auken & Fred L. Fry & Paul Stephens, 2006. "The Influence Of Role Models On Entrepreneurial Intentions," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 11(02), pages 157-167.
    15. Paul Reynolds & Niels Bosma & Erkko Autio & Steve Hunt & Natalie De Bono & Isabel Servais & Paloma Lopez-Garcia & Nancy Chin, 2005. "Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: Data Collection Design and Implementation 1998–2003," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 205-231, February.
    16. Gartner, William B. & Starr, Jennifer A. & Bhat, Subodh, 1999. "Predicting new venture survival: An analysis of "anatomy of a start-up." cases from Inc. Magazine," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 215-232, March.
    17. Yang, Tiantian & Aldrich, Howard E., 2012. "Out of sight but not out of mind: Why failure to account for left truncation biases research on failure rates," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 477-492.
    18. Mohan V. Tatikonda & Mitzi M. Montoya-Weiss, 2001. "Integrating Operations and Marketing Perspectives of Product Innovation: The Influence of Organizational Process Factors and Capabilities on Development Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(1), pages 151-172, January.
    19. George P. Huber, 1991. "Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(1), pages 88-115, February.
    20. Shepherd, Dean A. & Douglas, Evan J. & Shanley, Mark, 2000. "New venture survival: Ignorance, external shocks, and risk reduction strategies," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 15(5-6), pages 393-410.
    21. Dimo Dimov, 2007. "From Opportunity Insight to Opportunity Intention: The Importance of Person–Situation Learning Match," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 31(4), pages 561-583, July.
    22. Mansoori, Yashar & Karlsson, Tomas & Lundqvist, Mats, 2019. "The influence of the lean startup methodology on entrepreneur-coach relationships in the context of a startup accelerator," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 84, pages 37-47.
    23. Helena Yli‐Renko & Erkko Autio & Harry J. Sapienza, 2001. "Social capital, knowledge acquisition, and knowledge exploitation in young technology‐based firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(6‐7), pages 587-613, June.
    24. Jeffery S. McMullen & Dimo Dimov, 2013. "Time and the Entrepreneurial Journey: The Problems and Promise of Studying Entrepreneurship as a Process," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(8), pages 1481-1512, December.
    25. Dimo Dimov, 2010. "Nascent Entrepreneurs and Venture Emergence: Opportunity Confidence, Human Capital, and Early Planning," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(6), pages 1123-1153, September.
    26. Busenitz, Lowell W. & Barney, Jay B., 1997. "Differences between entrepreneurs and managers in large organizations: Biases and heuristics in strategic decision-making," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 12(1), pages 9-30, January.
    27. Anna S. Cui & Fang Wu, 2016. "Utilizing customer knowledge in innovation: antecedents and impact of customer involvement on new product performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(4), pages 516-538, July.
    28. Gruner, Kjell E. & Homburg, Christian, 2000. "Does Customer Interaction Enhance New Product Success?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 49(1), pages 1-14, July.
    29. Linlin Jin & Kristen Madison & Nils D. Kraiczy & Franz W. Kellermanns & T. Russell Crook & Jing Xi, 2017. "Entrepreneurial Team Composition Characteristics and New Venture Performance: A Meta–Analysis," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(5), pages 743-771, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Amir Emami & Shayegheh Ashourizadeh & Shima Sheikhi & Gadaf Rexhepi, 2022. "Entrepreneurial propensity for market analysis in the time of COVID-19: benefits from individual entrepreneurial orientation and opportunity confidence," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(8), pages 2413-2439, November.
    2. Fink, Alexander A. & Klöckner, Maximilian & Räder, Tobias & Wagner, Stephan M., 2022. "Supply chain management accelerators: Types, objectives, and key design features," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    3. Bastian, Bob & Zucchella, Antonella, 2023. "Nascent entrepreneurs during start-up competitions: Between beauty contests and co-created problematization," Journal of Business Venturing Insights, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Marvel, Matthew R. & Wolfe, Marcus T. & Kuratko, Donald F., 2020. "Escaping the knowledge corridor: How founder human capital and founder coachability impacts product innovation in new ventures," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(6).
    2. Per Davidsson & Jan Henrik Gruenhagen, 2021. "Fulfilling the Process Promise: A Review and Agenda for New Venture Creation Process Research," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 45(5), pages 1083-1118, September.
    3. Healey, Mark P. & Bleda, Mercedes & Querbes, Adrien, 2021. "Opportunity evaluation in teams: A social cognitive model," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(4).
    4. Matthew R. Marvel & Justin L. Davis & Curtis R. Sproul, 2016. "Human Capital and Entrepreneurship Research: A Critical Review and Future Directions," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(3), pages 599-626, May.
    5. Sandra Gottschalk & Bettina Müller, 2022. "A second chance for failed entrepreneurs: a good idea?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(2), pages 745-767, August.
    6. Xian Cao & Junyon Im, 2018. "Founder human capital and new technology venture R&D search intensity: the moderating role of an environmental jolt," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 625-642, March.
    7. Kim, Phillip H. & Longest, Kyle C. & Lippmann, Stephen, 2015. "The tortoise versus the hare: Progress and business viability differences between conventional and leisure-based founders," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 185-204.
    8. Farhad Uddin Ahmed & Louis Brennan, 2019. "The impact of Founder’s human capital on firms’ extent of early internationalisation: Evidence from a least-developed country," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 615-659, September.
    9. Dimitratos, Pavlos & Plakoyiannaki, Emmanuella & Thanos, Ioannis C. & Förbom, Yrjö Kristian, 2014. "The overlooked distinction of multinational enterprise subsidiary learning: Its managerial and entrepreneurial learning modes," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 102-114.
    10. Tran, Yen & Truong, Anh Tran Tram, 2022. "Knowledge recontextualization by returnee entrepreneurs: The dynamic learning perspective," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(3).
    11. D’Angelo, Alfredo & Presutti, Manuela, 2019. "SMEs international growth: The moderating role of experience on entrepreneurial and learning orientations," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 613-624.
    12. Gottschalk, Sandra & Greene, Francis J. & Höwer, Daniel & Müller, Bettina, 2014. "If you don't succeed, should you try again? The role of entrepreneurial experience in venture survival," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-009, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Fan, Terence & Schwab, Andreas & Geng, Xuesong, 2021. "Habitual entrepreneurship in digital platform ecosystems: A time-contingent model of learning from prior software project experiences," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(5).
    14. Cassar, Gavin & Craig, Justin, 2009. "An investigation of hindsight bias in nascent venture activity," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 149-164, March.
    15. Andries, Petra & Clarysse, Bart & Costa, Sergio, 2021. "Technology ventures' engagement of external actors in the search for viable market applications: On the relevance of Technology Broadcasting and Systematic Validation," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 36(6).
    16. Kim Klyver & Benson Honig & Paul Steffens, 2018. "Social support timing and persistence in nascent entrepreneurship: exploring when instrumental and emotional support is most effective," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 709-734, October.
    17. Shepherd, Dean A. & Breugst, Nicola & Patzelt, Holger, 2023. "A founding-team model of creating a venture's culture," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2).
    18. Brandon A. Mueller & Dean A. Shepherd, 2016. "Making the Most of Failure Experiences: Exploring the Relationship between Business Failure and the Identification of Business Opportunities," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 40(3), pages 457-487, May.
    19. Klyver, Kim & Steffens, Paul & Lomberg, Carina, 2020. "Having your cake and eating it too? A two-stage model of the impact of employment and parallel job search on hybrid nascent entrepreneurship," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(5).
    20. Gras, David & Conger, Michael & Jenkins, Anna & Gras, Michael, 2020. "Wicked problems, reductive tendency, and the formation of (non-)opportunity beliefs," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 35(3).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jobuve:v:14:y:2020:i:c:s2352673420300652. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-business-venturing-insights .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.