Technology and business model learning leading to growth: start-up ventures in mobile internet

Abstract

This paper applies a novel change-perspective to entrepreneurial learning using the venture as the unit of analysis. The rationales are the need for empirical studies of learning in technoentrepreneurship and that current literature is inconclusive regarding the relationship between learning and performance. Four stylised modes of learning are developed and then related to growth. The four learning modes are derived from two types of learning (experimental and frame-based) and two important dimensions (technology and the Business Model (BM)). An empirical investigation of 36 start-up ventures in the Swedish mobile internet industry indicates that one mode – frame-based technology and experimental BM learning – has a positive relationship with growth. Moreover, it appears that a downstream position in the value-chain might be part of the explanation for the outcome. From a theoretical perspective, it is suggested that the BM is less of a core resource than the technology.