Two-Factor Learning for Launch: How Entrepreneurs Can Increase the Probability of Positive Responses to Their Minimum Viable Products

Abstract

Lean startup methodologies are believed to reduce the overall risk and cost for launching new businesses. Many of these methodologies provide processes and tools that aid new entrepreneurs in their attempts to make informed decisions before, during, and after the launch of their minimum viable product (MVP). Drawing on theories from the Knowledge Based View, Organizational Learning, Lean Entrepreneurship, and Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory of Hygiene and Motivating Factors, we propose a theoretical framework of incremental innovation and lean launch that is capable of increasing the probability of the MVP receiving a positive environmental response. Our framework models the phenomena of responses to MVPs within a specific market through knowledge of existing offerings and the ideas we introduce around satisfaction and dissatisfaction as two separate continuums of responses intended customers may have to MVPs. Additionally, we propose that the relationship between individual and organizational knowledge can be moderated by the individual’s level of embeddedness, and that the relationship between organizational knowledge and the environmental response to the MVP can be moderated by the organization’s capabilities and access to resources.