Little is known about the role of product features in shaping market orientation as most research focuses on organizational features, such as interdepartmental connectedness, centralization in the strategy formation process, and the nature of top management teams. In this study we draw on the theory of resource orchestration and hypothesize that the protect-ability and the scalability of new products relate positively to market orientation in technology-based new ventures. We also predict that the entrepreneurial experience of founders interacts positively with these product features in driving market orientation strategies. On the basis of original field data from 156 technology-based startups, we find support for the positive relationship between product features and market orientation and the proposed interaction. These findings contribute to the ongoing research on the antecedents of market orientation by showing how founders’ experience and product features shape the resource orchestration process within technology-based new ventures.

Rather than the view of the entrepreneur as a ‘lone ranger’, recent work has focused on the importance of teams in bringing a start-up to growth and success. Here, we aim to bridge the gap between the individual characteristics of entrepreneurs and the characteristics of their teams by examining openness of founders in relation to creative team environment (CTE), innovative work behaviour (IWB) and performance. On the basis of upper echelon theory and integrating other complementary theories such as the attention-based view, we develop a theoretical framework and test this using a survey of 322 high-tech entrepreneurs. Our findings suggest a mediating role of CTE and IWB in the relation between openness of entrepreneurs and performance. The implications of the results for managerial practices and future research directions are discussed.