Escaping the knowledge corridor: How founder human capital and founder coachability impacts product innovation in new ventures

Innovation is of central importance to entrepreneurship research, as independent entrepreneurs account for the most fundamentally novel product offerings. This study investigates how founder human capital and founder coachability relate to exploiting product innovation in new ventures. Drawing on a dyadic sample of founders and startup coaches, we clarify how general human capital broadens the knowledge corridor to enhance product innovation. Conversely, our study shines a light on the dark side of specific human capital and illustrates how specific prior knowledge constrains the knowledge corridor to limit product innovation. Further, we find that founder coachability—the degree to which an entrepreneur seeks, considers, and integrates feedback—is related to exploiting product innovation. Perhaps most importantly, we advance coachability as a learning mechanism that moderates the relationship between specific human capital and product innovation to overcome knowledge corridor constraints. Our findings have implications for human capital, coachability, and entrepreneurial learning. •Clarify how general human capital broadens the knowledge corridor and enhances product innovativeness.•Illustrate how specific prior knowledge can constrain the knowledge corridor and hinder product innovativeness.•We find that founder coachability provides direct benefits for exploiting product innovativeness.•Demonstrate founder coachability as a learning mechanism that can overcome the knowledge corridor to enhance innovation.•Draw from a unique sample of 656 dyads comprised of startup coaches and founders.