Collaboration and informal hierarchy in innovation teams

Designing an innovation team can be challenging for new ventures. While the presence of a technologically proficient founder or highly accomplished inventor can significantly bolster a new venture’s innovation efforts, our results indicate that these roles must be carefully managed to prevent conflicts between them. Our findings suggest that founders who hire star inventors should establish a clear hierarchy of decision-making within innovation teams, while also offering greater autonomy to the star inventor in matters concerning innovation leadership and product development. We also suggest that it may be advantageous for founders to hire star inventors with prior experience working in new ventures as opposed to older, established organizations. Overall, our study indicates that new ventures need to exercise caution in hiring and managing star employees.