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All HBS Web
(927)
- News (296)
- Research (415)
- Events (1)
- Multimedia (15)
- Faculty Publications (286)
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- July 2008 (Revised November 2012)
- Case
Negotiating Equity Splits at UpDown
By: Noam Wasserman and Deepak Malhotra
Michael Reich is having severe doubts about how he split the equity with his co-founders two months ago, when they completed a one-page "November Agreement." Since then, Michael has found an angel investor and has worked non-stop on the business, while one co-founder...
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Keywords:
Business Startups;
Entrepreneurship;
Capital;
Venture Capital;
Equity;
Compensation and Benefits;
Negotiation;
Partners and Partnerships
Wasserman, Noam, and Deepak Malhotra. "Negotiating Equity Splits at UpDown." Harvard Business School Case 809-020, July 2008. (Revised November 2012.)
- July 2020
- Case
PeopleAnswers (A): People Analytics
By: Daniel P. Gross and Christian Godwin
In the fall of 2009, founder and CEO Gab Goncalves has turned PeopleAnswers, Inc. from a fledgling startup to a steadily growing company of nearly 50 employees and $10 million recurring revenue. PeopleAnswers provides people analytics software which its clients use to...
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Keywords:
People Analytics;
Entrepreneurship;
Strategy;
Growth and Development;
Human Resources;
Selection and Staffing
Gross, Daniel P., and Christian Godwin. "PeopleAnswers (A): People Analytics." Harvard Business School Case 720-432, July 2020.
- September 2023 (Revised July 2024)
- Case
Honest Jobs: A Path to Redemption
By: Paul A. Gompers and Jeffrey Barkas
Founded by a formerly incarcerated job seeker, Honest Jobs' mission is to be the hub where people with criminal records come to build careers and employers come to find great talent. Honest Jobs faced early challenges as a two-sided platform for justice-involved job...
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Keywords:
Business Startups;
Venture Capital;
Recruitment;
Employment Industry;
United States;
Colorado;
Ohio;
Texas
Gompers, Paul A., and Jeffrey Barkas. "Honest Jobs: A Path to Redemption." Harvard Business School Case 224-010, September 2023. (Revised July 2024.)
- April 1985 (Revised November 1987)
- Case
Sun Hydraulics Corp. (A)
Involves the design and creation of a company with no formally-defined hierarchy. Describes the steps the founder takes to avoid the organizational politics he perceives as crushing the human contributions they were designed to harness.
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Keywords:
Organizational Design;
Organizational Structure;
Engineering;
Business Startups;
Technology Industry
Barnes, Louis B. "Sun Hydraulics Corp. (A)." Harvard Business School Case 485-169, April 1985. (Revised November 1987.)
- August 2023
- Case
Quotient
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Matt Higgins
The founders of Quotient, a web-based service for onboarding new engineers, face decisions about how to bring their nascent product to market amidst a tech sector contraction.
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- February 2010
- Case
Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise
By: Rajiv Lal and Natalie Kindred
To grow Phirbol, a telecom retail franchise chain in Delhi, India's underdeveloped markets, its founders were exploring ways to offer more value to the franchisees. In mid-2009, the Phirbol franchise was comprised of some 150 franchisees that had converted their small...
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Keywords:
Business Model;
Business Startups;
Innovation and Management;
Brands and Branding;
Service Operations;
Franchise Ownership;
Value Creation;
Telecommunications Industry;
Delhi
Lal, Rajiv, and Natalie Kindred. "Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise." Harvard Business School Case 510-020, February 2010.
- July 2020
- Supplement
PeopleAnswers (B): The Infor Acquisition
By: Daniel P. Gross
In the fall of 2009, founder and CEO Gab Goncalves has turned PeopleAnswers, Inc. from a fledgling startup to a steadily growing company of nearly 50 employees and $10 million recurring revenue. PeopleAnswers provides people analytics software which its clients use to...
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Keywords:
People Analytics;
Entrepreneurship;
Strategy;
Growth and Development;
Human Resources;
Selection and Staffing;
Mergers and Acquisitions
Gross, Daniel P. "PeopleAnswers (B): The Infor Acquisition." Harvard Business School Supplement 720-433, July 2020.
- November 2008 (Revised November 2012)
- Case
Savage Beast (A)
By: Noam Wasserman and LP Maurice
For several months, things had been spiraling downwards at Savage Beast, the music-recommendation company started three years before by Tim Westergren. The company's founder-CEO recently left due to pressures both at home and within the venture. Dozens of investors...
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Keywords:
Business Startups;
Entrepreneurship;
Venture Capital;
Lawsuits and Litigation;
Leadership;
Groups and Teams
Wasserman, Noam, and LP Maurice. "Savage Beast (A)." Harvard Business School Case 809-069, November 2008. (Revised November 2012.)
- March 2000 (Revised May 2000)
- Case
Evolution of eCoverage in the Online Insurance Market, The
David Riker, the founder and chairman of eCoverage, an online insurance company, describes the various phases of company development, such as presenting a business plan, gathering a management team, getting the word out, and running the site.
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Keywords:
Business or Company Management;
Internet and the Web;
Business Startups;
Insurance Industry
Hansen, Morten T., and Jeffrey Berger. "Evolution of eCoverage in the Online Insurance Market, The." Harvard Business School Case 400-081, March 2000. (Revised May 2000.)
- 04 Apr 2017
- First Look
First Look at New Research, April 4
investors provide a little funding and limited governance to an increased number of startups that they are more likely to abandon, but where initial experiments significantly inform beliefs about the future potential of the venture. This...
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Keywords:
Sean Silverthorne
- June 2005 (Revised August 2010)
- Case
Distrobot Systems, Inc.
Distrobot is a start-up that has developed a new system for warehouse automation. The company is trying to raise money to finance the launch of the product. The founder must decide how much capital to raise, from whom, and on what terms.
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- July 2021
- Case
Kevin D. Johnson: To Be a Venture Capitalist or an Operator?
By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo
In May of 2021, Kevin D. Johnson had just graduated from a rigorous Executive MBA program, and he quickly needed to decide on his next career move. Johnson was the founder and CEO of a successful media company, Johnson Media Inc., but his career goals had shifted while...
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Keywords:
Entrepreneurship;
Business Startups;
Goals and Objectives;
Race;
Wealth;
Decisions;
Venture Capital;
Personal Development and Career;
United States
Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "Kevin D. Johnson: To Be a Venture Capitalist or an Operator?" Harvard Business School Case 822-012, July 2021.
- August 2001 (Revised March 2004)
- Supplement
Officenet (B): After the Merger
Describes the execution of a new economy merger. Officenet, a bricks-and-clicks retailer of office supplies, is sold to an Internet pure-play, Submarino.com. Officenet's founders are in Brazil, where the company recently expanded its operations, and must consider...
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Keywords:
Mergers and Acquisitions;
Business Startups;
Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;
Brazil
Kuemmerle, Walter, and Meredith Collura. "Officenet (B): After the Merger." Harvard Business School Supplement 802-010, August 2001. (Revised March 2004.)
- September 2009 (Revised August 2011)
- Case
Urban Decay: A Great Idea
By: Lena G. Goldberg
Casual discussions of ideas for a new business can have unintended legal consequences and expectations about founder status and ownership shares may diverge widely. Using facts from a litigated case, the concept of inadvertent formation of a partnership is explored.
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Keywords:
Business Startups;
Spoken Communication;
Lawsuits and Litigation;
Ownership Stake;
Partners and Partnerships
Goldberg, Lena G. "Urban Decay: A Great Idea." Harvard Business School Case 310-032, September 2009. (Revised August 2011.)
- November 1991 (Revised July 1995)
- Case
Body Shop International
Describes the start-up and rapid growth of a company whose founder holds strong, non-traditional beliefs about the role of the corporation and its responsibility to society. After profiling Anita Roddick as a person, the case describes the anti-mainstream approach she...
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Keywords:
Business Startups;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Leadership Style;
Management Succession;
Management Teams;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Values and Beliefs;
Global Strategy;
Beauty and Cosmetics Industry
Bartlett, Christopher A. "Body Shop International." Harvard Business School Case 392-032, November 1991. (Revised July 1995.)
- January 2003 (Revised May 2003)
- Case
VendQuest (A): The Business Idea
By: Dwight B. Crane and David Foster
A potential founder of a company is considering whether to start up a new enterprise that would link parts distributors with customers in the construction industries via the Internet. This case describes the industry and the potential advantages to distributors and...
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Keywords:
Business Startups;
Corporate Strategy;
Business Model;
Distribution;
Corporate Entrepreneurship;
Internet and the Web;
Business Plan;
Customer Relationship Management;
Business Ventures;
Construction Industry
Crane, Dwight B., and David Foster. "VendQuest (A): The Business Idea." Harvard Business School Case 203-065, January 2003. (Revised May 2003.)
- September 2023
- Case
Diamond Standard
By: Lauren H. Cohen, Zhaoheng Gong and Grace Headinger
Cormac Kinney, Founder and CEO of Diamond Standard, was on a mission to transform the U.S. diamond market through unlocking the precious gems as market-traded assets. As a serial FinTech entrepreneur, he hoped to add an additional service to his vault: Carats. The...
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Keywords:
Tokenization;
Fintech;
Cryptocurrency;
Liquidity;
Digital;
Rare Earth Minerals;
Decentralized;
Crypto Economy;
Financial Product;
Metals;
Diamonds;
Commodity;
Assets;
Financial Instruments;
Financial Institutions;
Financial Markets;
Investment;
Technological Innovation;
Natural Resources;
Business Startups;
Currency;
Financial Services Industry;
United States
Cohen, Lauren H., Zhaoheng Gong, and Grace Headinger. "Diamond Standard." Harvard Business School Case 224-009, September 2023.
- February 2007
- Case
Orientation for Viewing "Startup.com"
By: Noam T. Wasserman
Introduces founders Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman as they start and grow govWorks.com. The movie "Startup.com" documents the challenges that these founders face in building their company while dealing with tensions within the founding team and managing a demanding...
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- January 2011
- Case
Aardvark
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld and Lauren Barley
Aardvark is an online social search service that allows users to pose questions and receive answers from other users in their extended social network. The case explores the process that Aardvark's founders used to design and develop their product based on intensive...
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Keywords:
Business Startups;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Customer Satisfaction;
Entrepreneurship;
Product Design;
Product Development;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Internet and the Web
Eisenmann, Thomas R., Alison Berkley Wagonfeld, and Lauren Barley. "Aardvark." Harvard Business School Case 811-064, January 2011.
- July 1998 (Revised February 1999)
- Case
Private Communications Corporation (A)
Ann Meceda is a soon-to-be MBA graduate. She has been working as the director of marketing in an Internet start-up, and now the founder wants her to become CEO. She must weigh the personal and business risks and assess her own objectives and tolerance for risks.
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Keywords:
Risk Management;
Internet and the Web;
Management Succession;
Marketing;
Personal Development and Career;
Business Startups;
Service Industry
Roberts, Michael J., and Nicole Tempest. "Private Communications Corporation (A)." Harvard Business School Case 899-032, July 1998. (Revised February 1999.)