Publications

March 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Massive Incorporated (A)

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Clark Gilbert and Victoria Winston

How do you go to market with a brand new product in a new industry? How does a business develop an opportunity and then adapt its strategy to ensure success? Who are the early adopters and how does a business work with them? Katherine Hays, chief operating office at... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Product Launch; Digital Marketing; Business Startups; Advertising Industry

March 2005 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Comergent Technologies Inc.: Enterprise E-Commerce

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

Coming out of the 2001 high-tech industry recession, this venture capital start-up has to come up with a marketing plan to break even and grow. Its innovative e-commerce software provides unique customer relationship management solutions, but it has to convince... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Relationship Management; Financial Crisis; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Business or Company Management; Marketing Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Software; Information Technology Industry

23 Jan 2024
News

A Wide Net

Growing up in Mumbai, Navroz Udwadia (MBA 2005) spent most of his time on the tennis court, where he was an internationally ranked athlete. Today, as cofounder and partner of Alpha Wave, a global investment group with a multibillion-dollar stake in India’s View Details

Keywords: April White

Web

Entrepreneurship - Faculty & Research

describes its co-founders' motivations and their strategy for disrupting an industry in the midst of dramatic structural change; and asks whether a16z's success to date has been due to its novel organization structure. a16z's 22 investment professionals are supported... View Details

December 2008 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich, Forest L. Reinhardt and Mary Louise Shelman

Arcadia Biosciences is an entrepreneurial California agricultural biotech company seeking to earn carbon credits by modifying commodity crops for use in China and India. Eric Rey, Arcadia's CEO, faced a strategic inflection point in early September 2008. The company... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; China; India; California

Web

Faculty & Research - Business & Environment

Case SWEN Blue Ocean: Impact Investing Goes to Sea By: Vikram S Gandhi and David Allen In August 2023, SWEN Blue Ocean, a 170 million impact fund that invested in startups contributing to ocean sustainability, faced a critical investment... View Details

William A. Sahlman

William Sahlman is a Baker Foundation Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

Mr. Sahlman received an A.B. degree in Economics from Princeton University (1972), an M.B.A. from Harvard University (1975), and a Ph.D. in Business... View Details

February 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Case

SafeGraph: Selling Data as a Service

By: Ramana Nanda, Abhishek Nagaraj and Allison Ciechanover

Set in January 2021, the CEO of SafeGraph, a four-year-old startup that sold Data as a Service, looked to the future. His aim was to become the most trusted source for data about a physical place. The company provided points of interest (POI) and foot traffic data on... View Details

Keywords: Data As A Service; Monetization; Pricing; Business Startups; Analytics and Data Science; Consumer Behavior; Analysis; Business Model; Health Pandemics; Information Industry; United States

07 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 7

http://sloanreview.mit.edu/x/56113 Working Papers The Federal Reserve's Abandonment of Its 1923 Principles By: Rotemberg, Julio J. Abstract—This paper studies the persistence and some of the consequences of the eventual abandonment by the Federal Open View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Profile

Marla Malcolm Beck

nature.” As the founder and CEO of Bluemercury, the highly successful luxury cosmetics retailer, Beck has lived an entrepreneur’s dream. She started the company in 1999, just as the dot.com boom was at its zenith, and while everyone was aiming at Internet View Details

February 2011 (Revised December 2014)
Case

RentJuice

By: Thomas Eisenmann and Liz Kind

RentJuice, founded in mid-2008, provided a subscription software service—sold via phone and live online webinars—that allowed real estate professionals like brokers and agents to manage and market rental listings, communicate with clients, and complete transaction... View Details

Keywords: Renting or Rental; Product Launch; Applications and Software; Property; Business Startups; Salesforce Management; Product Marketing; Real Estate Industry; Information Technology Industry

Web

Research - Global

Research 2024 Working Paper Capital Market Integration and Growth across the United States By: Leonardo D'Amico and Maxim Alekseev What drives the integration of national financial markets and what are its... View Details

August 1998 (Revised June 2000)
Case

FairMarket, Inc.: Where Buyers and Sellers Connect

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Jack Wieland and Chad M. M Raube

On February 20, 1997, FairMarket, an Internet-based business-to-business auction site, was launched. CEO, founder Scott Randall, drew on his experience building Internet businesses at NECX Direct, Yahoo, and Internet Shopping Network to build his business. This case,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Debates; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development; Growth Management; Management Style; Product Launch; Multi-Sided Platforms; Problems and Challenges; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry

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Web

Skydeck - Alumni

and the trials of her “acquisition entrepreneurship” journey Quantum Leap Quantum computing has revolutionary potential, but it’s been stuck in the lab. John Levy (MBA 1979) thinks his startup has a way to make it an accessible superpower... View Details

27 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 27

PublicationsThe Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup Authors:Noam Wasserman Publication:The Kauffman Foundation Series on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Princeton University Press, in... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

17 Jan 2023
In Practice

8 Trends to Watch in 2023

As 2023 begins, businesses and employees face an uncertain economy and labor market, as the twin dilemmas of inflation and interest rates weigh on forecasts. Harvard Business School faculty share the top trends that they believe will shape the workplace and markets... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

April 2002
Case

Ocular

By: Paul A. Gompers, Gregor M. Andrade and Jonathan Man

Concerns the decision of Ed Kennedy, co-founder of Ocular Networks, as he decides what financing strategy his firm should take. The venture capital and public markets for telecommunications start-ups had dried up and Kennedy must decide whether to cut costs and raise... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Startups; Decisions; Venture Capital; Cost Management; Business Strategy; Telecommunications Industry

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Career Coach

Annette Rodriguez-Ferrer

Annette Rodriguez brings over 20 years of seasoned expertise in private equity, across business services, consumer services, and healthcare. She has dedicated her career to building teams and investing in and developing best-in-class businesses and management, across a... View Details

Keywords: Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder; Startup - Founder

October 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

Handspring

By: Myra M. Hart and Mary Rotelli

Donna Dubinsky and Jeff Hawkins, founders of Palm Computing, have launched a new venture--Handspring. They are preparing for an IPO in the spring of 2000. When the markets begin to collapse and their investment bankers suggest a significantly lower price, they must... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Investment Banking; Initial Public Offering; Valuation; Business Processes; Computer Industry; Technology Industry