Publications

March 2023 (Revised September 2023)
Case

Wilshire Lane Capital

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Lindsay N. Hyde and Stacy Straaberg

In September 2021, Adam Demuyakor (MBA 2017) was faced with decisions about how to launch his venture capital (VC) investment firm. His previous investment activities were a series of angel investments and special purpose vehicles alongside two part-time general... View Details

Keywords: Ownership Stake; Investment Funds; Venture Capital; Business and Shareholder Relations; Real Estate Industry; Technology Industry; Los Angeles; California; United States

February 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Ample Hills Creamery

By: Tom Eisenmann, Lindsay N. Hyde and Tom Quinn

Ample Hills Creamery started in 2010 as a temporary ice cream pushcart in Brooklyn, New York City. On the strength of inventive flavors and clever marketing, husband-and-wife founders Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna built a premium, artisanal dessert empire of 16 retail... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Business Growth and Maturation; Partners and Partnerships; Logistics; Profit; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Food and Beverage Industry

February 2003 (Revised July 2003)
Case

Ember Corporation: Developing the Next Ubiquitous Network Standard

By: Rebecca Henderson and Nancy Confrey

Ember is a venture capital-funded start-up that hopes to establish a standard for ubiquitous wireless networks. Its unique approach and proprietary technology promises to create enormous value in a wide variety of markets, particularly in local sensing and control.... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Wireless Technology; Value; Competitive Strategy; Standards; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry

22 Mar 2022
News

Freedom within a Framework

March 1992 (Revised June 1992)
Case

Thermo Electron Corp.

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

George Hatsopoulos, CEO at Thermo Electron Corp., is considering whether to issue shares in a subsidiary via an initial public offering (IPO). The company has developed an unusual corporate structure in which subsidiaries fund new ventures by raising debt and equity in... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Business Subsidiaries; Resource Allocation; Valuation; Organizational Structure; Business Headquarters; Initial Public Offering; Capital Structure; Capital Markets; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Semiconductor Industry; Technology 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

November 1997 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Palm Computing, Inc. 1995: Financing Challenges

By: Myra M. Hart and Stephanie Dodson

The president, Donna Dubinsky, and the chairman and founder, Jeff Hawkins, discuss an opportunity to sell their company to U.S. Robotics. They must weigh this option versus accepting venture capital funding, partnering with a large company that could provide... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Partners and Partnerships; Business Exit or Shutdown; Decision Choices and Conditions; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry

15 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 15

Distributed Innovation Author:Carliss Y. Baldwin Abstract Systems of distributed innovation-so-called business ecosystems-have become increasingly prevalent in many industries. These entities generally encompass numerous corporations,... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Marco Iansiti

Marco Iansiti, David Sarnoff Professor of Business Administration,is a codirector of the Laboratory for Information Science at Harvard and of the Digital Initiative at HBS.

Prof. Iansiti's research examines the digital transformation of companies and... View Details

Keywords: venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry

Srikant M. Datar

Srikant M. Datar became the eleventh dean of Harvard Business School on 1 January 2021. During his tenure as a faculty member, he served as Senior Associate Dean for University Affairs (including Faculty Chair of the Harvard Innovation Lab), for Research, for... View Details

Keywords: venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry; venture capital industry

January 2000 (Revised April 2000)
Case

AsiaMail.com: What's in a Name?

By: Myra M. Hart and Sharon Peyus

Three founders of an international Internet company (e-mail-based marketing) struggle with naming the company. As they prepare to invest more than $10 million of first-round venture funding in advertising and marketing, they search for a name that will have power and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Brands and Branding; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Marketing; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry; Asia

Find at Harvard

September 1992
Case

ACCOR (A)

ACCOR, a French-based lodging and restaurant company, is described from its founding in 1967 to its 1990 acquisition of Motel 6. Particular attention is devoted to ACCOR's co-chairmen, Paul Dubrule and Gerard Pelisson, and the management policies they have put in... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Acquisition; Management Teams; Accommodations Industry; France; North America

August 2022 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Sweet Teez Bakery: Projecting the Dough’s Rise

By: Emily R. McComb, Mel Martin and Amy Klopfenstein

In 2021, the HBS Impact Investment Fund student team met with entrepreneur Teresa Maynard, who had applied for a $25,000 impact investment loan. The students thought the former Harvard Data Scientist’s bakery business, Sweet Teez Bakery, showed promise. Maynard had... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investment; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Finance; Investment; Goods and Commodities; Financial Reporting; Small Business; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Massachusetts

Career Coach

Wendi Zhang

Previously, for the last 2 years of her ~8 years tenure at Google, Wendi was the Business Development Partner for Gradient Ventures (Google's AI Fund), where she advised Gradient's portfolio companies on... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital

October 1995 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Beechwood Spouts (A)

By: William A. Sahlman and Andrew S. Janower

Charles Barker must decide whether to become an outside investor in a private round of financing for an early stage, high-growth-potential venture producing plastic pouring spouts for orange juice cartons. Barker must evaluate the opportunity, content, and deal to... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Investment

Brian Baik is an assistant professor in the Accounting and Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches the Financial Reporting and Control course in the MBA required curriculum.

Professor Baik studies how information, financial reporting, and... View Details

Keywords: venture capital industry; venture capital industry

February 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

1436: The First Pure Chinese Luxury Fashion Brand?

By: Anat Keinan, Sandrine Crener and Hannah H. Chang

The case traces the birth of 1436, a new luxury brand specializing in cashmere garments. It describes how this venture emerged organically out of a combination of manufacturing and retail expertise with the ambition of creating the first pure Chinese luxury brand. The... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Luxury; Global Strategy; Fashion Industry; China

December 2011 (Revised July 2013)
Background Note

Hypothesis-Driven Entrepreneurship: The Lean Startup

By: Thomas Eisenmann, Eric Ries and Sarah Dillard

Firms that follow a hypothesis-driven approach to evaluating entrepreneurial opportunity are called "lean startups." Entrepreneurs in these startups translate their vision into falsifiable business model hypotheses, then test the hypotheses using a series of "minimum... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups