Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(120,184)
- Faculty Publications (247)
- August 2013
- Teaching Plan
Keurig and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Aldo Sesia
- 2013
- Book
Managing Startups: Best Blog Posts
By: Tom Eisenmann
Harvard Business School Professor Tom Eisenmann annually compiles the best posts from many blogs on technology startup management, primarily for the benefit of his students. This book makes his latest collection available to the broader entrepreneur community. Divided... View Details
Keywords: Lean Startup; Startup; Prototyping; MVP; Minimum Viable Product; Freemium; SaaS; A/B Testing; Business Model
- January 2013 (Revised March 2017)
- Case
CloudFlare, Inc.: Running Hot?
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alex Godden
In July 2012, the cofounders of CloudFlare, a Silicon Valley startup that protects websites and accelerates their traffic, are considering the implications of five employees' resignations over the prior three months. Was this natural attrition for a high-tech venture... View Details
Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth Management; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Resignation and Termination; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry; California
- January 2013 (Revised December 2024)
- Case
MuMaté
By: Thomas Eisenmann and Alex Godden
MuMaté, a fictional cult beverage company, requires capital to fund national expansion. Its cofounders, who have bootstrapped to this point, are now negotiating with venture capital firms to raise a $3 million funding round. The case describes MuMaté's inception, early... View Details
- January 2013 (Revised March 2013)
- Supplement
MuMaté (B-1): Confidential for Maxwell
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alex Godden
MuMaté, a fictional cult beverage company, requires capital to fund national expansion. Its cofounders, who have bootstrapped to this point, are now negotiating with venture capital firms to raise a $3 million funding round. The case describes MuMaté's inception, early... View Details
- January 2013 (Revised March 2013)
- Supplement
MuMaté (B-2): Confidential for Cantor
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alex Godden
MuMaté, a fictional cult beverage company, requires capital to fund national expansion. Its cofounders, who have bootstrapped to this point, are now negotiating with venture capital firms to raise a $3 million funding round. The case describes MuMaté's inception, early... View Details
- January 2013 (Revised January 2013)
- Course Overview Note
The Entrepreneurial Manager: Course Overview, 2013 Winter Term
Course overview of The Entrepreneurial Manager. View Details
- December 2012 (Revised November 2014)
- Case
Lit Motors
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alex Godden
In mid-2012 Lit Motors had created both engineering and design prototypes and conducted initial customer tests on less than $750,000 of investment. Lit Motors' founder, Daniel Kim, had started the company to design and manufacture an efficient electric 2-wheeled... View Details
- November 2012
- Case
Edison Schools, Inc.
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lauren Barley
Edison Schools, Inc., a pioneer in the for-profit management of public schools, demonstrates the challenges and opportunities related to private sector involvement in the delivery of a public good. Follows the organization from its start-up through its initial public... View Details
- August 2012 (Revised November 2014)
- Case
Intuit Inc.: Project AgriNova
By: Thomas Eisenmann and Tanya Bijlani
In late 2008, a team from Intuit's office in Bangalore, India, is evaluating an opportunity to launch a new venture that would use SMS to deliver crop price information to farmers in India. The case describes the structure of Indian agriculture and the problems... View Details
- July 2012 (Revised March 2018)
- Teaching Plan
Dropbox: 'It Just Works'
- April 2012
- Case
People Express Airlines
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lauren Barley
Recounts the history of People Express Airlines, which grew rapidly after its inception in 1980 then failed spectacularly in 1986. Profiles People's aggressive strategy and its distinctive approach to human resource management, which emphasized job rotation and minimal... View Details
- January 2012 (Revised November 2014)
- Background Note
Scaling a Startup: People and Organizational Issues
By: Thomas Eisenmann and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld
Keywords: Business Startups
- December 2011 (Revised March 2013)
- Background Note
The Business Development Manager
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Sarah Dillard, Katharine Nevins and Puja Ramani
Describes the role of business development (BD) managers in technology companies, detailing: 1) BD managers' key responsibilities at each step in the process of creating a partnership agreement; 2) how the nature of the BD function evolves as a technology startup... View Details
- December 2011 (Revised January 2015)
- Background Note
The Product Manager
By: Jeffrey Bussgang, Thomas Eisenmann and Robert Go
Describes the role of product manager (PM) in technology companies, detailing 1) PMs' responsibilities; 2) different ways to organize the product management function; 3) how PMs interact with other functions within technology companies (e.g., engineering, product... View Details
- December 2011 (Revised October 2014)
- Background Note
Business Model Analysis for Entrepreneurs
By: Thomas Eisenmann
This note defines a business model and its major elements: a customer value proposition, a technology and operations management plan, a go-to-market plan, and a profit formula. For each element, the note lists questions that an entrepreneur must address when evaluating... View Details
Keywords: Business Model
- 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
- December 2011
- Case
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters: Confidential Information for Negotiation with Keurig
Case provides confidential information for students assuming the role of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR) senior executives in a negotiation to license technology from Keurig, a startup that has developed an innovative "portion pack" coffee brewing solution. The... View Details