Publications

Publications

Filter Results: (24) Arrow Down

Show Results For

Page 1 of 24 Results →
  • Awards

GitHub Research Grant

By: Frank Nagle
Received a GitHub Research Grant in 2022. View Details
  • November 2023
  • Case

Copilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub

By: Frank Nagle, Shane Greenstein, Maria P. Roche, Nataliya Langburd Wright and Sarah Mehta
This case tells the story of Microsoft’s 2018 acquisition of GitHub and the subsequent launch of GitHub Copilot, a tool that uses generative artificial intelligence to suggest snippets of code to software developers in real time. Set in late 2021, when Copilot was... View Details
Keywords: Business Ventures; Strategy; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Product Launch; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; California
Related
  • March 2024 (Revised June 2025)
  • Teaching Note

CoPilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub

By: Frank Nagle and Maria P. Roche
This teaching note is the companion to case N9-624-010 CoPilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub, which takes place in late 2021. The case briefly describes the history of both GitHub and Microsoft with a particular focus on open source software (OSS)—software... View Details
Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Technological Innovation; Product Launch; Open Source Distribution; Product Development; Commercialization; Competition; Resource Allocation; Technology Industry
Related
  • Forthcoming
  • Article

Beefing IT Up for Your Investor? Engagement with Open Source Communities, Innovation, and Startup Funding: Evidence from GitHub

By: Annamaria Conti, Christian Peukert and Maria P. Roche
We study the engagement of nascent firms with open source communities and its implications for innovation and attracting funding. To do so, we link data on 160,065 U.S. startups from Crunchbase to their activities on the open source software development platform... View Details
Keywords: Startups; Knowledge; Open Source Communities; GitHub; Machine Learning; Innovation; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Information Technology; Strategy
Related
  • May 2024
  • Teaching Plan

AllSpice: GitHub for Hardware Engineers

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Carin-Isabel Knoop
Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 823-022. View Details
Related
  • September 2022
  • Case

AllSpice: GitHub for Hardware Engineers

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Mel Martin
AllSpice, a software-as-a-service company that built a GitHub-like revision control tool for hardware engineers, was in the midst of preparing for rapid scale when the 2022 market downturn left them with big decisions to make. Cofounder and CEO Valentina Ratner had to... View Details
Keywords: Scaling; SaaS; Strategy; Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Resource Allocation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Technology Industry; Electronics Industry; United States
Related
  • Web

Git and GitHub - Research Computing Services

Software Tools Git & Github 3ms What version control systems are available to you? There are many different version control systems available, but one of the most widely used is Git , which is the program that will track changes of your... View Details
  • 06 Sep 2016
  • News

Why GitHub Finally Abandoned Its Bossless Workplace

  • 19 Jul 2020
  • Working Paper Summaries

Open Source Software and Global Entrepreneurship

Keywords: by Nataliya Langburd Wright, Frank Nagle, and Shane Greenstein; Computer
  • November 2023
  • Article

Open Source Software and Global Entrepreneurship

By: Nataliya Langburd Wright, Frank Nagle and Shane Greenstein
This is the first study to consider the relationship between open source software (OSS) and entrepreneurship around the globe. This study measures whether country-level participation on the GitHub OSS platform affects the founding of innovative ventures, and where it... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Business Ventures; Development Economics; Innovation and Invention; Global Range
Related
  • 2025
  • Working Paper

Better Keep the Twenty Dollars: Incentivizing Innovation in Open Source

By: Annamaria Conti, Vansh Gupta, Jorge Guzman and Maria P. Roche
Open source is key to innovation yet is assumed to be done largely through intrinsic motivation. How can we incentivize it? In this paper, we examine the impact of a program providing monetary incentives to motivate innovators to contribute to open source. The Sponsors... View Details
Keywords: Open Source; Innovation; Incentives; Financial Rewards; Crowding Out; Open Source Distribution; Innovation and Invention; Motivation and Incentives; Technology Industry
Related
  • 2025
  • Working Paper

Code-Washing: Evidence from Open-Source Blockchain Startups

By: Ofir Gefen, Daniel Rabetti, Yannan Sun and Che Zhang
This study examines startups' management of source code repositories, distinguishing authentic developers ("code-producers''), from those inflating activity to mislead investors ("code-washers''). Using global blockchain startup and GitHub data, we find that... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Open Source Distribution; Business Startups
Related
  • March–April 2025
  • Article

Strategy in an Era of Abundant Expertise: How to Thrive When AI Makes Knowledge and Know-How Cheaper and Easier to Access

By: Bobby Yerramilli-Rao, John Corwin, Yang Li and Karim R. Lakhani
The AI era is in its early stages, and the technology is evolving extremely quickly. Providers are rapidly introducing AI "copilots," "bots," and "assistants" into applications to augment employees' workflows. Examples include GitHub Copilot for coding, ServiceNow... View Details
Keywords: AI; AI and Machine Learning; Performance Productivity; Experience and Expertise; Technology Adoption
Related
  • May 2025
  • Case

Windsurf and the AI Code Assistant Market

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Sudhanshu Nath Mishra and Radhika Kak
In April 2025, the founding team of Windsurf, an AI start-up specializing in code generation gathered in Mountain View, California, to assess its remarkable year of growth. The company had scaled from a niche GitHub Copilot alternative to a breakout player with over... View Details
Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Venture Capital; Innovation Leadership; Technological Innovation; Technology Industry; United States
Related
  • 2025
  • Working Paper

Generative AI and the Nature of Work

By: Manuel Hoffmann, Sam Boysel, Frank Nagle, Sida Peng and Kevin Xu
Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology demonstrate a considerable potential to complement human capital intensive activities. While an emerging literature documents wide-ranging productivity effects of AI, relatively little attention has been paid... View Details
Keywords: Generative Ai; Digital Work; Open Source Software; Knowledge Economy; AI and Machine Learning; Open Source Distribution; Organizational Structure; Performance Productivity; Labor
Related
  • 30 Jan 2024
  • Research & Ideas

‘Intrinsic Joy’ Sparks Ideas Better than Cash

It seems obvious: If you want to boost innovation from a crowd writing and improving software code, just dangle a cash incentive. When GitHub began offering matching funds to open source software users who snagged outside sponsors in... View Details
Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology
  • Web

Technology & Innovation - Faculty & Research

2025 | Case | Faculty Research In April 2025, the founding team of Windsurf, an AI start-up specializing in code generation gathered in Mountain View, California, to assess its remarkable year of growth. The company had scaled from a niche View Details
  • Web

Leadership - Faculty & Research

Case | Faculty Research In April 2025, the founding team of Windsurf, an AI start-up specializing in code generation gathered in Mountain View, California, to assess its remarkable year of growth. The company had scaled from a niche View Details
  • Web

Faculty & Researchers - Managing the Future of Work

wide array of questions about computing, communication, and Internet markets. Research Open Source Machine Learning at Google , Harvard Business School case, 2023. With Martin Wattenberg, Fernanda Viegas, Daniel Yue, and James Barnett. Copilot(s): Generative AI at... View Details
  • Web

Training Materials - Research Computing Services

lesson materials on GitHub FASRC's PDF on Unix Tricks and Text Processing Data Science Overview of Natural Language Processing: Techniques and Tools Presentation Slides Workshop Recording Databases and SQL Structured Data, Databases, and... View Details