Publications

10 Mar 2021
News

Vision: A Unicorn Evolves

Manny Medina (MBA 2003) didn’t set out to found Outreach, the Seattle-based sales-engagement unicorn. He never expected to become an entrepreneur. When he quit a frustrating role in business development at Microsoft in 2011, he didn’t have a startup idea—and he wasn’t... View Details

Keywords: April White; entrepreneurship; technology; startups; leadership

February 2019 (Revised September 2019)
Case

Theranos: The Unicorn That Wasn't

By: Joseph B. Fuller and John Masko

In 2003, 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes founded a startup dedicated to making blood testing easier and more affordable. By 2015, her company, Theranos, was worth $9 billion. It boasted a star-studded board and contracts with national pharmacy and supermarket chains... View Details

Keywords: Theranos; Blood; Lab Testing; Fraud; Holmes; Balwani; Shultz; Carreyrou; Securities And Exchange Commission; Food And Drug Administration; FDA; SEC; Health Testing and Trials; Corporate Accountability; Organizational Culture; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

May 2019
Teaching Note

Careem: Raising a Unicorn

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-022. View Details

01 Dec 2020
News

The Camel and the Unicorn

unquenchable appetite for growth and capital. You might remember this scene from 2010’s The Social Network: Movie clip That was a fictionalized telling of Facebook’s rise, but those numbers are real. Silicon Valley produced 32 unicorns in... View Details

25 Mar 2019
News

Rent The Runway Joins the Unicorn Club

Photo via Forbes, courtesy of Rent the Runway Photo via Forbes, courtesy of Rent the Runway Rent the Runway’s latest fundraising round—a $125 million investment led by Bain Capital Ventures and Franklin Templeton Investments—has pushed the company’s valuation to $1... View Details

Keywords: Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores; Retail Trade

20 Feb 2020
News

WeWork: How the ultimate unicorn lost its billions

June 2024
Supplement

Intarcia: Regulatory Setbacks at a Unicorn (B)

By: Satish Tadikonda, William Marks and Amanda McEwen

September 2023 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Intarcia: Regulatory Setbacks at a Unicorn (A)

By: Satish Tadikonda, Amanda McEwen, Mansi Raythatha and William Marks

27 Sep 2019
News

WeWork Should Never Have Been a Unicorn

31 May 2018
Cold Call Podcast

Careem: Riding the First Unicorn in the Middle East

Keywords: Re: Shikhar Ghosh; Transportation

31 Oct 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Mutual Funds as Venture Capitalists? Evidence from Unicorns

Keywords: by Sergey Chernenko, Josh Lerner, and Yao Zeng; Financial Services; Banking

May 2021
Article

Mutual Funds as Venture Capitalists? Evidence from Unicorns

By: Josh Lerner, Sergey Chernenko and Yao Zeng

The past decade saw the rise of both “founder-friendly” venture financings and non-traditional investors, frequently with liquidity constraints. Using detailed contract data, we study open-end mutual funds investing in private venture-backed firms. We posit an... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Investment; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Governance

Find at Harvard

2023
Working Paper

How Private Investors Value 'Platformness': An Exploratory Study of Unicorns

By: David B. Yoffie, Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer, Sarah von Bargen and Kwesi Acquay

This paper explores the premium investors have been willing to pay for private companies (unicorns) that are digital platforms vs. traditional companies. View Details

Keywords: Platforms And Ecosystems; Digital Platforms; Investment Portfolio

16 Oct 2020
News

Startups, It’s Time to Think Like Camels — Not Unicorns

October 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

upGrad: Delivering Career Outcomes Online: Degree by Degree

By: John J-H Kim, Anjali Raina and Rachna Chawla

In August 2021, the founders of upGrad, the latest unicorn in the Indian higher education online space, were deciding how to best use the funds to execute on their ambitious growth plans. Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli had envisioned upGrad as an... View Details

Keywords: Unicorns; COVID-19 Pandemic; Higher Education; Internet and the Web; Spending; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; India

13 Feb 2024
News

Edtech Unicorn Emeritus Story Now a Harvard Business School Case Study

August 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Case

Oscar Health Insurance: What Lies Ahead for a Unicorn Insurance Entrant?

By: Leemore Dafny and Victoria Marone

Keywords: Oscar Insurance; Fintech; US Health Care; Affordable Care Act (ACA); Health Insurance Marketplaces; Insurer Competition; Provider Consolidation; Market Entry; Health Care and Treatment; Entrepreneurship; Market Entry and Exit; Negotiation; Growth Management; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; New York (state, US); New Jersey