Publications

April 2011
Case

The Sandbox: Creating a Bottom-Up Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Lynda M. Applegate, Rhea Ghosh and Amar Kumar

Discussion of new model of Social Enterprise that applies the venture capital model to social enterprise. View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Non-Governmental Organizations; Venture Capital; Business Model

17 May 2007
Working Paper Summaries

The Price of Capital: Evidence from Trade Data

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro & Faisal Z. Ahmed

February 2002
Background Note

Note on Commercial Real Estate Financial Market

By: Arthur I Segel and Melissa Yin-Yin Lam

Discusses the recent history of the commercial real estate financial market (pre-1990s-2001). Looks at the shift to more conventional capital markets for commercial real estate debt. View Details

Keywords: History; Capital Markets; Financial Markets; Borrowing and Debt; Real Estate Industry

18 Apr 2023
Blog Post

HBS Students and Alumni Fostering a Supportive Community

access to finances, although, ironically, students talk about money and profit and revenues in the classroom all the time.” Holly Fetter (MBA 2020) The Socioeconomic Inclusion Task Force, which comprised... View Details

October 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Lovepop

By: Robert F. White, Ramana Nanda and Olivia Hull

As they prepare to graduate from Harvard Business School, the co-founders of greeting card company startup Lovepop need capital to cover the company’s operating costs and must choose between two seed financing offers. One offer is from an angel group and the other from... View Details

Keywords: Accelerator; Incubator; Seed Financing; Convertible Debt; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Borrowing and Debt; Growth and Development Strategy; Valuation; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; Boston; Massachusetts; United States

Career Coach

Lauren Weston

Lauren enjoys helping students navigate career paths in investment banking, venture capital/growth equity, and impact investing. In the six years prior to HBS, she worked in a number of roles across capital... View Details

Thomas J. DeLong

Thomas J. DeLong is a Baker Foundation Professor of Management Practice and the former Philip J. Stomberg Professor of Management Practice in the Organizational Behavior Department at the Harvard Business School. He is an expert in leader development, organizational... View Details

January 2014 (Revised December 2014)
Case

GenapSys: Business Models for the Genome

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Joseph B. Fuller and Matthew Preble

GenapSys, a California-based startup, was soon to release a new DNA sequencer that the company's founder, Hesaam Esfandyarpour, believed was truly revolutionary. The sequencer would be substantially less expensive—potentially costing just a few thousand dollars—and... View Details

Keywords: DNA Sequencing; Life Sciences; Business Model; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Genetics; Business Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Technology Industry; Health Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

February 1998
Case

AT&T WorldNet (A)

The issue of how to price access to the Internet is addressed. To provide a basis for discussion of the effects of pricing that is not sensitive to volume, network externalities, and the strategic issues surrounding price wars in a short course on microeconomics View Details

Keywords: Price; Internet; Accounting; Microeconomics; Telecommunications Industry

December 2017 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Amazon Buys Whole Foods

By: José B. Alvarez, David Lane and Joni Coughlin

The June 2017 news that e-commerce giant Amazon was paying $13.7 billion for organic supermarket chain Whole Foods precipitated a broad sell-off in the shares of grocery retailers and suppliers. Behind the precipitous declines lay recognition that Amazon’s bold move... View Details

Keywords: Amazon; Whole Foods; Grocery; Grocery Delivery; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Business Models; Food Value Chain; Agribusiness; Mergers and Acquisitions; Operations; Competitive Strategy; E-commerce; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Retail Industry; Web Services Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

13 May 2021
News

VCs Are Seeing "Best Year in the Industry’s History"

05 Sep 2006
Working Paper Summaries

International Financial Integration and Entrepreneurship

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro & Andrew Charlton

December 2020
Supplement

Video Interview with Rebecca Fishman Lipsey

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Joyce Kim

Four diverse women entrepreneurs launched their ventures in a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem that was part of a shift to a creative technology-driven economy for Miami. Although Miami was rated the #1 U.S. city for startups in 2017, the region contained structural... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Ecosystems; Female Entrepreneur; Racism; Sexism; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Diversity; Gender; Race; Prejudice and Bias; City; Culture; Miami

December 2020
Supplement

Video Interview with Felecia Hatcher

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Joyce J. Kim

Four diverse women entrepreneurs launched their ventures in a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem that was part of a shift to a creative technology-driven economy for Miami. Although Miami was rated the #1 U.S. city for startups in 2017, the region contained structural... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Ecosystems; Female Entrepreneur; Sexism; Racism; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Diversity; Gender; Race; Prejudice and Bias; City; Culture; Miami

October 2012 (Revised February 2019)
Case

Whaling Ventures

By: Tom Nicholas and Jonas Peter Akins

Whaling was a prominent global industry in the nineteenth century and the United States was dominant. By 1850 there were about 900 whaling ships in the world and 700 of these were American. Rates of return on capital were high compared to benchmark investments, at... View Details

Keywords: Whaling; Organization Design; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Finance; Organizational Design; Industry Growth; History; United States

October 2022
Exercise

Shanty Real Estate: Updated Confidential Information for iBuyer

By: Michael Luca, Jesse M. Shapiro and Nathan Sun

Shanty is a simulation in which students inhabit the role of either a traditional home buyer or an iBuyer, both bidding on the same condo. The traditional home buyer has access to a “comp sheet” of similar properties that have recently sold, and has done a walkthrough.... View Details

Keywords: Algorithm; Decision Choices and Conditions; Measurement and Metrics; Market Timing; Decision Making