Publications

October 2014
Case

CreditEase: Providing Credit and Financial Services for China's Underclass

By: Lena G. Goldberg, Paul Healy and Nancy Hua Dai

In 2013 Ning Tang, who in 2006 founded CreditEase as a broker of P2P loans to unbanked individuals and small businesses in China, confronts the challenges of rapid growth and expansion in a changing regulatory environment. CreditEase needs to develop technology to... View Details

Keywords: P2P Lending; HNW Products And Services; Business Growth; Business Start-ups; Government Regulation; Change Management; Credit; Microcredit; Banking; Innovation And Management; Developing Countries And Economies; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Law; Financing and Loans; Change; China

March 2019 (Revised June 2021)
Case

HelloSelf: Foundation

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On January 6, 2019, HelloSelf, a London-based “BrainTech” company, founded a year earlier by Charles Wells, soft launched. The proposition was simply to help its members “Be your Best Self.” The company provided its registered members with access to a clinical... View Details

21 Jan 2021
Video

Laila Tyabji

Laila Tyabji, Chairperson of Dastkar, an NGO supporting traditional Indian craftspeople, explains her start-up process without a background or experience in management and how it happened in an informal and organic way. View Details

09 Oct 2020
Video

Mahbubur Rahman

Mahbubur Rahman recalls the challenges faced by the start-up in 1962 of what is now the large ETBL Holdings Group in Bangladesh, including how he built his first contacts with foreign firms. View Details

Video

Lilian Simbaqueba

Lilian Simbaqueba, the founder of LiSim, one of Colombia’s first microfinance companies, discusses the start-up of her venture in 1996, including the challenges of transferring a credit... View Details

18 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Big Deals: Financing Large-Scale Investments

Pick up most business magazines these days and you'll probably find an article on some venture capital transaction involving millions of dollars. From HBS Associate Professor Benjamin Esty's perspective, however, these deals are small change. His research focuses on... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

18 Oct 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Venture Capital’s Disconnect with Clean Tech

MBA students often fall into one of two categories—those hungry to rush into careers as venture capitalists, and those eager to found a venture-funded start-up. For all of them, Harvard Business School professor Joseph Lassiter has some intriguing advice: Spend a few... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities; Financial Services

March 2001 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Honest Tea

By: Paul A. Gompers

This case examines the decisions of Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff, founders of Honest Tea. Honest Tea is a start-up in the ready-to-drink tea market. Goldman and Nalebuff must craft an expansion and financing strategy. View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Expansion; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Decisions

Entering StartUpLand: An Essential Guide to Finding the Right Job

Many professionals aspire to work for a start-up. Executives from large companies view them as models to help them adapt to today’s dynamic innovation economy. Yes, start-ups look magical, but they can also be chaotic and inaccessible. Many books are written for... View Details

January 2020
Case

Celata Bioinnovations

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In December 2019, Jon Hu (HBS ‘19) and Dr. Samantha Dale Strasser, co-founders of Celata Bioinnovations, were raising $1 million to launch their company. They had founded Celata less than six months earlier with the aim of redefining the drug discovery process.... View Details

Jul 2010
Article

Clusters and Entrepreneurship

Industries located in regions with strong clusters (i.e. a large presence of other related industries) experience higher growth in new business formation and start-up employment. View Details

July 1995 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Marion Boats, Inc.

By: David F. Hawkins

Two brothers start a boatyard. The case covers the start-up and initial operating period. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Financial Statements

October 2004 (Revised March 2005)
Case

Langer Lab, The: Commercializing Science

By: H. Kent Bowen, Alex Kazaks, Ayr Muir-Harmony and Bryce LaPierre

Professor Robert Langer's laboratory at MIT is the source of an unusually large number of published papers, patents, and technology licenses to start-up and established companies in the biomedical industry. Explores Langer's leadership and other factors that create a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Research and Development; Patents; Innovation Leadership; Science-Based Business; Commercialization; Biotechnology Industry; Education Industry