Publications

2016
Working Paper

Venture Capital Data: Opportunities and Challenges

By: Steven N. Kaplan and Josh Lerner

This paper describes the available data and research on venture capital investments and performance. We comment on the challenges inherent in those data and research as well as possible opportunities to do better. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Analytics and Data Science; Investment

Read Now

January 2009 (Revised April 2009)
Case

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board is one of the largest and fastest-growing pools of investment capital in the world and follows an unusually active program of investment management. In the market turmoil of late 2008, Mark Wiseman, Senior Vice President of the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Asset Management; Capital; Financial Management; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Canada

Fast Answer

Investment bank deals

How can I get a list of deals by investment bank? Go to Capital IQ Mouse over Screening, then under Screening select Transactions. Click on Add Companies under the List Management section. Search... View Details

29 Apr 2008
Research Event

Venture Capital

Date: January 9-10, 2008 Faculty Chairs: Josh Lerner, William Sahlman Faculty Summary Report: Colloquium: Venture Capital What were the overall goals of the colloquium? The VC Conference is one in a series of 14 alumni and practitioner... View Details

Keywords: by Josh Lerner; Financial Services

September 2022 (Revised December 2022)
Case

QED Invests in Africa

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui and James Barnett

In March 2022, investors at venture capital firm QED consider strategy for establishing business in Africa. View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Investment; Geography; Markets; Operations; Strategic Planning; Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Africa; Nigeria; North America; Canada; Europe; Asia; Latin America

09 Feb 2021
News

Investing in Entrepreneurship

Courtesy Peter and Missy Crisp Courtesy Peter and Missy Crisp Peter O. Crisp (MBA 1960), a pioneering venture capitalist and philanthropist, is known for his firm’s investments in companies that have become household names: Intel, Apple,... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

February 1991 (Revised November 1993)
Supplement

Investment Analysis and Lockheed Tri Star

A set of five exercises in capital budgeting. Student calculates and compares various decision criteria (including IRR and NPV) for capital investment projects. This is an introductory case, where relevant cash flows are provided, and the focus is on the discounting... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Manufacturing Industry; Air Transportation Industry

04 Oct 2007
What Do You Think?

Has Managerial Capitalism Peaked?

Summing Up The clear consensus of those responding to this month's column is that managerial capitalism, as John Bogle terms it, has peaked. But what will follow it is less clear. Many doubt that the form of owners' capitalism represented... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

September 2008 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Ithmar Capital

By: Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

The founders of Ithmar Capital, a mid-market private equity fund targeting businesses in and addressing the Gulf Co-operation Council countries, are about to raise their third fund, targeting $1 billion. The firm's current strategy as demonstrated in Funds I ($70... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Financial Management; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Financial Services Industry

20 Oct 2020
Blog Post

Changing the Face of Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital at Harlem Capital

entrepreneurship and investing over the next two years and beyond. The Early Days and Success of Harlem Capital The Harlem Capital story begins well before that first day on... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital / Private Equity; Venture Capital / Private Equity

February 2016
Article

After The Break-Up: The Relational and Reputational Consequences of Withdrawals from Venture Capital Syndicates

By: Pavel Zhelyazkov and Ranjay Gulati

Traditional research has long treated reputation as an egocentric attribute, typically described as an intangible asset directly shaped by the focal actor's track record. We argue, however, that reputation is dyadic: that an actor can have different reputations with... View Details

Keywords: Network Formation; Network Search; Venture Capital; Syndication; Networks

11 Oct 2016
News

Capitalism Behaving Badly

January 2022 (Revised December 2022)
Case

TotalEnergies’ Investment in Hyzon Motors

By: Vikram S. Gandhi and David Lane

In November 2021, Girish Nadkarni, the head of TotalEnergies’ corporate venture capital arm (TEV) was considering whether, and on what terms, to exit an investment in Hyzon Motors, a start-up supplier of hydrogen-powered trucks. TEV had invested $4 million in Hyzon,... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Communication Intention and Meaning; Renewable Energy; Venture Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Design; Standards; Commercialization; Investment Portfolio; Market Transactions; Energy Industry; Financial Services Industry; Transportation Industry; Europe; New York (city, NY)

06 Feb 2023
Blog Post

Meet the Black Investment Club

early-stage venture capital while at HBS, Coates is an active member of the Boston innovation ecosystem from the investor side as a Venture Fellow, now Managing Partner, at Rough Draft Ventures (student fund backed by General Catalyst)... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital

October 1998
Case

Farallon Capital Management: Risk Arbitrage (C)

By: Andre F. Perold and Robert Howard

Farallon Capital Management, an investment firm that specializes in risk arbitrage, has taken significant long and short positions in MCI Communications and British Telecommunications, respectively, in the belief that the proposed merger of these firms will be... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Equity; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Institutions; Risk Management; Investment Funds; Financial Services Industry

July 2020
Case

CSL Capital Management: Patriot Proppants (A)

By: Victoria Ivashina and Yury Kapko

This two-part case series follows CSL Capital’s 2009 investment in the greenfield manufacturing company, Patriot Proppants. CSL, a recently established investment firm, employs a unique investment model, funding new ("green field") energy service businesses that serve... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Renewable Energy; Business Model; Decision Making

September 2021 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Harambe: Mobilizing Capital in Africa

By: Anywhere (Siko) Sikochi, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and Francesco Tronci

Harambe was a non-profit organization whose mission was to build an ecosystem to identify promising young African entrepreneurs and provide them access to training, markets, capital, and support networks. From 2007 to 2021, Harambe had grown to a network of 367... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Model; Strategy; Organizational Structure; Business Startups; Capital; Venture Capital; Social and Collaborative Networks; Networks; Developing Countries and Economies; Emerging Markets; Africa; South Africa

February 2018
Case

Root Capital and the Efficient Impact Frontier

By: Shawn Cole and Caitlin Reimers Brumme

In 2015 Root Capital, a pioneer in the impact investing space, began to explore how to more systematically integrate impact and financial management. After much deliberation, Root Capital landed on ex-ante rating system for any potential investment that produced a... View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Investment; Finance; Performance Efficiency; Boston