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- October 2019 (Revised January 2020)
- Supplement
Dulcie Madden (B)—A Difficult Choice
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai
This is part of a three-case series that follows Dulcie Madden's journey as a founder over five years. Case (A) is about managing growth and cash flow; Case (B) is about the exit decision and conditions on a sale; Case (C) shows Madden dealing with adversity and the... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Family; Family Conflicts; Founders' Agreements; Growth And Development; Hardware; VC; Scaling; Start-up; Female Ceo; Risk Assessment; Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Cash Flow; Equity; Success; Failure; Acquisition; Business Model; Information Technology; Valuation; Family and Family Relationships; Information Infrastructure
- October 2019 (Revised January 2020)
- Supplement
Dulcie Madden (C)—A Final Chance?
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai
This is part of a three-case series that follows Dulcie Madden's journey as a founder over five years. Case (A) is about managing growth and cash flow; Case (B) is about the exit decision and conditions on a sale; Case (C) shows Madden dealing with adversity and the... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Cash Flow; Success; Failure; Acquisition; Business Model; Technology
- September 2019
- Exercise
Difficult Conversations (A)
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai
The exercises can be used as a follow-up to the Yesware (A) case (#816-039), or in conjunction with any case that involves replacing a founding team member (and/or providing feedback to a top executive). This is a role-playing exercise, and has been carried out in the... View Details
- September 2019
- Exercise
Difficult Conversations (B)
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai
The exercises can be used as a follow-up to the Yesware (A) case (#816-039), or in conjunction with any case that involves replacing a founding team member (and/or providing feedback to a top executive). This is a role-playing exercise, and has been carried out in the... View Details
- September 2019 (Revised December 2019)
- Supplement
Anthony Soohoo: Retrospection on Dot & Bo
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Allison M. Ciechanover and George Gonzalez
The case describes the final year of the once-promising furniture e-tailer, Dot & Bo, that included a challenging fundraising market, troubles with logistics and operations, and a team tragedy. The founder looks back at the experience and shares his learnings about... View Details
- September 2019
- Supplement
BulkWhiz: Negotiating as a Startup Founder in the UAE
By: Katherine B. Coffman and Christine Exley
- September 2019
- Case
Nimbus Therapeutics
By: Peter Barrett, Karim Lakhani and Julia Kelley
This case focuses on Nimbus Therapeutics, a biotechnology startup based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as its leadership team tries to determine the company’s long-term strategy. The startup’s founders structured Nimbus as a limited liability company, which has given it... View Details
- September 2019 (Revised February 2020)
- Teaching Note
Fishbowl: Scaling Up
By: Leslie K. John
Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.
Teaching Note for HBS No. 919-013. Fishbowl is a social media app that allows professionals to connect with other relevant professionals both within their company and... View Details
Teaching Note for HBS No. 919-013. Fishbowl is a social media app that allows professionals to connect with other relevant professionals both within their company and... View Details
Keywords: Communication Technologies; Customer Value; Value Chain; Interpersonal Communication; Talent and Talent Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Advertising; Product Marketing; Digital Platforms; Consumer Behavior; Network Effects; Emotions; Motivation and Incentives; Trust; Applications and Software; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Communications Industry; Employment Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States
- August 2019
- Case
Huawei and the U.S.-China Trade War
By: Elie Ofek and John Masko
In 2019, Chinese smartphone maker and telecommunications empire Huawei was preparing to launch its new flagship smartphone series, the Mate 30. After years of explosive growth, the previous 18 months had been a challenge for the company. In early 2018, Huawei’s planned... View Details
- August 2019 (Revised March 2022)
- Case
Family Matters: Governance at the Zamil Group
By: Christina R. Wing, Suraj Srinivasan and Esel Çekin
This case focuses on a large Saudi Arabian industrial conglomerate and family business Zamil Group’s corporate and family governance journey. The 12 sons of the founder led and grew the group successfully after taking over from their father in 1961. The secret to their... View Details
- August 2019 (Revised October 2019)
- Teaching Note
BulkWhiz: Negotiating as a Startup Founder in the UAE
By: Katherine B. Coffman and Christine Exley
Teaching Note for HBS No. 919-004. View Details
- July 2019 (Revised November 2019)
- Case
Osaro: Picking the Best Path
By: William R. Kerr, James Palano and Bastiane Huang
The founder of Osaro saw the potential of deep reinforcement learning to allow robots to be applied to new applications. Osaro targeted warehousing, already a dynamic industry for robotics and automation, for its initial product—a system which would allow robotic arms... View Details
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Machine Learning; Robotics; Robots; Ecommerce; Fulfillment; Warehousing; AI; Startup; Technology Commercialization; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Logistics; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Information Technology; Commercialization; Learning; Complexity; Competition; E-commerce
- July–August 2019
- Article
The Soul of a Startup
By: Ranjay Gulati
There’s an essential, intangible something in start-ups—an energy, a soul. It inspires enthusiasm and fosters a sense of deep connection and mutual purpose. While this spirit persists, engagement is high and businesses keep their edge.
But all too often,... View Details
But all too often,... View Details
- June 2019 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Eric Hawkins Leading Agile Teams @ Digitally-Born AppFolio (A)
By: Tsedal Neeley, Paul Leonardi and Michael Norris
Eric Hawkins, director of engineering at AppFolio—a digital technology firm that offered cloud-based business software to small and medium sized companies—was shocked by an unusual request from his senior leadership team. Could Hawkins and one of his agile teams build... View Details
- May 2019 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Bill Cummings: The Cummings Way
By: Christina R. Wing, Robert F. White and Michael Norris
In 2019, Bill Cummings, founder of Cummings Properties and Cummings Foundation and billionaire signer of the Giving Pledge, is winding down his roles at his company and foundation. How should the management move the company forward? View Details
- May 2019 (Revised September 2019)
- Case
Mobike and ofo: Dancing with Titans (A)
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Haibo Zhao
This case address pacing issues – how fast does a company need to scale? It also examines the role of investors in determining company strategy and exit.
Mobike and ofo were two dominant players in China’s emerging dockless bike-sharing market, that allowed users... View Details
Mobike and ofo were two dominant players in China’s emerging dockless bike-sharing market, that allowed users... View Details
- April 2019
- Technical Note
A Note on Boards in VC-Backed Ventures
What is the value of a Board, and why does a company need one? The note documents the formal role of a Board of Directors as going beyond simply acting as legal representation of corporate ownership. Moreover, this role changes as the company moves through different... View Details
- April 2019
- Supplement
C3: Driven to Succeed
By: Robert L. Simons
This video series, which is intended to be used with C3: Driven to Succeed (119-004), shows founder and CEO Tom Siebel addressing a class of MBA students. In eight short video clips, he discusses how he selects customers and employees, creates a high-energy culture,... View Details
- April 2019
- Case
Afterpay U.S.: The Omnichannel Dilemma
By: Antonio Moreno, Donald Ngwe and George Gonzalez
In 2018, Nick Molnar, the founder of the Australia-based online payment service Afterpay began its expansion to the U.S. market. The service had gained a loyal following in Australia by enabling customers to pay for online purchases through four interest-free... View Details
Keywords: Omnichannel Retail; Multi-sided Platforms; Value Creation; Business Model Innovation; Fintech; Digital Marketing; Disruptive Innovation; Business Startups; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Change Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Satisfaction; Financing and Loans; Microfinance; Global Strategy; Marketing Channels; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Digital Platforms; Product Development; Supply Chain Management; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Networks; Network Effects; Internet and the Web; Financial Services Industry; Retail Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Australia
- April 2019 (Revised March 2020)
- Case
Handy: The Future of Work? (A)
By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Kieron Stopforth
Witnessing numerous lawsuits alleging that online platform companies misclassified workers as contractors when they were actually employees, Handy’s founders faced a series of decisions. Handy was an online platform business that enabled customers to book appointments... View Details