Publications

Paytm: Building a Payments Network

In the fall of 2016, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, founder of Paytm, an Indian mobile payments and commerce platform, received the coveted "Entrepreneur of the Year" award from the Economic Times, a leading Indian business newspaper. Despite the public honor... View Details

19 Nov 2019
Video

Seema Aziz

Seema Aziz, founder of Sefam, the first high-quality fabric made in Pakistan, and founder of the Care Foundation, discusses her foundation's adoption of poorly performing state schools in Pakistan, against the... View Details

4 PM – 5 PM EST, 10 Mar 2021
Virtual Programming

Meet the i-labs Unicorns: Celebrating Venture Success Stories

How did two Harvard Innovation Lab alumni teams achieve valuations of more than $1 billion. In a discussion moderated by i-lab executive director Matt Segneri (AB 2004, MBA 2010), Will Ahmed (AB 2012), founder and CEO of WHOOP, and Lissy Hu (MD/MBA 2014), founder and... View Details

January 2000 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Cachet Technologies

By: Paul A. Gompers and Howard Reitz

Describes the decision facing Danny Lewin, Jonathan Seelig, and Tom Leighton, the founders of Cachet Technologies, an MIT spin-out. The firm has done poorly in the annual MIT business plan competition and the founders have to decide whether to continue. View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Business Startups; Business Plan; Failure; Cooperative Ownership; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

26 Aug 2011
News

Without Steve Jobs, how will Apple fare?

March 2001
Case

Veltvest Corporation

The founder and president of the company find it difficult to relinquish control to the next generation. View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Management Succession

Find at Harvard

30 Jan 2017
Working Paper Summaries

The Environmental Legacies of The North Face's Doug Tompkins and Patagonia's Yvon Chouinard

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Ben Gettinger; Apparel & Accessories; Retail

October 1998
Case

CRA Managed Care, Inc. (C)

By: Myra M. Hart and Susan Harmeling

Chronicles an entrepreneur's transition from chairman/CEO of a large privately held company, to chairman of a public company, to board member, to president of several major nonprofit boards, to founder of a new nonprofit for women business owners and founder of a new... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Leadership; Nonprofit Organizations; Governing and Advisory Boards; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Management Skills; United States

July 2017
Case

Magpie: Developing and Using Buyer Personas

By: Frank V. Cespedes

The founders of a start-up platform for publishers have developed preliminary personas of target customers and are evaluating the implications for initial target buyers, messaging, and marketing programs. The case is useful for discussing the process of developing... View Details

Keywords: Buying Process; Marketing; Sales; Distribution Channels; Segmentation; Entrepreneurship; Social Media; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; United States

14 Jul 2021
Video

Women in Industry Series: Entrepreneurship

28 Apr 2025
Video

Devi Shetty

Devi Shetty, Founder and Chairman of Narayana Health in India, discusses ecosystem building and deploying heart surgery innovations.

View Details

16 Jul 2021
Op-Ed

For Entrepreneurs, the Benefits of Slowing Down

class=infogram-embed data-id=_/UddyZtUFxQwXnFZ7mkNa][/div] I was reminded of the value of slowing down during the last few days by one of my founders who is in the midst of closing a massive financing at a "unicorn" valuation. The company... View Details

Keywords: by Jeffrey Bussgang

The Experimentation Machine

Leverage AI to be a 10x Founder

Today’s most successful founders know that the startups that learn the fastest will win. In The Experimentation Machine, HBS professor, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist Jeffrey J. Bussgang reveals... View Details

February 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Background Note

A Note on the Legal and Tax Implications of Founders' Equity Splits

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Lauren Barley

This note summarizes key legal and tax issues that founders should consider as they contemplate an equity split and ownership structure. Specific issues covered include why founders should not delay splitting the equity and whether they should involve an attorney or... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Equity; Taxation; Intellectual Property; Law; Ownership; Partners and Partnerships

Jan 30 2020
Testimonial

Vital Lessons in Leadership

March 2010 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Mirae Asset: Korea's Mutual Fund Pioneer

By: Mukti Khaire, Michael Shih-ta Chen and G.A. Donovan

Park Hyeon-Joo, the founder and chairman of Korea's earliest and largest mutual fund company, plans to expand internationally. After first offering emerging market funds to its Korean customers, the company then began selling local-currency funds in India and Brazil.... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Global Strategy; Emerging Markets; Financial Services Industry; South Korea