Publications

November 1994 (Revised January 2006)
Background Note

An Introduction to Patents and Trade Secrets

Provides an overview of patent and trade secret protection. Also discusses the legal processes through which intellectual property is protected and litigated. View Details

Keywords: Patents; Intellectual Property

January 1994 (Revised April 2011)
Background Note

Note on Private Equity Partnership Agreements

Venture capital by necessity is a long-run investment. Consequently, since the mid-1960s virtually all venture financing has been raised through private partnerships with a ten-year or longer life span. To govern these investments, complex contracts have sprung up... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Investment; Governance; Contracts; Partners and Partnerships

September 2022
Teaching Note

Yinglan Tan: Scaling a Venture Capital Firm in Southeast Asia

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 823-025. View Details

October 2021
Teaching Note

Apax Partners and Duck Creek Technologies

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 221-075. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity

2020
Chapter

Government Incentives for Entrepreneurship

September 2018 (Revised August 2021)
Teaching Note

Blackstone at Age 30 and Blackstone at 35

This teaching note is meant to guide in the instruction of HBS No. 316-013 "Blackstone at 30" case. It examines the process of institutionalization and scaling in private equity and alternative investments more generally, looking specifically at how Blackstone's size... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Blackstone; Alternative Assets; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Business Growth and Maturation; Public Ownership; Cost vs Benefits; Financial Services Industry

September 2018
Teaching Note

The Case of the Unidentified Ratios

Teaching Note for HBS No. 812-129. This teaching note provides an introduction to ratio analysis as well as the different financial properties across and within industries. Students are asked to match ratios to a list of industries. View Details

Keywords: Financial Analysis; Ratio Analysis; Industry Analysis; Finance; Analysis

April 2015 (Revised April 2015)
Case

Yale University Investments Office: February 2015

David Swensen and the Investments Office staff must decide whether to continue to allocate the bulk of the university's endowment to illiquid investments—hedge funds, private equity, real estate—given the impact of the recent market turmoil. The case explores the risks... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Resource Allocation; Investment; Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Property; Private Equity

2013
Chapter

The Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Find at Harvard

August 1998
Article

Discussion of 'Venture Capital Financing, Moral Hazard, and Learning' by Dirk Bergemann and Ulrich Hege

Find at Harvard

2009
Working Paper

Private Equity and Industry Performance

The growth of the private equity industry has spurred concerns about its potential impact on the economy more generally. This analysis looks across nations and industries to assess the impact of private equity on industry performance. Industries where PE funds have... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment; Common Law; Industry Growth; Performance Productivity; Europe; United Kingdom; United States

September 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Yale University Investments Office: June 2003

The Yale Investments Office must decide whether to continue to allocate the bulk of the university's endowment to illiquid investments--hedge funds, private equity, real estate, and so forth. Considers the risks and benefits of a different asset allocation strategy.... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Assets; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Resource Allocation; Partners and Partnerships; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategy; Education Industry

November 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Yale University Investments Office: July 2000

David Swensen, chief investment officer at Yale University, reviews the $10 billion endowment strategy, that places an unusually heavy emphasis on private equity and other illiquid securities. Changing market conditions in July 2000 cause him to rethink historically... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Financial Liquidity; Investment; Strategy; Education Industry

November 2000
Case

University Technology Ventures: October 2000

The founders of University Technology Ventures, a fund of funds designed for university professors, face numerous challenges in raising their first fund. The role, economics, and structure of funds-of-funds are examined in the course of examining the partners' dilemma. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Problems and Challenges; Partners and Partnerships; Financial Services Industry