Publications

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02 Nov 2012
News

E Ink Founder's Startup Goal: Power The World With Efficient Nuclear Power

Keywords: Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

18 Nov 2020
Video

Taking it to the Street: Health Care Startups Bet on Success Despite COVID-19

03 Jan 2022
News

Xfund Spotlight: Tom Eisenmann of Harvard Business School

August 2016
Case

Collective Academy

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Christopher Payton

This case is about making the decision to become an entrepreneur and early challenges in setting up a business model and team. In 2015, Pato Bichara co-founded Collective Academy to create an affordable, three-year undergraduate experience to infuse innovation into... View Details

Keywords: Early Stage; Team Building; Business Startup; Trade-offs; Risk; Founders' Agreements; Education; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Business Startups; Decision Making; Technology Industry; Mexico; Latin America; United States

March 2022 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Emeritus: Achieving Impact, Providing Access (A)

By: Ashish Nanda and Zack Kurtovich

In June 2019, Emeritus cofounders Ashwin Damera (HBS MBA 2005) and Chaitanya Kalipatnapu were thrilled with the rapid growth of Emeritus. Damera and Kalipatnapu believed that Emeritus, established in July 2015 to offer online executive education, was only in the early... View Details

Keywords: Education Technology; Professional Service Firm; Startup; Digital Strategy; Global Business; Global Firm; Platform Business; Business Startups; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Executive Education; Strategy; Education Industry; India

28 Feb 2017
Blog Post

Why I Love My Job: Sierra Smith Talks Her Fashion Startup Internship

Why I Love My Job is a series of interviews with HBS students and alumni on what drives their satisfaction at work. Internship Position: Summer Fellow, Plan de Ville, Summer 2016 Location: New York, New York Describe your role at Plan de Ville. Plan de Ville is a small... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship

December 2019 (Revised February 2024)
Teaching Note

Ripple: The Business of Crypto and Ripple 2023

By: David B. Yoffie

The case explores Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s mission to disrupt the global payments industry by leveraging the cryptocurrency XRP. Students will learn about Bitcoin and the blockchain industry, as well as Ripple’s unique crypto business model. The case provides an... View Details

Keywords: Payment Systems; Cryptocurrency; Bitcoin; Blockchain; Fintech; Business Startups; Business Model; Disruption; Strategy

2013
Book

Managing Startups: Best Blog Posts

By: Tom Eisenmann

Harvard Business School Professor Tom Eisenmann annually compiles the best posts from many blogs on technology startup management, primarily for the benefit of his students. This book makes his latest collection available to the broader entrepreneur community. Divided... View Details

Keywords: Lean Startup; Startup; Prototyping; MVP; Minimum Viable Product; Freemium; SaaS; A/B Testing; Business Model

October 2021
Supplement

Unshrinking the Pie: Desirée Stolar's Negotiation Saga (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Alex Green

When Desirée (“Des”) Stolar’s wool sweater shrank two sizes, the Harvard Business School student worked with classmates to develop a solution that both fixed her problem and launched Unshrinkit, a successful consumer goods company with a widely-available product for... View Details

Keywords: Bargaining; Startups; Negotiation; Contracts; Negotiation Tactics; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

Web

Harvard Business School

Baker Library Special Collections Exhibits More Exhibits Explore the Exhibit Student Pioneers The Value of Business Education The Golden Age of Black Business AASU Early Years & Influence AASU Founders Core... View Details

April 2022
Case

Pear Venture Capital

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

Keith Bender, Principal at Pear Venture Capital, is working over the weekend to prepare for a Monday morning investment meeting. He has three startup pitch decks in front of him, and he must choose one to recommend at the meeting. He finds that each company has its... View Details

Keywords: Seed Investing; Seed Financing; Startup; Decision Choices and Conditions; Presentations; Business Startups; Investment; Venture Capital; United States

January 2014 (Revised December 2024)
Case

MuMaté: Funding Growth

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Joseph Fuller, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Alex Godden and Andrew Sandoe

Keywords: Startup; Business Startups; Financing and Loans; Venture Capital; Consumer Products Industry; United States

15 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How Does a Social Startup Decide to Commercialize? It May Depend on the Founder's Gender

2016 Echoing Green Fellow Christine Su is co-founder and CEO of PastureMap. The for-profit software company helps sustainable ranchers record their grazing practices on mobile devices. (Photo courtesy of Echoing Green.) A division of labor has traditionally separated... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

01 Dec 2020
News

New News

Edited by Julia Hanna Courtesy Michael Aft Courtesy Snigdha Sur Courtesy Michael Aft Courtesy Snigdha Sur Michael Aft (MBA 2019) and Snigdha Sur (MBA 2017) would be the first to acknowledge that launching a digital media startup out of... View Details

Keywords: entrepreneuship; digital media; startups; news; business models; young alumni; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

December 2014 (Revised May 2015)
Case

Growth Hacking at Bazaart (A)

By: Jeffrey Bussgang and Matthew G. Preble

The four founding members of Bazaart—a young Israeli company whose sole product was its eponymous mobile application (app) which allowed users to create collages from photographs and other images—face an important strategic decision in June 2014. Since its founding... View Details

Keywords: Growth Hacking; Customer Acquisition; Startup Marketing; Startup; Startup Nation; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Customers; Marketing; Social Marketing; Fashion Industry; Technology Industry; Israel

January 2017
Case

Kada Orthopedics: A Bone of Contention

By: Kevin Schulman and Matt Strickland

Kada Orthopedics is a small implantable orthopedic device manufacturer founded by industry veterans trying to sell stable-technology products to an increasingly cost-conscious healthcare market. Although they have marginally successful product in early 2016, the... View Details

Keywords: Market Design; Growth And Development Strategy; Health Care; Business Startup; Growth and Development; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Business Startups; Supply and Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

June 2008
Case

Threadless: The Business of Community

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Zahra Kanji

Threadless.com, the online, Chicago-based t-shirt company, was not your typical fashion apparel company. The company, run by Jake Nickell, Jacob DeHart, and Jeffrey Kalmikoff, turned the fashion business on its head by enabling anyone to submit designs for t-shirts and... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Product Design; Partners and Partnerships; Social and Collaborative Networks; Apparel and Accessories Industry

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

Keywords: Startups; Furnishing; Leadership; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Internet and the Web; Failure; Learning; E-commerce; United States