Publications
Publications
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(1,525)
- Faculty Publications (410)
- November 2011 (Revised December 2012)
- Case
Rent the Runway
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Laura Winig
Two months after a successful launch in November 2009, the cofounders of Rent the Runway (RTR), a website that rented designer dresses, are debating whether to grow their startup at a measured pace and focus on improving operational effectiveness, or raise a new round... View Details
- September 2011 (Revised August 2015)
- Case
ScoreBig
By: William A. Sahlman, Jeffrey Glass and Evan W. Richardson
The founding team at ScoreBig, an event ticketing company, is on the verge of a public launch of their product. The company has made great progress in negotiating access to tickets, designing its interface, and building a proprietary architecture. For consumers,... View Details
- April 2011 (Revised June 2011)
- Case
Internet Securities, Inc.: Path to Sustainability
By: Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr and Ryan Johnson
Founded in 1994 when the Internet was still a "toy for techies," the case is set in 1998 when Internet IPOs were red-hot. Internet Securities provides hard-to-find financial, business, economic, and political information on emerging markets. Information from over 600... View Details
- February 2011 (Revised November 2012)
- Case
PatientsLikeMe: An Online Community of Patients
By: Sunil Gupta and Jason Riis
PatientsLikeMe (PLM) is an online community where patients share their personal experiences with a disease, find other patients like them, and learn from each other. The company was founded by Jamie and Ben Heywood when their 29-year-old brother was diagnosed with ALS... View Details
- February 2011 (Revised November 2012)
- Case
Aquion Energy
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and David Kiron
Leaders at Aquion Energy, a Pittsburgh-based battery start-up, are deciding on a market entry strategy. Should they pursue the large but unproven grid utility market or a smaller, but higher margin market? View Details
- February 2011 (Revised September 2016)
- Case
Investcorp and the Moneybookers Bid
By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Nori Gerardo Lietz
In January 2007, Hazem Ben-Gacem, managing director and co-head of Investcorp Technology Partners (ITP), needs to decide what to bid at an auction for Moneybookers Limited, one of the top three e-payment solution providers in Europe. However, approximately 70% of... View Details
- February 2011 (Revised December 2014)
- Case
RentJuice
By: Thomas Eisenmann and Liz Kind
RentJuice, founded in mid-2008, provided a subscription software service—sold via phone and live online webinars—that allowed real estate professionals like brokers and agents to manage and market rental listings, communicate with clients, and complete transaction... View Details
- January 2011
- Teaching Note
Online Pet Supply Retailing (TN)
By: Tom Nicholas
Teaching Note for 809-117. View Details
- January 2011 (Revised November 2014)
- Case
Mochi Media
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Amit Jain
In late 2009, the management of Mochi Media, a venture-backed startup, must decide how to invest scarce resources to achieve continued growth. Mochi has developed a three-sided platform, connecting Flash game developers, sites that aggregate these games, and... View Details
- January 2011 (Revised April 2024)
- Case
Triangulate (A)
By: Thomas Eisenmann and Lauren Barley
In October 2010, Triangulate's founder/CEO must determine what product features to develop and what marketing programs to pursue in order to boost the odds of successfully raising another venture capital round for his nine month-old Facebook dating application. The... View Details
- October 2010
- Case
Narragansett Brewing Company
By: Tom Nicholas, Lindsey Marshall and Charles Anthony Miller
Mark Hellendrung, CEO of Narragansett Brewing Company, is deciding whether to partner with a local television station for the upcoming NHL Winter Classic outdoor hockey game between New England's own Boston Bruins and the Philadelphia Flyers at Fenway Park. He had... View Details
- September 2010
- Teaching Note
The Challenges of Launching a Start-Up in China: Dorm99.com (TN)
Teaching Note for 307075. View Details
- 2010
- Working Paper
Venture Capital Investment in the Clean Energy Sector
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Ramana Nanda
We examine the extent to which venture capital is adequately positioned for the rapid commercialization of clean energy technologies in the United States. While there are several startups in clean energy that are well-suited to the traditional venture capital... View Details
- June 2010 (Revised February 2011)
- Case
The Fox Islands Wind Project (A)
By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, James Thomas Corcoran, Max Gazor, Dylan Hogarty and Alexander H. Somers, Jr.
The market for electricity on the Fox Islands of North Haven and Vinalhaven, Maine is unique and costly for residents. Historically, electricity prices on the islands had been three times the national average because of the high cost of importing electricity via an... View Details
- April – May 2010
- Article
Banking Deregulations, Financing Constraints and Firm Entry Size
By: William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda
We examine the effect of US branch banking deregulations on the entry size of new firms using micro-data from the US Census Bureau. We find that the average entry size for startups did not change following the deregulations. However, among firms that survived at least... View Details
- April 2010
- Article
Performance Persistence in Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital
This paper presents evidence of performance persistence in entrepreneurship. We show that entrepreneurs with a track record of success are much more likely to succeed than first-time entrepreneurs and those who have previously failed. In particular, they exhibit... View Details
- February 2010 (Revised October 2010)
- Case
Re-THINK-ing THINK: The Electric Car Company
By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron
On January 5, 2010, 48-year-old Richard Canny was on his way to meet the governor of Indiana. He was reading his newly issued press release announcing that THINK planned to start automobile production in Elkhart County, Indiana to launch its THINK City battery-operated... View Details
- February 2010
- Case
Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise
By: Rajiv Lal and Natalie Kindred
To grow Phirbol, a telecom retail franchise chain in Delhi, India's underdeveloped markets, its founders were exploring ways to offer more value to the franchisees. In mid-2009, the Phirbol franchise was comprised of some 150 franchisees that had converted their small... View Details
- February 2010 (Revised November 2013)
- Case
Living PlanIT
By: Robert G. Eccles, Amy C. Edmondson, Susan Thyne and Tiona Zuzul
Living PlanIT is a start-up company that has developed a new, innovative business model for sustainable urbanization. This model reflects the software and technology backgrounds of its founders, Steve Lewis and Malcolm Hutchinson, and is in vivid contrast to other... View Details
- February 2010
- Article
Conflict of Interest and the Intrusion of Bias
By: Don A. Moore, Lloyd Tanlu and Max Bazerman
This paper presents evidence of performance persistence in entrepreneurship. We show that entrepreneurs with a track record of success are much more likely to succeed than first-time entrepreneurs and those who have previously failed. In particular, they exhibit... View Details