Publications

03 Apr 2007
First Look

First Look: April 3, 2007

channels. CD sales still accounted for the majority of revenues, but sales of music in digital formats (downloads, videos, ringtones) were growing significantly and accounting for approximately 10 percent of the industry's revenues in... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2016 (Revised October 2023)
Case

Bootstrapping at Lightricks

By: Robert White, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Christine Snively

By August 2015, two-year-old mobile imaging software startup Lightricks had developed and released two best-selling paid mobile apps, grown to a team of 30, earned a revenue run rate of nearly $10 million, and achieved modest profitability. The bootstrapped company had... View Details

Keywords: Business Startup; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Information Infrastructure; Business Startups; Digital Marketing; Finance; Strategy; Technology Industry; Israel

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Fantuan

By: Feng Zhu and David Lane

In 2023, CEO Randy Wu was considering the optimal growth strategy for Fantuan, a restaurant food delivery platform that had expanded from its 2014 founding in Vancouver, Canada to serve the Chinese demand for Asian cuisine in urban markets across Australia, Canada, the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Focus and Relationships; Diasporas; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Growth Management; Business Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Canada; United Kingdom; Australia

January 2023
Case

Proday: Calling the Right Play

By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn

Sarah Kunst knew the elements of a successful startup from her tenure at venture capital firms. In April 2018, however, her own app – Proday, a home fitness platform featuring exercises filmed by professional sports stars – was floundering. Kunst theorized that... View Details

Keywords: Social Media; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Product Launch; Social Marketing; Failure; Sports; Applications and Software; Business Startups; Technology Industry; United States

September 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Angie's List: Ratings Pioneer Turns 20

By: Robert J. Dolan and Ayelet Israeli

In 1995, before people “googled” or “yelped,” Angela Hicks (HBS, 2000) was establishing her Angie’s List as a pioneer in the accumulation and dissemination of consumer rating information. Hicks focused on the home repair and maintenance market and, as she put it,... View Details

Web

Introduction - Georges F. Doriot : Educating Leaders, Building Companies, Baker Library, Harvard Business School

Harvard Business School Executive Education More HBS YouTube: Executive Education Harvard Business Review Harvard Business School Contact Related Links Resources Digital Accessibility View Details

01 Jun 2022
News

Action Plan: Writing the Next Chapter

in the 21st century, a business advantage. Hubscher is often asked if a company that makes colored pencils and elegant fountain pens is out of step in the digital age, but she is undaunted. “I don’t know many people who don’t use a pen or... View Details

Keywords: April White

25 Feb 2020
News

Action Plan: Just Breathe

executives would find out that I was meditating,” Burton admits. Today, he wants everyone to know about the workplace benefits of meditation and other stress-management techniques. Six years ago, Burton founded Whil, a digital training... View Details

Keywords: April White

15 Oct 2019
News

Innovative Thinking Fuels Nascent Startup Scene

on the rise in the MENA countries. The company was cofounded by a woman—women represent about 25 percent of entrepreneurs in MENA countries as compared with the global average of 10 percent—and it capitalizes on the region’s high digital... View Details

19 Feb 2008
News

The Scoop Behind the Silver Screen

wondered how Samuels had managed to make the transition between two such different industries. “You have to build a pattern of trust,” he said. “When you create a record of films, artists see that you’ll take a risk on their creative vision. But I do make them... View Details

Keywords: Arts, Entertainment; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services; Real Estate

30 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 30

had built specialized in managing digital risk and uncovering digital evidence and had grown very rapidly. With the firm's CFO, they believed that the firm could grow from $58 million to $72 million, a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Managing Multi-Media Audiences at WHDH (Boston)

By: Thales Teixeira and V. Kasturi Rangan

WHDH's Channel 7 News rose to the #1 position in Boston-area news broadcasting through its embrace of an innovative format and for affiliating with NBC. Since the early 2000s, however, other news programs had copied their format, and young audiences had begun to use... View Details

Keywords: Online News; Television Advertising; Attention Economics; Cross-media Efforts; Competition; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Marketing Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Digital Marketing; Television Entertainment; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Boston