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Courses - Entrepreneurship

for making those decisions. We will also introduce a range of specific tools—including business model design, lean testing, and customer and channel analytics—that are particularly relevant to entrepreneurs, as well as introduce students to the fundamentals of... View Details

18 Feb 2021
Blog Post

SIPs in 2021

classroom, we observed four: Anatomy of a Badass, Startup Bootcamp, Climate Finance, and The Business of Space. Anatomy of a Badass Anatomy of a Badass was inspired by Saint John’s guest participation in Gino and Frei’s Inclusive... View Details

July 2019
Teaching Note

Arlan Hamilton and Backstage Capital

By: Laura Huang

Teaching Note for HBS No. 419-029. Frustrated by an inability to convince existing venture capital firms to invest in companies led by women, people of color, and LGBT founders, Arlan Hamilton started her own firm, Backstage Capital, in 2015. Hamilton understood the... View Details

Keywords: Black Leadership; LGBTQ; People Of Color; Entrepreneurship; Mission and Purpose; Venture Capital; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Identity; Personal Characteristics; Prejudice and Bias; Social Issues; Diversity; Gender; Race

July 2002 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Restructuring Bulong's Project Debt

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane

Preston Resources, a small Australian gold mining company, bought the Bulong nickel mine for A$319 million in November 1998 and financed the acquisition by issuing a US$185 million (A$294 million) project bond. At the time, mining had been underway for several months,... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Projects; Restructuring; Bonds; Borrowing and Debt; Business Startups; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Valuation; Mining Industry; Australia

April 2024 (Revised August 2024)
Case

The Engine

By: Joshua Lev Krieger, Jim Matheson, Fiona Murray and Nicholas Christman

The Engine, a venture capital firm founded by MIT to fill a gap in the technology funding landscape by commercializing breakthrough science and technology. Led by managing partner and CEO Katie Rae, the Engine's unique approach involved an unusually longer fund life,... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Entrepreneurial Finance; Financial Services Industry

June 2018
Article

Cost of Experimentation and the Evolution of Venture Capital

By: Michael Ewens, Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

We study how technological shocks to the cost of starting new businesses have led the venture capital model to adapt in fundamental ways over the prior decade. We both document and provide a framework to understand the changes in the investment strategy of VCs in... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Investing; Abandonment Option; Technological Innovation; Venture Capital; Investment

2017
Working Paper

Cost of Experimentation and the Evolution of Venture Capital

By: Michael Ewens, Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

We study how technological shocks to the cost of starting new businesses have led the venture capital model to adapt in fundamental ways over the prior decade. We both document and provide a framework to understand the changes in the investment strategy of VCs in... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Investing; Abandonment Option; Technological Innovation; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Investment

SSRN

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06 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 6

http://hbr.org/product/pepsico-india-performance-with-purpose/an/512041-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 614-039 A Note on Funding Digital Innovation Startups This note provides information on the state of View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2024
Case

TechEnergy Ventures: Innovating Through Corporate Venture Capital

By: Rebecca Karp and Lena Duchene

This case examines TechEnergy Ventures, the corporate venture capital (CVC) arm of the Techint Group, and its role in scaling innovation within the energy sector. Founded in 2021, TechEnergy Ventures operates with a mandate to invest in disruptive technologies to... View Details

04 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 4

investors provide a little funding and limited governance to an increased number of startups that they are more likely to abandon, but where initial experiments significantly inform beliefs about the future potential of the venture. This... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2021
Case

Andreessen Horowitz’s Cultural Leadership Fund (A)

By: Anita Elberse, Briana Richardson and Cydni Williams

In May 2020, Chris Lyons, a partner at leading venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz receives the news that his company has reached a verbal agreement with one of Silicon Valley’s hottest social-media startups to lead its ‘Series A’ funding round, in a deal that... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Talent Management; General Management; Inclusion; Talent and Talent Management; Diversity; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Networks; Nonprofit Organizations

Web

Podcast - Business & Environment

Weir, Chief Climate Correspondent, CNN Drawdown Fund: Scaling the Impact of Climate Technology 14 AUG 2024 | Climate Rising Erik Snyder, Founder and CEO of Drawdown Fund discusses financing climate tech View Details

Web

Entrepreneurship - Faculty & Research

Master it and you will be in a better position to make your company a massive success. But how do you finance a new venture? In this note, I will try to help answer this question by addressing the following topics: Types of funding. The... View Details

2022
Working Paper

Transferable Skills? Founders as Venture Capitalists

By: Paul A. Gompers and Vladimir Mukharlyamov

In this paper we explore whether or not the experience as a founder of a venture capital-backed startup influences the performance of founders who become venture capitalists (VCs). We find that nearly 7% of VCs were previously founders of a venture-backed startup.... View Details

Keywords: Founders; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Performance; Personal Development and Career; Success

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October 2024 (Revised November 2024)
Case

SWEN Blue Ocean: Impact Investing Goes to Sea

By: Vikram S Gandhi and David Allen

In August 2023, SWEN Blue Ocean, a €170 million impact fund that invested in startups contributing to ocean sustainability, faced a critical investment decision. Part of SWEN Capital Partners, an €8 billion, Paris-based private equity fund, Blue Ocean was co-founded in... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Science-Based Business; Technological Innovation; Financial Services Industry; France; Paris; Italy

25 May 2023
News

Brazil’s Nubank Turns 10

Guilherme Lago (MBA 2005) Guilherme Lago (MBA 2005) Ten years after its founding, the Brazilian digital banking startup Nubank recorded all-time record revenues ($1.6 billion) in the first quarter of 2023—doubling its performance over... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Finance

January 2019 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Analytical Space: The Next Frontier?

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and David Lane

With one satellite aloft and in the midst of beta testing in late 2018, Analytical Space founders Justin Oliveira and Dan Nevius turned to critical questions about the pioneering startup’s go-to-market, pricing, and business development strategy. Analytical Space aimed... View Details

Keywords: Pricing Decisions; Demand Validation; Revenue Model; Business Development; Space Tech; Satellites; Earth Observation; Remote Sensing; Business Startups; Emerging Markets; Growth and Development Strategy; Finance; Selection and Staffing; Business Strategy; Aerospace Industry

April 2025 (Revised May 2025)
Background Note

Customer Acquisition and the Cash Flow Trap

By: E. Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

Startups as well as existing firms recognize the need to invest in order to acquire customers for their new ventures. And as each customer is expected at some point to have generated sufficient gross margins to cover their CAC, management expects that, soon enough, the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customers; Forecasting and Prediction; Cash Flow; Business or Company Management

September 2024
Case

Myeloma Investment Fund

By: Kyle Myers and Scott Sawaya

This case explores a critical decision facing the Myeloma Investment Fund (MIF) as it evaluates two investment opportunities aimed at accelerating a cure for multiple myeloma.

The MIF, a venture philanthropy fund, must choose between two distinct paths. One... View Details

Keywords: Venture Philanthropy; Biomedical Research; Investing For Impact; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Science-Based Business; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Decision Making; Health Care and Treatment; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry