Publications

Web

Entrepreneurial Management Curriculum - Faculty & Research

Entrepreneurial Management Overview Faculty Curriculum Seminars & Conferences Awards & Honors Doctoral Students MBA Required Curriculum (FIRST YEAR) The Entrepreneurial Manager In order to “educate leaders... View Details

Web

Online Entrepreneurial Marketing Course | HBS Online

This course is part of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Marketing track. Introduction to Entrepreneurial Marketing ENROLL NOW No application needed for our certificate programs. Start your journey... View Details

March 2022 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Sunōmi Switchel: Time to Switch?

By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Shani Carter McKinney and Alexandra Horvitz

Nicole Blank has bootstrapped her functional beverage company, Sunōmi Switchel, to contracts with leading grocery retailers. She is now faced with a series of choices for if and how to continue to grow the business. View Details

Keywords: Startup; Start-up; Startup Management; Burnout; Entrepreneur; Entrepreneurial Journey; Bootstrap; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Startups; Crisis Management; Financial Condition; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; District of Columbia

April 1996
Case

The Road Well Traveled: A Note on the Journeys of HBS Entrepreneurs

Based on a 1992 mail survey of Harvard MBAs who started their own businesses. Questions focused on 4 areas: 1) development of the business concept, 2) sales and marketing, 3) finance, and 4) building a staff. The entrepreneurs surveyed include 24 in consulting, 17 in... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship

31 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

From SpinPop to SpinBrush: Entrepreneurial Lessons from John Osher

the more eclectic business careers of the last few decades. His entrepreneurial journey culminated (at least temporarily) in the sale of his electric toothbrush company to Procter & Gamble for almost a... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Consumer Products

31 Aug 2020
Blog Post

Five Important Steps before Taking the Entrepreneurial Leap

finance. Hilary is focused on ensuring the customer experience is executed flawlessly – from first click to product delivery. Our entrepreneurial journey in some ways can be mapped back to one of the first... View Details

01 Feb 1997
News

Shaping the Future of Business: Entrepreneurial Evolution at HBS

the School, even as HBS alumni continued to distinguish themselves in the realm of entrepreneurial practice. In 1982, acting on a marketing survey they had conducted as second-year students, David W. Thompson (MBA '81), Bruce W. Ferguson... View Details

Keywords: Nancy O. Perry and Susan Young; profiles by Garry Emmons

12 Nov 2024
HBS Case

Inside One Startup's Journey to Break Down Hiring (and Funding) Barriers

venture capitalists working on the two coasts. Paul Gompers, the Eugene Holman Professor of Business Administration at HBS, met Blakeman through a former student as he created a course called “Entrepreneurship Outside the Valley” to explore how people can overcome... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Employment

December 2018 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Bulb 2017: Launch

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On August 21, 2015, Amit Gudka and Hayden Wood, co-founders of Bulb Ltd. (Bulb) launched a new business to supply energy to the United Kingdom’s 27 million residential homes with a promise of 100% renewable electricity at affordable prices. By the end of March 2017,... View Details

January 12, 2023
Article

Progressive Decentralization: A High-level Framework

By: Jad Esber and Scott Duke Kominers

We explain a high-level framework for designing for future decentralization up front, and offer some guidance about when and how to do so. The guidelines apply to both web3 projects and more traditional organizations. View Details

Keywords: Crypto Economy; Cryptocurrency; Decentralization; Decentralized Autonomous Organizations; Entrepreneurial Journey; Entrepreneurial Management; Organization Behavior; Organization And Management Theory; Organization Form; Organizational Structure

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December 2018 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Bulb 2018: Hypergrowth

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

After a wild and volatile year, Bulb, a new entrant in the UK residential energy market, ended March 2018 with 329,171 properties, 1.2% of the total residential energy market). This was 150% ahead of a plan for 130,000 properties and almost ten times the size the... View Details

April 2019
Case

Boxed

By: Laura Huang, Andy Wu and Jiayi Bao

Boxed.com (“Boxed”) is an ambitious e-commerce retailer start-up, founded by visionary CEO Chieh Huang in 2013. From starting in Huang’s garage in 2013, to winning Emerging E-Retailer of the Year in 2016, to having 4 operational distribution centers in 2018, Boxed used... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Business Startups; Leadership; Strategy; Success; E-commerce; Retail Industry

September 2019
Teaching Note

Boxed

By: Laura Huang and Andy Wu

Boxed.com (“Boxed”) is an ambitious e-commerce retailer start-up, founded by visionary CEO Chieh Huang in 2013. From starting in Huang’s garage in 2013, to winning Emerging E-Retailer of the Year in 2016, to having 4 operational distribution centers in 2018, Boxed used... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Business Startups; Leadership; Strategy; Success; E-commerce; Retail Industry

December 2018 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Bulb 2015: Foundation

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In late August 2015, Amit Gudka and Hayden Wood, co-founders of Bulb, Ltd (Bulb), were ready to offer affordable renewable energy to the United Kingdom’s 27 million households. They hoped to capitalize on the hundreds of thousands of customers switching their energy... View Details

Teaching Interest

Economics of Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital

Designed for Harvard College sophomores.

Course Description: Why do so many individuals choose to pursue entrepreneurship despite substantial risks? How do these entrepreneurs raise money to finance their ventures? And what is the impact of... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial Finance; Entrepreneurship And Strategy; Venture Capital

October 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Supplement

Dulcie Madden (B)—A Difficult Choice

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

This is part of a three-case series that follows Dulcie Madden's journey as a founder over five years. Case (A) is about managing growth and cash flow; Case (B) is about the exit decision and conditions on a sale; Case (C) shows Madden dealing with adversity and the... View Details

07 Jul 2022
Blog Post

Pathlight: Reimagining the Developer Onboarding Experience

Mike Kelly (MBA 2022) talks with Lizzie Matusov (MS/MBA 2022) about her entrepreneurial journey and how she is solving the challenges in onboarding and hiring technical talent. Tell us more about your... View Details

31 Jan 2020
Video

Blavatnik Fellow Liz Kwo is Building Companies and Balancing Life

February 2014 (Revised August 2016)
Case

Strava

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, William A. Sahlman and Sid Misra

Strava is a new fast-growing social network for the avid cyclist and runner. The Strava case traces the entrepreneurial journey of two serial entrepreneurs who have been co-founders in a prior venture, and who have co-founded Strava 3 years ago. The protagonists must... View Details