Publications

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March 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Teaching Note

On the Bubble: Startup Bootstrapping

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Tom Quinn

This teaching note accompanies the case “On the Bubble: Startup Bootstrapping.” (HBS No. 822-033) View Details

December 16, 2019
Article

Why Your Startup Won't Last

By: Ranjay Gulati and Vasundhara Sawhney

Why do some startups that have crossed the threshold of “product-market fit” and have a viable business model still fail? This article begins by exploring the argument that most startups need more professionalization to thrive. Founders resist putting in place... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Organizational Structure; Growth and Development Strategy

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March 2015
Background Note

Equity Compensation in Startup Ventures

By: Ramana Nanda, Robert White and Stephanie Puzio

Setting equitable and "market" level compensation for founders and early employees of startups is one of the most important elements of a new venture. It is not only central to attract and retain the best human capital for the startup, but is critical to align... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Equity; Finance; Entrepreneurship

16 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

The Most Successful Startups Have Hands-On Founders

Source: iPhoto Startup founders with a hands-on management style are more likely to retain employees and see their firms thrive, new research shows. The results are particularly applicable to knowledge-intensive technology firms, where... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

November 22, 2022
Article

Why Startups Should Embrace Radical Transparency

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang

After high-profile startup failures like FTX or Theranos, investors, employees, customers, and policymakers all ask what might have been done differently to ensure accountability and prevent mismanagement. But startup founders should join that list: It’s in their... View Details

Keywords: Start-up; Business Startups; Entrepreneurial Finance; Corporate Accountability

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October 2020
Technical Note

Firing at Startups

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

Keywords: Firing

Forthcoming
Article

Beefing IT Up for Your Investor? Engagement with Open Source Communities, Innovation, and Startup Funding: Evidence from GitHub

By: Annamaria Conti, Christian Peukert and Maria P. Roche

We study the engagement of nascent firms with open source communities and its implications for innovation and attracting funding. To do so, we link data on 160,065 U.S. startups from Crunchbase to their activities on the open source software development platform... View Details

Keywords: Startups; Knowledge; Open Source Communities; GitHub; Machine Learning; Innovation; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Information Technology; Strategy

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2025
Working Paper

Code-Washing: Evidence from Open-Source Blockchain Startups

By: Ofir Gefen, Daniel Rabetti, Yannan Sun and Che Zhang

This study examines startups' management of source code repositories, distinguishing authentic developers ("code-producers''), from those inflating activity to mislead investors ("code-washers''). Using global blockchain startup and GitHub data, we find that... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Open Source Distribution; Business Startups

SSRN

October 2018 (Revised July 2019)
Case

BulkWhiz: Negotiating as a Startup Founder in the UAE

By: Katherine Coffman, Christine Exley and Alpana Thapar

This case follows Amira Rashad as she founds BulkWhiz, a Dubai-based buy-in-bulk grocery delivery platform. Following its launch in September 2017, BulkWhiz experiences rapid growth of 30 percent per month in the United Arab Emirates. Despite this initial success,... View Details

November 2013
Article

Investment Cycles and Startup Innovation

By: Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

We find that VC-backed firms receiving their initial investment in hot markets are more likely to go bankrupt, but conditional on going public are valued higher on the day of their IPO, have more patents, and have more citations to their patents. Our results suggest... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Market Cycles; Financing Risk; Risk and Uncertainty; Venture Capital; Investment; Innovation and Invention

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11 Jan 2021
Research & Ideas

Is A/B Testing Effective? Evidence from 35,000 Startups

Startups that use A/B testing scale more quickly, launch more products, and attract more venture capital, according to recent research. But not all startups enjoy these benefits. Early-stage View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

September 2021 (Revised December 2023)
Case

On the Bubble: Startup Bootstrapping

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Tom Quinn and Annelena Lobb

Bubble was a software company in the low-code/no-code market, making tools that allowed users without traditional programming backgrounds or technical skills to build software. The case covers cofounder Joshua Haas’s engineering background, as he experienced a high... View Details

24 Aug 2021
Cold Call Podcast

Why Did Pet Concierge Startup Baroo Fail?

Keywords: Re: Thomas R. Eisenmann; Technology; Service

07 Nov 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Investment Cycles and Startup Innovation

Keywords: by Ramana Nanda & Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

January 2012
Background Note

Assembling the Startup Team

By: Noam Wasserman

Keywords: Business Startups; Management Teams

Working Paper Summaries

Determinants of Early-Stage Startup Performance: Survey Results

Keywords: by Thomas R. Eisenmann

24 Oct 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Startup or Established Company? Which Is Best for You?

What are the tradeoffs between going to a startup versus joining a mature company? Having done both, several times, I get this question all the time. There are many things to consider and lots of “it depends” when it comes to where you... View Details

Keywords: by Julia B. Austin

25 Jan 2022
Cold Call Podcast

How Footwear Startup Allbirds is Decarbonizing Fashion

Keywords: Re: Michael W. Toffel

November 10, 2022
Article

5 Ways Startups Can Prepare for a Recession

By: Lou Shipley

Startups face unique challenges during economic downturns. They typically aren’t yet profitable and so are reliant on outside funding—and therefore are especially exposed when macroeconomic conditions change. To make it through a recession, startup CEOs should hit the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Sales; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Inflation and Deflation; Financial Crisis; Employee Relationship Management; Business Startups; Credit