Filter Results:
(905)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(905)
- News (317)
- Research (442)
- Events (1)
- Multimedia (15)
- Faculty Publications (308)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(905)
- News (317)
- Research (442)
- Events (1)
- Multimedia (15)
- Faculty Publications (308)
- 2020
- Working Paper
Determinants of Early-Stage Startup Performance: Survey Results
To explore determinants of new venture performance, the CEOs of 470 early-stage startups were surveyed regarding a broad range of factors related to their venture’s customer value proposition, product management, marketing, technology and operations, financial... View Details
Keywords: Startups; Survey Research; Performance Analysis; Entrepreneurship; Performance; Analysis; Business Startups; Failure; Surveys
Eisenmann, Thomas R. "Determinants of Early-Stage Startup Performance: Survey Results." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 21-057, October 2020.
- 10 Jun 2025
- News
Why Are So Many Startups Failing? Here’s What Founders Are Missing
- March 4, 2016
- Article
Startups Can't Revolve Around Their Founders If They Want to Succeed
By: Ranjay Gulati and Alicia DeSantola
Gulati, Ranjay, and Alicia DeSantola. "Startups Can't Revolve Around Their Founders If They Want to Succeed." Harvard Business Review (website) (March 4, 2016).
- May 2022 (Revised December 2023)
- Case
Founder Collective
By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo
Founder Collective ("FC") launched in 2009 with a clear mission: to be the most aligned fund for founders at the seed stage. In keeping with its mission, FC maintained smaller fund sizes and was not a lifecycle investor. By November of 2021, the seed market had become... View Details
Keywords: Seed Investing; Business Startups; Mission and Purpose; Investment; Competitive Strategy; Venture Capital
Tango, Jo, and Alys Ferragamo. "Founder Collective." Harvard Business School Case 822-129, May 2022. (Revised December 2023.)
- July–August 2021
- Article
Lowering the Bar? External Conditions, Opportunity Costs, and High-Tech Startup Outcomes
By: Annamaria Conti and Maria P. Roche
We assess the heterogeneous impact of economic downturns on individuals’ decisions to bring high-technology ideas to the market in the form of new ventures. We thereby examine how worsening labor market conditions influence individuals’ opportunity costs of starting... View Details
Keywords: Necessity Entrepreneurship; Economic Conditions; Recessions; High-tech Startups; Opportunity Costs; Entrepreneurship; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Business Startups; Information Technology; Performance; Labor
Conti, Annamaria, and Maria P. Roche. "Lowering the Bar? External Conditions, Opportunity Costs, and High-Tech Startup Outcomes." Organization Science 32, no. 4 (July–August 2021): 965–986.
- January 2024
- Case
Flashfood: The Magic of Commitment
By: Reza Satchu and Patrick Sanguineti
Josh Domingues had accomplished what countless young entrepreneurs long to achieve: founding a promising company that aspires to make the world a tangibly better place. Shocked to learn that international food waste cumulatively amounted to the world’s third largest... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneur; Founder; Startup; Business Model; Business Startups; Food; Applications and Software; Mission and Purpose; Environmental Sustainability; Canada
Satchu, Reza, and Patrick Sanguineti. "Flashfood: The Magic of Commitment." Harvard Business School Case 824-131, January 2024.
- 01 Sep 2015
- Blog Post
Building a Startup at HBS
Our group initially came together through a deep passion for health care – with the goal of creating a novel product that addressed an unmet need and made a tangible difference in patients’ lives. We felt that if we combined our prior experiences in the industry –... View Details
- 24 Feb 2014
- News
Fighting co-founders doom startups
- September 2020
- Case
Disrupting Justice at RightNow: Rich or King
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Amir Reza Rezvani
The case examines issues such as cascading problems within the organization, changing founder roles, founder success criteria, as well as company exit consideration. In 2017, Dr. Torben Antretter, a former competitive tennis player and academic researcher, founded... View Details
Keywords: Exit; Startup; Financing; Founders; Entrepreneurship; Law; Venture Capital; Success; Financing and Loans; Business Growth and Maturation; Strategy; Legal Services Industry; Germany
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Amir Reza Rezvani. "Disrupting Justice at RightNow: Rich or King." Harvard Business School Case 821-028, September 2020.
- 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
Gulati, Ranjay, and Vasundhara Sawhney. "Why Your Startup Won't Last." HBR Ascend (December 16, 2019).
- Web
Founder - Entrepreneurship
Rock Center Loan Reduction for founders who have qualified HBS loans. Meet with Entrepreneurs in Residence During the academic year, our EiRs provide startup counsel and advice to our students. These... View Details
- 02 Nov 2023
- News
Seeding Startups
Shirish Nadkarni (MBA 1987) was the director of product planning for Microsoft’s MSN when he decided he was ready to become an entrepreneur. He had recently led the growing internet portal’s 1997 acquisition of Hotmail, the first free, web-based email solution, and the... View Details
Keywords: April White
- January 2007 (Revised May 2008)
- Case
National Logistics Management: Founder Decisions
By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth Collins
Scott Taylor, CEO & founder of NLM, is a serial entrepreneur faced with an important decision. As his industry consolidates, he knows that his company must grow quickly, yet he believes he has reached the limit of what organic growth can achieve. Should he accept the... View Details
Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Supply and Industry; Supply Chain
Applegate, Lynda M., and Elizabeth Collins. "National Logistics Management: Founder Decisions." Harvard Business School Case 807-125, January 2007. (Revised May 2008.)
- 12 Nov 2020
- Video
New Founder Series: Lessons from Entrepreneurial Failure
- 15 Feb 2024
- News
Startup Shepherds
By their count, Catalina Daniels and Jim Sherman (both MBA 1991) listened to approximately 300 startup pitches in 2016, the first year the HBS classmates worked side by side as angel investors in New York. “You meet a lot of very smart people, with what sound like good... View Details
Keywords: April White
- 11 Jan 2021
- News
Is A/B Testing Effective? Evidence from 35,000 Startups
- November 22, 2022
- Article
Why Startups Should Embrace Radical Transparency
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
Bussgang, Jeffrey J. "Why Startups Should Embrace Radical Transparency." Harvard Business Review (website) (November 22, 2022).
- 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
Nanda, Ramana, Robert White, and Stephanie Puzio. "Equity Compensation in Startup Ventures." Harvard Business School Background Note 815-074, March 2015.
- 09 Dec 2020
- Video