Startup Management - Publications - Faculty & Research

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

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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

25 Jan 2022
Cold Call Podcast

How Footwear Startup Allbirds is Decarbonizing Fashion

Keywords: Re: Michael W. Toffel

06 May 2019
News

Startup Talk in Chicago

venture community and startup ecosystem.” The HBSCC hosts a wide variety of business and civic leaders for the benefit of alumni, according to Club President Steve Wasko (MBA 1986). “Penny Pritzker is at the pinnacle of both of these... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Pritzker; Air Transportation; Transportation

January 2012
Background Note

Assembling the Startup Team

By: Noam Wasserman

Keywords: Business Startups; Management Teams

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24 Oct 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Startup or Established Company? Which Is Best for You?

company you may start yourself. Which comes first in your journey? For those doing early career path planning and knowing they want to do both a startup and a mature company at some point, there’s always the question of which should come... View Details

Keywords: by Julia B. Austin

07 Apr 2021
News

Why Do Startups Fail?

07 Feb 2018
News

Helping Startups Give Back

the momentum to continue as Upside starts to manage more company exits and to scale up in Montreal, Vancouver, and on Canada’s Atlantic coast. “It’s exciting to play a part in expanding the philanthropic pool in our country,” Goldstein... View Details

27 Mar 2019
News

Life Is a Startup

Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on SoundCloud More Skydeck episodes In 2010, Noam Wasserman (MBA 1999, PhD 2002) was teaching a course he developed at HBS called Founder’s Dilemmas, which focused on the challenges that young startups face.... View Details

01 Jun 2023
News

From Big Pharma to Startup

Hunter Goble (MBA 2022) did not enroll in Harvard Business School with dreams of becoming an entrepreneur. After earning his MBA, Goble intended to return to Eli Lilly to continue to work building brands and launching products. He envisioned himself leading a big,... View Details

Keywords: April White

01 May 2023
News

Yahoo Acquires Alumni Startup Wagr

Illustration by Drue Wagner Illustration by Drue Wagner Last week, Yahoo announced that it had acquired the sports betting startup Wagr, which was cofounded by Mario Malave (MBA 2020) and Eliana Eskinazi (MBA 2020). "Yahoo Sports offers us a stage to build products... View Details

25 Aug 2022
News

Ink: The Three-Step Startup

For the last two decades in his classroom at Brown University, Danny Warshay (MBA 1994) has been using a structured approach to teach entrepreneurship—what he calls “see, solve, scale.” But roles reversed when his students pointed out that the executive director of... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

June 2015 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Uber and Stakeholders: Managing a New Way of Riding

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Daniel Fox

By 2015, technological innovations—the smartphone and the advanced data connectivity that enabled it—created new opportunities for people to move around cities quickly and conveniently without owning a car, via car-sharing services like Zipcar or new ride-sharing... View Details

Keywords: Uber; Ride-sharing; Sharing Economy; Transportation Network Company; Leadership And Change Management; Stakeholder Management; Managing Change; Leadership; Regulation; Smartphones; Web-enabled Application; Disruptive Technology; Startup Management; Entrepreneurship; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Transportation; Mobile Technology; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry

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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

Citation

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30 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

How to Recover Gracefully After Shutting Down Your Startup

School, says that shutting down a startup is almost always a messy affair. When a venture requires a cash infusion to survive, its founders may turn to bottom-fisher investors who force the company to restructure its capitalization,... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

03 Oct 2023
Blog Post

Hire an MBA: The Benefits and Misconceptions for Startups

Startups are exciting to HBS MBA students for many reasons, including the opportunity for impact, exposure to multiple functions, and the ability to practice skills they are learning at HBS. But, why should a View Details

Keywords: All Industries; Entrepreneurship

January 2025
Teaching Note

AGENTS.inc: Pathways to Growth at an AI Startup

By: Frank Nagle and Susan Pinckney

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 724-444. In 2024, AI agent startup company AGENTS.inc faced multiple strategic decisions that could shape the company’s ability to grow into the future AI agent market leader. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Growth and Development Strategy; Open Source Distribution; Entrepreneurial Finance; Competition; Computer Industry; Technology Industry; Europe; Germany

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04 Sep 2017
Blog Post

HBS Startup Bootcamp and Founders Unfiltered

entrepreneurship a bit less intimidating for a first-timer like me. So with a renewed interest in startups, I registered for the 10-day HBS Startup Bootcamp scheduled for the January term. The aim of the program was to provide both... View Details

31 Mar 2020
News

How To Recover Gracefully After Shutting Down Your Startup

February 2015 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Intrapreneurship at DaVita HealthCare Partners

By: Joseph B. Fuller, David J. Collis and Matthew G. Preble

Josh Golomb, president and general manager of DaVita Rx (Rx), was about to meet with Kent Thiry, CEO of Rx's corporate parent, DaVita Healthcare Partners Inc. (DaVita), in August 2013. The two would discuss whether Golomb should lead a new DaVita venture, Paladina... View Details