Publications

January 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Case

iBasis, Inc.

By: Andrew Wasynczuk, Katherine Dowd and Nicole Kravec

iBasis examines the development of a long-term relationship between equipment manufacturer Cisco and start-up iBasis, a voice-over-internet wholesaler. Questions arise for iBasis founders as to how best to build a beneficial relationship with the much larger partner.... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Intellectual Property; Value Creation; Equality and Inequality; Partners and Partnerships; Business Growth and Maturation; Price Bubble; Trust; Business Startups; Manufacturing Industry; Communications Industry; Web Services Industry

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Courses - Entrepreneurship

Henry McGee Spring 2024 Q3Q4 3.0 Field Course: Startup Operations Julia Austin Fall 2023 Q1Q2 3.0 Field Course: Venture Capital Journey Jeffrey Bussgang Spring 2024 Q3Q4 3.0 Financial Management of Smaller Firms (also listed under... View Details

August 2021
Case

Wymsee

By: Julia Austin, Sarah Mehta and Tom Quinn

Wymsee was a company that aimed to develop a mobile application (app) that would allow television audience members to identify and purchase clothing or accessories worn by characters in the program they were watching, with the Wymsee founders taking a percentage of... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Plan; Business Startups; Film Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Acquisition; Product Positioning; Opportunities; Adaptation; Mobile Technology; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Technology Industry; United States; New York (city, NY)

September 1995 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Transcape Systems: Creating a Market

Entrepreneurial companies must overcome substantial barriers to create markets for innovative products in industries reluctant to embrace change. Transcape Systems faces this callenge as it attempts to create a market for interactive multimedia software in the... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Applications and Software; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Product Marketing; Information Technology Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Health Industry

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Rock Summer Fellows - Entrepreneurship

Rock Summer Fellows Video Video Key Dates: Applications for the 2025 Rock Summer Fellows Program will open on January 21. Deadline for Rock Founders to apply is March 6. Decisions will be made by April 7. The Rock Summer Fellows program,... View Details

Program

Competing in the Age of Digital Platforms

opportunities in the business of platforms Senior leaders overseeing specific platforms at large platform organizations Entrepreneurs and startup founders of platform businesses Board members interested in... View Details

September 2010 (Revised December 2011)
Case

WildChina: Taking the Road Less Traveled

By: Mukti Khaire, Daniel Isenberg, Victoria Song and Shirley Spence

This case deals with supplier difficulties faced by WildChina—a travel service provider in China. WildChina is a classic case of a company that is trying to bring a local, within-country product to a market outside the country (in this case, travelers to China from... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Customer Focus and Relationships; Local Range; Globalized Markets and Industries; Supply Chain Management; Conflict Management; Travel Industry; China

July 2024
Case

Roja Garimella: Developing a Founder's Judgment

By: Reza Satchu and Patrick Sanguineti

Roja Garimella’s path to becoming a founder was anything but straight. Setting her sights on a career in medicine since childhood, she committed to medical school with her acceptance to college. And yet, throughout her studies, she continually explored alternative... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Judgments; Financial Services Industry; Health Industry

April 2020
Case

Ment.io: Knowledge Analytics for Team Decision Making

By: Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Jeffrey T. Polzer, Susie L. Ma and Shlomi Pasternak

Ment.io was a software platform that used proprietary data analytics technology to help organizations make informed and transparent decisions based on team input. Ment was born out of founder Joab Rosenberg’s frustration that, while organizations collected ever... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Information Technology; Knowledge; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Management; Operations; Information Management; Product; Product Development; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Communications Industry; Information Industry; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry; Middle East; Israel

February 2019
Case

Canibal—Play It Green!

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Joseph B. Fuller, Tonia Labruyere and Elena Corsi

In 2011, Canibal launched a machine that could sort and compress aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and cups. Users could play a jackpot-style game on the machine’s digital display, while disposing of their beverage containers and earning coupons or other rewards. The... View Details

Keywords: Sales Growth; Recycling; Start-up; Scaling; Market Selection; Sales; Marketing; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Segmentation; Product Positioning; Technology Industry; France

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Programs & Resources - Entrepreneurship

trusted sources for any company stage on topics ranging from customer acquisition & development to legal issues and startup failure. 25 Apr 2025 Harvard Crimson Twenty25 Ventures To Fund Founders in HBS... View Details

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

September 2023 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Seeds of Innovation: GALY's Quest to Cultivate the Future of Agriculture in the Lab

By: George Serafeim and Michael Norris

In 2023, Luciano Bueno, CEO and founder of plant cell culture agriculture company GALY, was considering the best path forward for his company as he planned to pitch Series B investors. GALY, founded in 2019, aimed to produce cotton and other crops from cells grown in... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Green Technology; Goods and Commodities; Growth and Development Strategy; Science-Based Business; Entrepreneurship; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Business Startups; Decisions; Technological Innovation; Production; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Technology Industry; Boston; Sao Paulo

11 Jun 2024
In Practice

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2024

As the vacation season looms, Harvard Business School faculty members share recommendations for a little light reading. Spoiler alert: Lessons in Chemistry tops two of their beach-read lists. For those whose brains can’t—or won’t—turn off, HBS faculty also suggest some... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

May 2004
Supplement

Slingshot Technology, Inc. Supplement: Partnership Agreements

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth Collins

Slingshot Technology Inc. (STI) is a privately held software start-up founded in 1995 focused on identifying emerging spaces in the IT services industry and partnering with vendors selling promising but unproven technologies in those spaces. The vendors used STI to... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Emerging Markets; Partners and Partnerships; Intellectual Property; Information Technology Industry; Consulting Industry

June 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Zoots - Financing Growth (A)

By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Todd Krasnow

Traces the genesis and founding of Zoots, the largest chain of dry cleaning establishments in the U.S. Founded by some of the founders of the very successful Staples chain, the company raises a very large amount of capital without fully proving its business model, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Financial Strategy; Investment Return; Growth and Development Strategy; Valuation; United States

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Podcast - Business & Environment

Chair, Business & Environment Initiative (LinkedIn) Guest: Bill 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... View Details

June 2018 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Valuing Snap After the IPO Quiet Period (A)

By: Marco Di Maggio, Benjamin C. Esty and Gregory Saldutte

Snap, the disappearing message app, went public at $17 per share on March 2, 2017, making its two 20-something founders the youngest self-made billionaires in the country. Over the next three weeks, 14 analysts made investment recommendations on Snap: two with buy... View Details