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- All HBS Web
(3,914)
- People (5)
- News (1,269)
- Research (1,828)
- Events (13)
- Multimedia (55)
- Faculty Publications (1,522)
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- 11 May 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Coordination Frictions in Venture Capital Syndicates
- July–August 2025
- Article
How to Identify the Perfect Cofounder
By: Julia Austin
One of the first and most important decisions entrepreneurs make is whether to go it alone or bring on cofounders. Many investors favor startups with multiple founders, believing that a team reduces business risk by diversifying skills, sharing responsibilities, and... View Details
Austin, Julia. "How to Identify the Perfect Cofounder." Harvard Business Review 103, no. 4 (July–August 2025): 108–117.
- December 2021 (Revised January 2023)
- Case
Katerra (A)
By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn
In April 2020, Katerra executives struggled with a series of decisions that would determine the fate of one of the best-funded construction startups in history. Katerra was founded in 2015 by technology-industry executive Michael Marks and commercial real estate... View Details
Keywords: Business Startups; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Construction; Real Estate Industry; Technology Industry; United States
Hyde, Lindsay N., Thomas R. Eisenmann, and Tom Quinn. "Katerra (A)." Harvard Business School Case 822-021, December 2021. (Revised January 2023.)
- January 2023
- Case
Proday: Calling the Right Play
By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn
Sarah Kunst knew the elements of a successful startup from her tenure at venture capital firms. In April 2018, however, her own app – Proday, a home fitness platform featuring exercises filmed by professional sports stars – was floundering. Kunst theorized that... View Details
Keywords: Social Media; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Product Launch; Social Marketing; Failure; Sports; Applications and Software; Business Startups; Technology Industry; United States
Hyde, Lindsay N., Thomas R. Eisenmann, and Tom Quinn. "Proday: Calling the Right Play." Harvard Business School Case 823-005, January 2023.
- September 2022
- Article
A Spanner in the Works: Category-Spanning Entrants and Audience Valuation of Incumbents
By: Rory M. McDonald and Ryan T. Allen
Previous work has examined how audiences evaluate category-spanning organizations, but little is known about how their entrance affects evaluations of other, proximate organizations. We posit that the emergence of category-spanning entrants signals the advent of an... View Details
Keywords: Emerging Industries; Industry Dynamics; Organization And Management Theory; Technology Strategy; Technology And Innovation Management; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Strategy; Management; Theory; Innovation and Management
McDonald, Rory M., and Ryan T. Allen. "A Spanner in the Works: Category-Spanning Entrants and Audience Valuation of Incumbents." Strategy Science 7, no. 6 (September 2022): 190–209.
- December 2014 (Revised August 2024)
- Case
HomeAway: Organizing the Vacation Rental Industry
By: Rory McDonald, Feng Zhu and Cheng Gao
In less than 10 years, cofounders Brian Sharples and Carl Shepherd had transformed HomeAway from just another Internet startup into the world's leading vacation-rental marketplace—a global online platform that links customers seeking vacation-home rentals to the... View Details
Keywords: Strategy; Innovation; Technology; Acquisitions; Operations Management; Digital Platforms; Acquisition; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Disruptive Innovation; Disruption; Accommodations Industry
McDonald, Rory, Feng Zhu, and Cheng Gao. "HomeAway: Organizing the Vacation Rental Industry." Harvard Business School Case 615-036, December 2014. (Revised August 2024.)
- March 2022 (Revised February 2023)
- Case
Pakistan Rising: Bazaar's Growth Story (A)
By: Paul A. Gompers and Gamze Yucaoglu
The case opens in September 2021 as Hamza Jawaid and Saad Jangda, co-founders of Bazaar technologies (Bazaar), the Pakistani high growth B2B e-commerce marketplace, are contemplating whether the year-and-a half old startup should also venture into offering financing to... View Details
Keywords: B2B; Business Model; Emerging Markets; For-Profit Firms; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Value Creation; Globalization; Competition; Expansion; Profit; Resource Allocation; Diversification; Corporate Strategy; Pakistan
Gompers, Paul A., and Gamze Yucaoglu. "Pakistan Rising: Bazaar's Growth Story (A)." Harvard Business School Case 822-098, March 2022. (Revised February 2023.)
- June 2019
- Technical Note
Valuing Employee Equity at Early Stage Ventures
By: Shikhar Ghosh, Christopher Stanton and Sanchali Pal
The note introduces a framework to consider factors that influence the value of employee equity at early stage ventures. Valuing equity is complex, and it important to account for expected dilution, assess exit potential, and acknowledge the high rate of failure in... View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Stanton, and Sanchali Pal. "Valuing Employee Equity at Early Stage Ventures." Harvard Business School Technical Note 819-167, June 2019.
- September 2017 (Revised March 2023)
- Case
Careem: Raising a Unicorn
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Alpana Thapar
This case follows two ex-McKinsey consultants, Magnus Olsson and Mudassir Sheikha, who in search of their true purpose decide to found Careem, a Dubai-based ride-hailing service. Following its launch in July 2012, Careem experiences rapid growth of 30% per month in the... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Information Technology; Organizational Culture; Decision Making; Growth Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry; Middle East; North Africa; United Arab Emirates
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Alpana Thapar. "Careem: Raising a Unicorn." Harvard Business School Case 818-022, September 2017. (Revised March 2023.)
- 2010
- Working Paper
Venture Capital Investment in the Clean Energy Sector
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Ramana Nanda
We examine the extent to which venture capital is adequately positioned for the rapid commercialization of clean energy technologies in the United States. While there are several startups in clean energy that are well-suited to the traditional venture capital... View Details
Keywords: Business Startups; Energy Generation; Venture Capital; Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technological Innovation; Competition; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Ramana Nanda. "Venture Capital Investment in the Clean Energy Sector." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 11-020, August 2010.
- September 2004
- Case
Valhalla Partners Due Diligence
By: William A. Sahlman and Dan Heath
The Valhalla Partners venture capitial firm introduced a new approach to the due-diligence process. An internal due-diligence report analyzes Telco Exchange, a startup company in the IT software space. An extended excerpt examines the trade-offs involved in the new... View Details
Keywords: Communication Technology; Risk Management; Venture Capital; Business Plan; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Investment; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Corporate Finance; Financial Services Industry; Telecommunications Industry
Sahlman, William A., and Dan Heath. "Valhalla Partners Due Diligence." Harvard Business School Case 805-033, September 2004.
- 06 Apr 2021
- Cold Call Podcast
Disrupting the Waste Industry with Technology
Keywords: Re: Shai Benjamin Bernstein
- August 2020 (Revised November 2020)
- Case
Gogoro: From Electric Scooter to Energy Platform
By: Tarun Khanna and Billy Chan
The founder of Gogoro had always wanted to revolutionize the energy market from day one since he started the electric scooter business that featured an innovative battery swapping technology. Over the course of five years, he had developed a premium line of electric... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Energy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Taiwan
Khanna, Tarun, and Billy Chan. "Gogoro: From Electric Scooter to Energy Platform." Harvard Business School Case 721-379, August 2020. (Revised November 2020.)
- November 2022
- Supplement
Arcos Dorados’ Quest for the Digitalization of Last-Mile Delivery in Colombia (B)
By: Jorge Tamayo, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Mariana Cal
In 2020, Francisco Staton, president of Arcos Dorados’ Caribbean Division, and Héctor Orozco, Managing Director of Arcos Dorados Colombia, were looking into Arcos Dorados’ options to consolidate its food delivery service in Colombia. This time the matter at hand hinged... View Details
Keywords: Transformation; Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Global Strategy; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation Tactics; Logistics; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Performance Improvement; Partners and Partnerships; Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Latin America; South America; Colombia
Tamayo, Jorge, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago, and Mariana Cal. "Arcos Dorados’ Quest for the Digitalization of Last-Mile Delivery in Colombia (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 723-396, November 2022.
- July 2023 (Revised February 2024)
- Case
Clair
By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Marcos Quirno
Clair was founded with a simple mission: to expedite America’s workers access to their hard-earned wages. In the headwinds of the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup had successfully raised a seed round of $4.5 million, and within two years the earned wage access (EWA)... View Details
- February 2024 (Revised February 2025)
- Case
Financing Matillion's Scaleup (A)
By: Raymond Kluender, Emanuele Colonnelli and Ramana Nanda
In 2019, Matthew Scullion, founder and CEO of U.K. startup Matillion, faced a decision about which term sheet to accept for the lead investor in his company’s $35 million Series C financing round. Would the connections and opportunities offered by Silicon Valley-based... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Negotiation; Ownership; Business Startups; Decisions; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Valuation; Information Technology Industry; United Kingdom
Kluender, Raymond, Emanuele Colonnelli, and Ramana Nanda. "Financing Matillion's Scaleup (A)." Harvard Business School Case 824-140, February 2024. (Revised February 2025.)
- January 2014
- Case
Maricopa, Inc.: Finding the Right Treatment for Growth
The founders of Maricopa, Inc., a startup that sold proprietary hair-care products directly to salons, were preparing a board presentation to address the young company's inability to meet financial projections. While the products had caught on with customers, the... View Details
Keywords: Business Startups; Financial Condition; Venture Capital; Financial Strategy; Financing and Loans; Expansion; Planning; Fashion Industry; Iowa
Sahlman, William A., Thomas R. Eisenmann, Joseph B. Fuller, and Shikhar Ghosh. "Maricopa, Inc.: Finding the Right Treatment for Growth." Harvard Business School Case 314-065, January 2014.
- December 2020
- Case
VIA Science (A)
By: Juan Alcácer, Rembrand Koning, Annelena Lobb and Kerry Herman
Via (a) captures the early days of the data analytics startup as founders Gounden and Ravanis considered which markets offer the right opportunities for their firm and what kinds of experiments will help them narrow their choice. Supplement Via (b) reveals the... View Details
Keywords: Data Analytics; Machine Learning; Artificial Intelligence; Strategy; Business Startups; Markets; AI and Machine Learning; Telecommunications Industry; Utilities Industry; United States; Japan
Alcácer, Juan, Rembrand Koning, Annelena Lobb, and Kerry Herman. "VIA Science (A)." Harvard Business School Case 721-367, December 2020.
- January 2022
- Case
Somatus: Value-Based Kidney Care (A)
By: Ariel D. Stern, Robert S. Huckman and Sarah Mehta
When Dr. Ikenna Okezie founded Somatus, a value-based kidney care provider, his goal had been nothing short of transforming kidney care delivery in the United States. Rather than relying on dialysis, a costly and intensive treatment for late-stage kidney disease, the... View Details
Keywords: Business Startups; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Health Disorders; Medical Specialties; Innovation and Invention; Disruptive Innovation; Management; Strategy; Business Strategy; Value; Value Creation; Health Industry; United States; Virginia
Stern, Ariel D., Robert S. Huckman, and Sarah Mehta. "Somatus: Value-Based Kidney Care (A)." Harvard Business School Case 622-009, January 2022.
- January 2009 (Revised June 2009)
- Case
KenCall - Can Nik Nesbitt's Venture Succeed in Kenya?
Nik Nesbitt is preparing a presentation of his Kenyan contact center startup to a group of angel investors visiting for the first time. The task has given him cause for some soul searching: has it been worth it to battle the impoverished infrastructure and... View Details
Isenberg, Daniel J. "KenCall - Can Nik Nesbitt's Venture Succeed in Kenya?" Harvard Business School Case 809-114, January 2009. (Revised June 2009.)