Publications

December 1998 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Knot, The

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Matthew C. Lieb

An online wedding resource company is seeking an equity investment to grow the business. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Venture Capital; Value Creation; Internet and the Web; Finance; Expansion; Strategic Planning; Service Industry; Consulting Industry

March 1998 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Beta Golf

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Laurence E. Katz

The Beta Group is a technology incubator in Menlo Park, CA that has successfully built a portfolio of businesses in the medical, consumer products, and industrial technology sectors by systematically matching proprietary technologies to unmet market needs. Beta has... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Investment; Financial Strategy; Information Technology; Commercialization

January 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Chemdex.com

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Laurence E. Katz

An Internet start-up company is developing an online marketplace for specialty chemicals and reagents. David Perry has been named a runner-up in the 1st annual HBS Business Plan contest and now faces seed-stage financing questions--how much money to raise, at what... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Internet and the Web; Chemicals; Business Startups; Capital; Chemical Industry

November 1989 (Revised November 2002)
Case

American Dream, The

By: Donald A. Brown, William J. Poorvu and Richard E Crum

Explores the process of purchasing a single family house through the eyes of a young couple. The couple is trying to determine what type of home to buy as well as how to finance it. View Details

Keywords: Personal Finance; Financing and Loans; Decisions; Real Estate Industry

05 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 5

case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/709469-PDF-ENG Gilt Groupe Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman, and Tamara ObradovHarvard Business School Case 811-049 The case explores decisions faced by Gilt... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 6

http://hbr.org/2012/03/enriching-the-ecosystem/ar/1 Reviving Entrepreneurship Authors:Josh Lerner and William Sahlman Publication:Harvard Business Review 90, no. 3 (March 2012) Abstract New enterprises don't... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 4, 2008

and largely unregulated securities market was William Duer, who ultimately became a major player on the Street. As it turned out, however, Duer's financial dealings proved unsustainable, and his financial collapse helped to bring the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

27 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 27

it and demonstrates why the easy short-term choice is often the most perilous in the long-term. The Founder's Dilemmas draws on the inside stories of founders like Evan Williams of Twitter and Tim Westergren of Pandora, while mining... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

May 2016
Case

BionX

By: William A. Sahlman, Robert F. White, Ruth Page and Hunter Ashmore

13 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 13

PublicationsHigher Ambition: How Great Leaders Create Economic and Social Value Authors:Michael Beer, Russel A. Eisenstat, Nathaniel Foote, Tobias Fredberg, and Flemming Norrgren Publication:Harvard Business Press, 2011 Abstract... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 29

Authors:Michael C. Jensen and William H. Meckling Abstract This paper discusses five common divisional performance measurement methods—cost centers, revenue centers, profit centers, investment centers, and expense centers—while providing... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

23 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 23

http://hbr.org/product/handbook-of-leadership-theory-and-practice/an/12326-HBK-ENG Leadership and History Author:Walter A. Friedman Publication:Chap. 11 in Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice, edited by Nitin Nohria and Rakesh... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

20 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 20

equilibria that give lower utility to the users; and reduce the severity of the coordination problem faced by users. Download the paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1677624 Preparatory Power Posing Affects Performance and Outcomes in Social Evaluations Authors:Amy J.C.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 27

Intervention Method, Empirical Evidence, and Theory Author:Michael Beer Publication:In Research in Organizational Change and Development. Vol. 19, edited by Richard Woodman, William Pasmore, and Abraham B. (Rami) Shani, Emerald Group... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2005 (Revised July 2006)
Case

fortu PowerCell GmbH

By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman, Vincent Dessain, Monika Stachowiak and Anders Sjoman

Describes the financing, strategy, and growth decisions facing fortu, a young German battery company. The company is contemplating a facility in East Germany, where state subsidies make the finances appealing. A sudden offer to license fortu technology for application... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Financing and Loans; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Battery Industry; Germany