Publications

April 1998
Case

Venture Capital in Ireland: Getting Their ACT Together

By: Paul A. Gompers and Catherine M. Conneely

Analyzes the decisions of Niall Carroll, an Irish banker, to start a venture capital fund focused on Ireland. The context of the Irish markets and the nature of Irish opportunities are explored. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Financial Services Industry; Republic of Ireland

October 2022
Supplement

Framebridge (B): A New Approach

By: Rembrand Koning and Alicia Dadlani

In 2022, after revamping operations and expanding retail stores, Framebridge founder and CEO Susan Tynan is optimistic for the future but realizes changing market dynamics. New competitors are entering the market, and margin pressures remained. This case is part two of... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Operations; Market Entry and Exit; Consumer Products Industry; United States; District of Columbia; Kentucky

January 2023
Case

Kavnia Coffee

By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Kumba Sennaar, Sarah Mehta and Jiyoon Han

Case on a coffee hardware startup where a series of experiments and pivots led founder to conclude that the venture was no longer viable. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Operations; Business Startups; Failure; Business Exit or Shutdown; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

11 May 2021
Blog Post

IPO or M&A? How Venture Capital Shapes a Startup's Future

company to a larger one. In contrast, startups funded by a VC syndicate with less familiar co-investors are most likely to exit through a potentially splashy IPO that could let founders retain more control, says Harvard View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital / Private Equity

January 1992
Teaching Note

Gulf Oil Corporation-Takeover TN

By: Richard S. Ruback

Teaching Note for (9-285-053). View Details

Keywords: Privatization; Business Exit or Shutdown; Bids and Bidding; Natural Environment; Energy Industry

Web

Global Entrepreneurship - Course Catalog

availability and access to talent, financing sources, legal and regulatory environments, local culture, and exit markets. Career Focus: Global Entrepreneurship (GV) is a course for a variety of students. First, individuals potentially... View Details

April 2025
Case

Sharon Goldberg and BastionZero

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, James Barnett and Maxim Pike Harrell

In December 2023, BastionZero co-founder and CEO Sharon Goldberg considered her startup’s future. Established in 2017 as a blockchain company focused on improving the security of cryptocurrency trading, in March 2020 the VC-backed startup shifted focus to a new... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurial Finance; Technological Innovation; Business Strategy; Business Exit or Shutdown

Alumni WDYDWYD

Athena Ko

When I was younger I was told I could do anything and have everything if I put my mind to it. So in the first thirty-odd years I went to Oxford, Harvard, had a good investment banking career, successfully exited a start up in 2006, and... View Details

June 30, 2023
Article

How to Save a Stumbling Startup

By: Ranjay Gulati

Keywords: Business Startups; Small Business; Outcome or Result; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Exit or Shutdown

Read Now

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

07 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 7

relative inflation-indexed bond issuance generate return predictability. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=40097 Cases & Course Materials Harvard Business School Case 113-058 Investindustrial View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

01 Dec 2020
News

The Camel and the Unicorn

an integral part of Silicon Valley culture, we first need to understand how Silicon Valley came to be. Nancy Koehn: My name is Nancy Koehn. I'm a historian at the Harvard Business School where I hold the James E. Robison Chair of View Details

April 1989 (Revised March 1993)
Case

ProTech, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Piper

A company is considering the elimination of a product line. As part of that consideration, it must develop possible strategies for closing the division, and identify the economic and non-economic implications of the strategy. The situation is complicated by the... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Decision Making; Business Exit or Shutdown; Equity; Problems and Challenges

01 Mar 2005
News

Venture Capital’s Comeback

$18.9 billion in 2003, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. From Boston to Silicon Valley, top firms are competing for deals again. And the initial public offering market — the favored exit for venture-capital investors — rallied last... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

January 1995 (Revised June 1997)
Case

Walt Disney Company, 1994: A Tumultuous Year

By: David J. Collis and Elizabeth Wynne Johnson

Focuses on a six-month period in 1994, during which the company experienced a series of dramatic upheavals. The events described include: 1) the sudden death of company president Frank Wells; 2) a health crisis facing Chairman Michael Eisner; 3) the "departure" of... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Startups; Resignation and Termination; Crisis Management; United States

Rob (MBA 1991) has founded or co-founded six companies, with combined exits totaling more than $2.25 billion. He is an Executive in Residence at General Catalyst Partners where he principally invests in technology companies that work with... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital;#1;#Advertising;#16;#Consumer Products & Packaged Goods

December 2010 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Triple Point Technology

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

The founding CEO of Triple Point Technology, Peter Armstrong, was considering the sale of the company. The company specialized in providing its clients with software used for transaction processing and risk management in various commodity markets. Triple Point... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Private Equity; Financial Management; Negotiation Offer; Sales; Valuation

December 1986 (Revised November 1989)
Case

Hewlett-Packard: Manufacturing Productivity Division (A)

By: Benson P. Shapiro and Lawrence B. Levine

In late summer 1986, the management of the Manufacturing Productivity Division (MPD) of Hewlett-Packard (HP) was in the process of making major market selection and product policy decisions. MPD is a small division which develops and markets manufacturing productivity... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Marketing; Product Marketing; Market Entry and Exit; Production; Research and Development; Manufacturing Industry

September 1994
Supplement

Otis Elevator Company: China Joint Venture (E-2)

By: Michael Y. Yoshino

Describes what happened and presents the perspectives of the three executives who played key roles in the process. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Globalization; Global Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; China