Publications

March 2002 (Revised August 2006)
Case

September 11th Fund, The: The Creation

By: Jane Wei-Skillern

Describes the entrepreneurial process through which the September 11th Fund was created, developed, and operated, focusing primarily on the furst seven weeks of the fund. This case details the genesis of the fund as a partnership between the United Way of New York City... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Partners and Partnerships; Social Entrepreneurship; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

August 2001 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Strategic Capital Management, LLC (A)

By: Mark L. Mitchell, Erik Stafford and Todd Pulvino

Strategic Capital Management, LLC, is a hedge fund that is planning to make financial investments in Creative Computers and Ubid. Creative Computers recently sold approximately 20% of its Internet auction subsidiary, Ubid, to the public at $15 per share. Ubid's stock... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Subsidiaries; Internet and the Web; Investment Funds; Price; Performance Efficiency; Capital Markets; Auctions; Investment Return; Equity; Planning; Financial Services Industry

15 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How Does a Social Startup Decide to Commercialize? It May Depend on the Founder's Gender

their quest for revenue generation. It can also be risky and difficult to finance a hybrid: Venture capitalists may be turned off by the idea of funding an organization preoccupied with its social mission,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

14 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

The Big Money for Big Projects

of these textbooks discuss initial public offerings (IPOs), leasing, and venture capital for an average of 15, 10, and 4 pages each, respectively. This limited coverage is unfortunate from a research perspective given the potential for... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

March 2013 (Revised July 2014)
Supplement

Bay Partners (B)

By: Josh Lerner and Lauren Barley

In December 2012, Salil Deshpande has rejoined Bay Partners (Bay), which had been restructured following the 2010 departures of three of its general partners. Life was good for Deshpande: his firm had distributed roughly $1 billion to its limited partners (LPs) over... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment Funds; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry

20 Mar 2025
Blog Post

Scaling Climate Tech Innovation with Lee Scott (MBA 2023)

Ideally, these companies can fund their projects with project finance since that has a lower cost of capital than venture dollars. However, infrastructure investors typically prefer established technologies... View Details

February 2024
Case

Nuwa Capital: Investing During Uncertainty

By: Paul A. Gompers and Fares Khrais

Nuwa Capital (Nuwa) was a venture capital firm based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. The business was founded in 2020 by Khaled Talhouni and his partners Sarah Abu Risheh, and Stephanie Nour Prince (they were later joined by Nitin Reen... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Decisions; Middle East; Saudi Arabia; United Arab Emirates; Dubai; Bahrain

07 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

XTV: Xerox’s Attempted Recovery From “Fumbling the Future”

Chesbrough XTV was given $30 million to manage. It was set up formally as a corporate division within Xerox, but Adams negotiated special terms that mimicked many aspects of independent venture capital firms. Eighty percent of the gains... View Details

Keywords: by Henry Chesbrough

June 2006 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Teena Lerner: Dividing the Pie at Rx Capital (A)

By: Boris Groysberg, Victoria Winston and Robin Abrahams

Teena Lerner started her own hedge fund firm in 2001 after nearly 20 years as a star biotechnology analyst and hedge fund manager. After the start-up phase, her firm became highly profitable. In 2004, however, one of her four analysts lost a lot of money for the firm.... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Investment Funds; Performance; Business Startups; Compensation and Benefits; Corporate Finance; Financial Services Industry

02 Apr 2018
Research & Ideas

Is 'Gut Feel' a Good Reason to Invest in a Startup?

overly risky.” Unlike most situations where making an important decision based on gut feel is seen as a negative, venture capitalists and angel investors often brag about the wisdom of their midsections. “They have a lot of pride in how... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

12 Jan 2016
First Look

January 12, 2016

the funding cutoff and find that these angel investors have a positive impact on the growth, performance, and survival of firms as well as their follow-on fundraising. The positive impact of angel financing is independent of the level of... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

21 Nov 2006
First Look

First Look: November 21, 2006

first time entrepreneurs and those who have previously failed. Funding by more experienced venture capital firms enhances the chance of success, but only for entrepreneurs without a successful track record.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2022 (Revised November 2022)
Case

Fondeadora

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui and Mitchell Weiss

Norman Müller and René Serrano, cofounders of Fondeadora, a Mexican “neobank,” had lined up a $12.5 million in Series A funding round in 2020 only to run into a major obstacle: The lead investor was Gradient Ventures, a venture firm launched by Alphabet, Inc., and... View Details

Keywords: Fundraising; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Financial Institutions; Business Startups; Government Legislation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Mexico City; Latin America

January 2007
Exercise

Multifactor Models

By: Malcolm P. Baker

Students evaluate the performance of four mutual funds and compute the cost of capital for two companies using fixed benchmarks, the CAPM, and a multifactor model of returns. View Details

Keywords: Cost of Capital; Performance Evaluation; Business Model; Investment Funds; Investment Return; Motivation and Incentives; Markets

July–August 2013
Article

Six Ways to Sink a Growth Initiative

By: Donald L. Laurie and J. Bruce Harreld

The conventional wisdom about how best to pursue growth—launch a slew of initiatives in high-potential areas; appoint some promising young managers to lead them; locate them safely away from the established businesses—is a recipe for failure, according to the authors.... View Details

Keywords: Failure; Growth and Development Strategy

Find at Harvard

January 2019
Case

First Aid Beauty

By: Karen Mills and Annie Dang

In 2008, Lilli Gordon, an experienced financial and skincare entrepreneur, founded First Aid Beauty (FAB). She had discovered a white space in the prestige beauty market: high-end skin solutions that were suitable for sensitive skin. After initial success through... View Details

Keywords: Prestige Beauty; Skincare; Preferred Shares; Common Stock; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Decision Choices and Conditions; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

April 2000
Case

Francisco Partners

By: Josh Lerner and David L. Gallo

Francisco Partners (which focuses on buyouts of high-technology firms) aims to be the largest first-time fund ever raised. The rationales for the fund, fundraising strategy, and partnership terms and conditions are among the topics explored. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Venture Capital; Financial Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Strategy; Investment Funds; Financial Services Industry