Publications

2015
Working Paper

Lost in the Clouds: The Impact of Changing Property Rights on Investment in Cloud Computing Ventures

By: Josh Lerner and Greg Rafert

Our analysis seeks to understand the impact of changing allocations of property rights on investment in new firms. We focus on the Cartoon Network, et al. v. Cablevision decision in the U.S., which narrowed the protection enjoyed by content creators (e.g., movie... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Venture Capital; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Copyright

Read Now

14 Jan 2021
News

The Disruptive Voice: Remodeling Venture Capital, with Elliott Parker

01 Jun 2011
Working Paper Summaries

The First Deal: The Division of Founder Equity in New Ventures

Keywords: by Thomas F. Hellmann & Noam Wasserman

March 2015 (Revised September 2016)
Case

Terrapin Laboratory

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Joseph B. Fuller

Describes the formation and rapid growth of a drug testing company. The company needs to decide whether to enter the painkiller testing market, in addition to growing its drug treatment center business. The associated teaching materials provide students the opportunity... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth; Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurship; Growth Strategy; Market Entry; Venture Capital; Growth Management; Expansion; Financing and Loans; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Business Startups; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry

August 2000
Article

Discussion of 'Venture Capital Investment' by Gavin Reid

By: Josh Lerner

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment; Communication

Find at Harvard

01 Jun 2000
News

Social Capital Markets: Creating Value in the Nonprofit World

For years, money given to nonprofits has been thought of as charity, says Jed Emerson, the School's Bloomberg Senior Research Fellow in Philanthropy. But a new perspective is emerging: These dollars, while charitable, are still capital... View Details

Keywords: Anne Kavanagh

23 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

In Venture Capital, Birds of a Feather Lose Money Together

To illustrate the old adage that birds of a feather flock together, there may be no better example than the venture capital industry. A recent study finds that venture... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

19 Jun 2014
News

Life Beyond The Elevator Pitch: Venture Capital's New Formulas

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

06 Oct 2021
News

Pivot for Equity: Lessons from Melinda Gates’ Pivotal Ventures

28 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Six Lessons from Mobile Money Ventures in Developing Countries

one million registered users just a year after launch. Lesson 2: Keep services free Companies should expect to invest significant capital in a mobile money service, since a new service may not become profitable until it reaches a large... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services; Telecommunications

January 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Eaton Corporation: Portfolio Transformation and the Cost of Capital (Abridged)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

In 2000, Eaton Corporation was a broadly diversified industrial conglomerate. But its strategy was evolving and its focus was narrowing around “power management” and more recently on “intelligent power,” the use of digitally enabled products and services designed to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Cost of Capital; Corporate Finance; Value; Valuation; Industrial Products Industry; United States; Denmark; Republic of Ireland

June 2022
Teaching Plan

GreenLight Fund

By: Brian Trelstad and Mel Martin

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 320-053. As Tara Noland, the Executive Director (ED) of GreenLight Cincinnati, reflected on her first few years on the job. Noland had delivered on what she had been hired to do in the city: work with leading philanthropists and nonprofit... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Venture Philanthropy; Replication; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Venture Capital; Social Issues; Decision Making; Cincinnati

January 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Eaton Corporation: Portfolio Transformation and The Cost of Capital (Abridged)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

In 2000, Eaton Corporation was a broadly diversified industrial conglomerate. But its strategy was evolving and its focus was narrowing around “power management” and more recently on “intelligent power,” the use of digitally enabled products and services designed to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Cost of Capital; Corporate Finance; Value; Valuation; Industrial Products Industry; United States; Denmark; Republic of Ireland

28 Sep 2011
Keynote Speech

Capitalism at Risk: Rethinking the Role of Business

By: Lynn S. Paine

Keywords: Economic Systems; Business Ventures

February 2000 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Butler Capital Partners and Autodistribution: Putting Private Equity to Work in France

Describes a proposed buyout transaction of Autodistribution, an entrepreneurial firm that is the leading car-parts distributor in France. The deal became feasible because of a failed takeover battle for Autodistribution's parent company. Private equity investor Butler... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Valuation; Executive Compensation; Entrepreneurship; Distribution Industry; Auto Industry; France

2011
Working Paper

The First Deal: The Division of Founder Equity in New Ventures

By: Thomas F. Hellmann and Noam Wasserman

This paper examines the division of founder shares in entrepreneurial ventures, focusing on the decision of whether or not to divide the shares equally among all founders. To motivate the empirical analysis we develop a simple theory of costly bargaining, where... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Fairness; Equity; Managerial Roles; Negotiation Deal; Ownership Stake; Value