Publications

August 2024 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Mercado Bitcoin: M&A, IPO, or Series B?

By: Raymond Kluender, Emanuele Colonnelli, Sabrina T. Howell and Karina Souza

In April 2021, Brazilian cryptocurrency platform Mercado Bitcoin had to decide how to scale: go public, M&A with a bank, or take a VC big check. In a highly volatile market, Roberto Dagnoni, chairman of the board, viewed the unprecedent crypto momentum as a window of... View Details

January 2018 (Revised February 2025)
Teaching Note

Collage.com: Scaling a Distributed Organization

By: Christopher Stanton and Shikhar Ghosh

Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-038. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Employees; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy

August 2009 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Calera Corporation

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Thomas J. Steenburgh and Lauren Barley

Brent Constantz, founder, CEO, and president of Calera Corporation, felt a surge of optimism as he gazed at the recently commissioned prototype flue gas processing line at Calera's R&D facility in Moss Landing, California. It was late May 2009, and Calera was an... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Product Design; Product Development; Environmental Sustainability; Commercialization; Green Technology Industry

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December 1996 (Revised June 1998)
Case

Midnight Networks, Inc.

By: H. Kent Bowen and Marilyn Matis

Midnight Networks, Inc., is a small computer network validation company. This case describes how the five founders built their business from operations earnings and how they established "best practices" operational processes to run their firm successfully. Operational... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Operations; Organizational Culture; Applications and Software; Business Startups; Business Growth and Maturation; Information Technology Industry; Massachusetts

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; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

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June 2018
Teaching Note

Meridian Systems (Brief Case)

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Michael J. Roberts

Teaching Note for HBS No. 918-533. The key issues discussed in the Meridian teaching note concern sales force deployment: decisions about how to focus sales efforts with respect to territories, customers, and products. The teaching note explains the strengths and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Sales; Strategy; Salesforce Management; Organizational Structure; Technological Innovation; Marketing Strategy

24 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 24

and proactivity. Download the paper: http://www.francescagino.com/uploads/4/7/4/7/4747506/grantginohofmann_amj_2011.pdf Working PapersFinancing Risk and Bubbles of Innovation Authors:Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf Abstract : Investors in risky View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2000
Case

CellFor, Inc.

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop, Frantz Edward Alphonse and Laure Mougeot Stroock

A new private company has developed a process to clone and multiply seeds for the forestry industry. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Transition; Technological Innovation; Private Ownership; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Technology Adoption; Forestry Industry

May 1999 (Revised September 2003)
Case

Advanced Inhalation Research, Inc.

This case presents a look at the early start-up phase and development of Advanced Inhalation Research (AIR), a company engaged in the development of a new drug-delivery technology. Focuses on the risks, the steps taken to manage it, and the manner in which the company... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Risk Management; Valuation; Financing and Loans; Health Care and Treatment; Acquisition; Business Startups; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

February 2000 (Revised May 2001)
Case

BET.com

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Pauline M Fischer

Black Entertainment Television, a leading cable programmer, is launching BET.com, an Internet portal targeted toward African-Americans. This case examines the challenges facing BET management as it defines its service offerings and target customer segments in a... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Ethnicity; Internet and the Web; Age; Race; Decision Choices and Conditions; Business Startups; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

05 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 5, 2009

Authors:Ryan W. Buell, Dennis Campbell, and Frances X. Frei Publication:Production and Operations Management (forthcoming) Abstract This paper investigates the impact of self-service technology (SST) usage on customer satisfaction and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

05 Dec 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, December 5, 2017

R&D Failures By: Krieger, Joshua Lev Abstract— I analyze project continuation decisions where firms may resolve uncertainty through news about competitors' failures as well as through their own results. I examine the trade-offs and interactions between... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2019
Case

Afterpay U.S.: The Omnichannel Dilemma

By: Antonio Moreno, Donald Ngwe and George Gonzalez

In 2018, Nick Molnar, the founder of the Australia-based online payment service Afterpay began its expansion to the U.S. market. The service had gained a loyal following in Australia by enabling customers to pay for online purchases through four interest-free... View Details

09 Dec 2014
First Look

First Look: December 9

as a major threat for startups and small companies; big companies have more financial resources and greater scale, market power, and brand awareness than small ones. However, our research finds that a smaller brand can actually benefit if... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2018 (Revised October 2018)
Teaching Note

Valuing Snap After the IPO Quiet Period (A), (B), and (C)

By: Marco Di Maggio and Benjamin C. Esty

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 218-095, 218-096, and 218-116. View Details