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- All HBS Web
(3,296)
- People (4)
- News (1,046)
- Research (1,641)
- Events (8)
- Multimedia (22)
- Faculty Publications (1,335)
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- February 2017
- Article
The Throne vs. the Kingdom: Founder Control and Value Creation in Startups
By: Noam Wasserman
Does the degree to which founders keep control of their startups affect company value? I argue that founders face a "control dilemma" in which a startup's resource dependence drives a wedge between the startup's value and the founder's ability to retain control of... View Details
Keywords: Founders; Entrepreneurial Management; Value Creation; Governing and Advisory Boards; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups
Wasserman, Noam. "The Throne vs. the Kingdom: Founder Control and Value Creation in Startups." Strategic Management Journal 38, no. 2 (February 2017): 255–277.
- August 2019 (Revised March 2023)
- Case
Rand Fishkin at Moz (A)
In 2016, senior management at Moz, a venture capital–backed startup providing software tools for digital marketing professionals, must decide how to address a looming cash flow crisis precipitated by failed efforts to broaden its product line. Seattle-based Moz had... View Details
Keywords: Startups; Scaling; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Startups; Diversification; Growth Management; Technology Industry
Eisenmann, Thomas R. "Rand Fishkin at Moz (A)." Harvard Business School Case 820-002, August 2019. (Revised March 2023.)
- August 2021
- Case
Mylestone: Can Multiple Pivots Preserve the Life of a Death Tech Startup?
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Marilyn Morgan Westner
Dave Balter and Jim Myers co-founded Mylestone, a death tech startup that applied technology to transform how grieving people memorialize the dead. The startup addressed a cultural problem and promised to solve a pressing need in the antiquated, multi-billion dollar... View Details
Keywords: Pivot; Startup; Business Model; Cryptocurrency; Ethical Decision Making; Emotions; Growth and Development Strategy; Ethics; Market Entry and Exit; Customer Relationship Management; Loss; Change Management; Relationships
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Marilyn Morgan Westner. "Mylestone: Can Multiple Pivots Preserve the Life of a Death Tech Startup?" Harvard Business School Case 822-018, August 2021.
- 07 Sep 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Entrepreneurs (Co-) Working in Close Proximity: Impacts on Technology Adoption and Startup Performance Outcomes
- 07 Jul 2022
- HBS Case
How a Multimillion-Dollar Ice Cream Startup Melted Down (and Bounced Back)
frosting, and lemon-ginger ice cream. When the Brooklyn-based screenwriter first met his future wife and business partner, he wooed her by hosting ice cream socials with homemade concoctions that guests raved about. Flying high on these... View Details
Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds
- 2025
- Book
After the Idea: What It Really Takes to Create and Scale a Startup
By: Julia Austin
A lot of entrepreneurs are great at the idea part but do not anticipate the details required to actually run and scale a new venture. Drawing on my experience at renowned startups like Akamai Technologies, VMware, and DigitalOcean and the hundreds of founders and... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Business Plan; Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management
Austin, Julia. After the Idea: What It Really Takes to Create and Scale a Startup. Basic Venture, 2025.
- 2012
- Book
The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup
By: Noam Wasserman
Often downplayed in the excitement of starting up a new business venture is one of the most important decisions entrepreneurs will face: Should they go it alone or bring in cofounders, hires, and investors to help build the business? More than just financial rewards... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Partners and Partnerships; Social Psychology; Outcome or Result
Wasserman, Noam. The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup. Kauffman Foundation Series on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Princeton University Press, 2012. (Academy of Management award - One of Top Five Business Books of the Year
Independent Publishers Association - Top Business Books of the Year, Entrepreneurship category (Axiom-Silver award))
- April 2015 (Revised March 2017)
- Case
Instacart and the New Wave of Grocery Startups
By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
Instacart is testing an Uber-style solution to the challenge of building a home-delivered grocery business. It is backed by $220 million of venture funding. Will this model succeed where businessses like Webvan failed? What are the questions that this exploratory... View Details
Keywords: Food Retailing; Outsourced Grocery Delivery; Online Ordering; Dynamic Pricing; Data Analytics; Marketing Strategy; Food; Distribution Channels; Business Startups; Food and Beverage Industry; California
Deighton, John, and Leora Kornfeld. "Instacart and the New Wave of Grocery Startups." Harvard Business School Case 515-089, April 2015. (Revised March 2017.)
- 19 Oct 2022
- Op-Ed
Cofounder Courtship: How to Find the Right Mate—for Your Startup
early on—rookie mistakes can set back (or kill) a business before it’s barely out of the gate. Read Khalid Halim’s thoughts on Hypergrowth and the Law of Startup Physics for more on this point. “Unless you... View Details
Keywords: by Julia Austin
- 22 Feb 2022
- Cold Call Podcast
How to Scale a Startup Marketplace for Used Furniture
- April 2019 (Revised February 2020)
- Case
Ripple: The Business of Crypto
By: David B. Yoffie and George Gonzalez
The case explores Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse’s mission to disrupt the global payments industry by leveraging the cryptocurrency XRP. Students will learn about Bitcoin and the blockchain industry, as well as Ripple’s unique crypto business model. The case provides an... View Details
Keywords: Payment Systems; Cryptocurrency; Bitcoin; Blockchain; Fintech; Business Startups; Business Model; Disruption; Strategy; Banking Industry; Technology Industry
Yoffie, David B., and George Gonzalez. "Ripple: The Business of Crypto." Harvard Business School Case 719-506, April 2019. (Revised February 2020.)
- Research Summary
The Servicification of the U.S. Economy: The Role of Startups versus Incumbent Firms
Over the last few decades, the U.S. economy has exhibited a significant shift from manufacturing towards services. This transition has been particularly prominent in an important subcategory of services industries that drives innovation and employs many high-wage... View Details
- 2022
- Chapter
The Servicification of the U.S. Economy: The Role of Startups versus Incumbent Firms
By: Mercedes Delgado, J. Daniel Kim and Karen G. Mills
Over the last few decades, the U.S. economy has exhibited a significant shift from manufacturing towards services. This transition has been particularly prominent in an important subcategory of services industries that drives innovation and employs many high-wage... View Details
Keywords: Servicification; Supply Chain Industries; STEM Labor; Innovation; Growth; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Economic Growth; Policy; Service Industry; United States
Delgado, Mercedes, J. Daniel Kim, and Karen G. Mills. "The Servicification of the U.S. Economy: The Role of Startups versus Incumbent Firms." In The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth, edited by Michael J. Andrews, Aaron Chatterji, Josh Lerner, and Scott Stern. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2022.
- 2024
- Working Paper
Catalysts for Climate Solutions: Corporate Responses to Venture Capital Financing of Climate-tech Startups
By: Shirley Lu, George Serafeim and Simon Xu
We study whether incumbent firms increase their product focus on climate solutions in response to venture capital (VC) financing of climate-tech startups. Using large language models to measure a firm's focus on climate solutions, we find that incumbents in similar... View Details
Keywords: Climate Finance; Climate Change; Technological Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Environmental Sustainability; Business Startups
Lu, Shirley, George Serafeim, and Simon Xu. "Catalysts for Climate Solutions: Corporate Responses to Venture Capital Financing of Climate-tech Startups." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 25-025, November 2024.
- July 2023 (Revised October 2024)
- Case
Revenue Recognition at Stride Funding: Making Sense of Revenues for a Fintech Startup
By: Paul M. Healy and Jung Koo Kang
The case explores the challenges of revenue recognition and financial reporting for Stride Funding (Stride), a fintech startup that has disrupted the student loan market. Stride leveraged proprietary machine learning and financial models to underwrite alternative... View Details
Keywords: Revenue Recognition; Financial Reporting; Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Governance Compliance; Accrual Accounting; Financial Services Industry; United States
Healy, Paul M., and Jung Koo Kang. "Revenue Recognition at Stride Funding: Making Sense of Revenues for a Fintech Startup." Harvard Business School Case 124-015, July 2023. (Revised October 2024.)
- 23 Jun 2021
- Research & Ideas
One More Way the Startup World Hampers Women Entrepreneurs
and the Direction of Startup Innovation. “You’re missing out on information from a huge swath of the population,” says Rembrand Koning, an assistant professor in the Strategy Unit, who wrote the paper along with Sarofim-Rock Professor of... View Details
Keywords: by Michael Blanding
- December 2011 (Revised March 2013)
- Background Note
The Business Development Manager
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Sarah Dillard, Katharine Nevins and Puja Ramani
Describes the role of business development (BD) managers in technology companies, detailing: 1) BD managers' key responsibilities at each step in the process of creating a partnership agreement; 2) how the nature of the BD function evolves as a technology startup... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Partnerships; High Technology Products; Information Technology; Business or Company Management; Partners and Partnerships; Management Skills; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Thomas R. Eisenmann, Sarah Dillard, Katharine Nevins, and Puja Ramani. "The Business Development Manager." Harvard Business School Background Note 812-107, December 2011. (Revised March 2013.)
- August 2011 (Revised September 2011)
- Case
Global Business School Network
By: Christopher Marquis and Rwitwika Bhattacharya
The mission of the Global Business School Network (GBSN) is to strengthen business education for the developing world. The organization was transitioning out of its startup phase and wants to shift its focus from capacity building activities driven by the organization... View Details
Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Strategy; Business Education; Development Economics; Globalization; Global Strategy; Education Industry
Marquis, Christopher, and Rwitwika Bhattacharya. "Global Business School Network." Harvard Business School Case 412-044, August 2011. (Revised September 2011.)
- Research Summary
Competing business models
Building on the literatures on competitive positioning and the theory of industrial organization, my work seeks to tackle previously unaddressed questions by studying situations where firms compete in dissimilar ways. Some examples of these questions include:View Details
- January 2016 (Revised July 2017)
- Case
HourlyNerd
By: Jill Avery and Joseph Fuller
HourlyNerd, a two-sided marketplace platform for matching freelance consultants with small companies looking for help, struggles to define a growth plan for the future. The company, started as a class project in HBS' FIELD 3 course, is assessing three growth paths:... View Details
Keywords: Startup; Lean Startup; Two Sided Markets; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Consulting Industry; United States
Avery, Jill, and Joseph Fuller. "HourlyNerd." Harvard Business School Case 316-134, January 2016. (Revised July 2017.)