Publications

Reza R. Satchu

Reza Satchu is a Senior Lecturer in... View Details

March 2017 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Corey Thomas and the IPO

By: Steven Rogers and Derrick Collins

Corey Thomas, the African American CEO of the company Rapid7, must decide if it is the right time to take the 15-year-old company public, as it stood poised to capitalize on what appeared to be the next frontier for digital technology markets—cybersecurity. In spite of... View Details

Keywords: Business Finance; Capital Markets; Private Equity; Internet and the Web; Initial Public Offering; Decision Making; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; Web Services Industry; United States

November 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Merchant Card Services, Inc. (A)

By: Constance E. Bagley and David Lane

Explores the interaction between a venture capital firm that negotiates a good deal for itself and the portfolio company that seeks to extricate itself from its obligations. Exemplifies the potential conflicts between the fiduciary duty of board members and the... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Deal; Legal Liability; Conflict and Resolution; Financial Services Industry

24 Jun 2020
News

Why Are Black and Latino People Still Kept Out of the Tech Industry?

20 Jul 2017
News

The Looming Threat That Could Decimate Wall Street's Fund Managers

February 2007 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Punjab and Kerala: Regional Development in India

By: Lakshmi Iyer

Between 2000 and 2004, India's economy grew by 6.35%. Focuses on the states of Punjab and Kerala, which emphasized sharply different development strategies. The states had to decide whether to focus their investment efforts on physical capital or improving social... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Capital; Investment; Policy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Social Issues; Kerala; Punjab

October 2020
Supplement

TowerBrook: ESG in Action (B)

By: Victoria Ivashina, Brian Trelstad and Meaghan Conway

This case is the second of a two-part series that follows Ramez Sousou and his team at TowerBrook Capital Partners as they face a challenging investment decision in February of 2013. It is intended to be distributed at the end of the discussion of “TowerBrook: ESG in... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Finance; Private Equity; Corporate Governance; Value Creation

Research Summary

Entrepreneurial Finance

By: William A. Sahlman

William A. Sahlman is examining the investment and financing decisions made at all stages in the development of entrepreneurial ventures. Related lines of inquiry concern the role of financial institutions in providing risk capital, and the role of government policy in... View Details

August 2022
Case

Meaningful Gigs

By: Brian Trelstad and Rachel Philbin

In October 2020, just a year after founding their company Meaningful Gigs, founders Ronnie Kwesi Coleman and Stephanie Nachemja-Burton prepared for a vital investment meeting with Rethink Education. They had already reached $400,000 in annually recurring revenue (ARR)... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Revenue; Education Industry; Technology Industry; Africa; United States

John D. Dionne

John D. Dionne has been a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School since 2014 and is a recently retired Senior Managing Director and Senior Advisor to Blackstone. He is also Managing Partner of Franconia Capital, a... View Details

Joseph Pacelli

Joseph Pacelli is the Gerald Schuster Associate Professor of Business Administration in the Accounting and Management Unit. He currently teaches Business Analysis and Valuation (BAV) in the MBA elective curriculum.

Professor Pacelli’s research covers topics... View Details

14 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 14, 2010

http://www.people.hbs.edu/ffoley/IPRImit.pdf Venture Capital Investment in the Clean Energy Sector Authors:Shikhar Ghosh and Ramana Nanda Publication:In America's Energy Innovation Problem Abstract We... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2021
Article

Private and Social Returns to R&D: Drug Development and Demographics

By: Efraim Benmelech, Janice Eberly, Dimitris Papanikolaou and Joshua Krieger

Investment in intangible capital such as R&D has increased dramatically since the 1990s. However, productivity growth remains sluggish in recent years. One potential reason is that a significant share of the increase in intangible investment is geared toward consumer... View Details

Keywords: Drug Development; Research and Development; Investment Return; Demographics; Pharmaceutical Industry

22 Oct 2014
Video

Social Impact Investing: Alumni Initiatives

January 2016 (Revised November 2019)
Case

Blackstone at Age 30

By: Josh Lerner, John D. Dionne and Amram Migdal

Since its IPO in 2007 and following the global financial crisis, Blackstone largely outpaced its alternative investment firm peers in assets under management, new business launches, profitability, and market capitalization. Under the leadership of Stephen A.... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Asset Management; Private Equity; Financial Services Industry; New York (city, NY)

September 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Teaching Note

Gemini Investors

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

Teaching Note for HBS No. 211-066. Gemini Investors was a private equity firm that targeted equity investments of between $4 million to $6 million per firm. In the period from 2000 to 2015, Gemini had successfully deployed four funds, all licensed as Small Business... View Details

Keywords: Small ＆ Medium-sized Enterprises; Small Business; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Decision Making; Financial Services Industry; United States

24 Aug 2012
News

Something for the weekend

February 2003
Article

Which Ties Matter When? The Contingent Effects of Interorganizational Partnerships on IPO Success

By: Ranjay Gulati and M. Higgins

This paper investigates the contingent value of interorganizational relationships at the time of a young firm's initial public offering (IPO). We compare the signaling value to young firms of having ties with two types of interorganizational partnerships: endorsement... View Details

Keywords: Interorganizatonal Relationships; Networks; Venture Capital; Initial Public Offering; Entrepreneurship; Biotechnology Industry

June 2009
Journal Article

Taxes, Institutions and Foreign Diversification Opportunities

By: Mihir Desai and Dhammika Dharmapala

Investors can access foreign diversification opportunities through either foreign portfolio investment (FPI) or foreign direct investment (FDI). The worldwide tax regime employed by the U.S. potentially distorts this choice by penalizing FDI, relative to FPI, in... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Foreign Direct Investment; Investment Portfolio; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Diversification; United States

SSRN