Publications

2006
Working Paper

Democratizing Entry: Banking Deregulations, Financing Constraints, and Entrepreneurship

By: William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda

We examine entrepreneurship and creative destruction following US banking deregulations using Census Bureau data. US banking reforms brought about exceptional growth in both entrepreneurship and business closures. The vast majority of closures, however, were the new... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Market Entry and Exit; Capital Markets; Entrepreneurship; Outcome or Result; Business Startups; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; United States

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January 2023
Case

Proday: Calling the Right Play

By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn

Sarah Kunst knew the elements of a successful startup from her tenure at venture capital firms. In April 2018, however, her own app – Proday, a home fitness platform featuring exercises filmed by professional sports stars – was floundering. Kunst theorized that... View Details

Keywords: Social Media; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Product Launch; Social Marketing; Failure; Sports; Applications and Software; Business Startups; Technology Industry; United States

June 2018 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Valuing Snap After the IPO Quiet Period (A)

By: Marco Di Maggio, Benjamin C. Esty and Gregory Saldutte

Snap, the disappearing message app, went public at $17 per share on March 2, 2017, making its two 20-something founders the youngest self-made billionaires in the country. Over the next three weeks, 14 analysts made investment recommendations on Snap: two with buy... View Details

05 Aug 2021
Blog Post

Closing the Education Gap with Kei Takatsuka (MBA 2022)

and venture capital ecosystems to determine which path to pressure test over the summer. To do that, Takatsuka took advantage of CPD events on how to craft your career vision which helped her better... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Venture Capital; Venture Capital

2003
Chapter

Equity Financing

By: Paul Gompers and Joshua Lerner

Equity financing for entrepreneurial firms has attracted increasing attention in both the popular press and academic literature. The dramatic growth in the venture capital industry in the past two decades has been accompanied by new academic research that explores... View Details

Keywords: Angel Investors; Financing and Loans; Equity; Venture Capital; Business Startups

March 2025
Case

Silicon Valley Bank: Gone in 36 Hours

By: Jung Koo Kang, Krishna G. Palepu, Charles C.Y. Wang and David Lane

This case examines factors contributing to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in March 2023, an event as unpredicted as it was quick. SVB funded nearly half of all U.S. venture-backed startups and at the end of 2022 held $173 billion in deposits, largely... View Details

Dante Roscini holds the Professor of Management Practice Chair endowed by the MBA Class of 1952 at Harvard Business School. He joined the faculty in 2008 after a two-decades-long career in finance. He currently teaches the course Business, Government, and the... View Details

14 Feb 2018
Blog Post

Meet HBS Leadership Fellows: Verdell Walker, Sesame Workshop

the strategic planning and venture capital team. I also support the work of the International Social Impact group, which produces early education content through mass media and targeted initiatives to... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

20 Feb 2020
Blog Post

Black Visionary Leadership and Redefining What's Possible

(DEI) and I’m the co-president of AASU. After we graduate, we’re going to work in those spaces in finance and tech—I’m going into Venture Capital (VC) at Goldman Sachs, and Tyler is heading to Facebook. The... View Details

August 2010 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Urban Water Partners (A)

By: Karthik Ramanna, George Serafeim and Aldo Sesia

The case explores a new business venture to bring clean water to residents of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, who otherwise cannot afford it. Management has enough money to get the company through August 2010 but needs more capital thereafter. An HBS alumnus is interested in... View Details

Keywords: Accrual Accounting; Financial Statements; Business Startups; Social Entrepreneurship; Investment; Performance Evaluation; Dar es Salaam; Massachusetts

January 2014
Technical Note

A Note on Funding Digital Innovation Startups

By: Karim Lakhani, Michael Norris and Andrew Otazo

This note provides information on the state of startup financing in Silicon Valley in 2013. It details different avenues startups have to raise funding, including venture capital, corporate venture capital, angel investors, incubators, and crowdfunding. View Details

Keywords: Startup; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Angel Investors; Accelerator; Crowdfunding; Silicon Valley; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; California

30 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

COVID Not Slowing VC Investment

the end of the year. Venture funding in a socially distanced world Discouraged entrepreneurs shouldn’t put away their pitch decks yet. For one thing, funding commitments are still outpacing those of past periods of economic distress, the... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Financial Services; Banking

2024
Working Paper

Priors, Experiments, Learning and Persuasion in (Bayesian) Entrepreneurial Finance

By: Ramana Nanda

At the heart of entrepreneurial finance lies a persuasion challenge: regardless of the strength of an entrepreneur’s belief in the potential of their idea, they typically need to convince investors to provide the financial capital required for its... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Communication Intention and Meaning; Prejudice and Bias

SSRN

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Myra Hart's research focus is high potential entrepreneurship. She has taught MBA and executive programs, co-chaired the entrepreneurship unit, and led several HBS initiatives. As a founding memberView Details

Keywords: consumer products; e-commerce industry; education industry; real estate; retailing

01 May 2013
News

How to Negotiate with VCs

22 Jun 2018
News

Harvard Business School Welcomes Dwyane Wade As Executive Fellow

11 Jan 2021
Research & Ideas

Is A/B Testing Effective? Evidence from 35,000 Startups

Startups that use A/B testing scale more quickly, launch more products, and attract more venture capital, according to recent research. But not all startups enjoy these benefits. Early-stage startups using experimentation strategies... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

18 Sep 2014
News

Entrepreneurs anonymous

August 2021
Supplement

Andreessen Horowitz’s Cultural Leadership Fund (B): Kevin Hart and Clubhouse

By: Anita Elberse, Briana Richardson and Cydni Williams

In May 2020, Andreessen Horowitz secures an agreement with Clubhouse, one of Silicon Valley’s hottest startups, to lead its ‘Series A’ funding round. One of the factors that insiders saw as pivotal in the race to be Clubhouse’s VC firm of choice was Andreessen... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Talent Management; General Management; Inclusion; Talent and Talent Management; Diversity; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Networks; Nonprofit Organizations