Publications

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September 2016 (Revised March 2021)
Case

DBL Partners: Double Bottom Line Venture Capital

By: Shawn Cole, Mark Kramer, Tony L. He, Anshul Maudar and T. Robert Zochowski

This case explores the origins and current practices of DBL, a San Francisco–based venture capital fund and one of the first impact investment funds to achieve significant financial returns to scale. This case allows for a competitive analysis of DBL's investment... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Tanzania

16 Jul 2019
News

The Making of a Movement

she was cancer-free. While the Linns were relieved to win their battle, they could not shake their concern for other people who were in the midst of their own struggles with rare cancers, as there was an alarming shortage View Details

Keywords: Greg Forbes Siegman; cancer

01 Dec 2014
News

The Far-Reaching Impact of Fellowships

half of these voices might never have the chance to be heard at HBS. Some 600 fellowships established by donors—in addition to gifts of all sizes made to the HBS Fund for... View Details

Keywords: fellowships

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Where Main Street Meets Wall Street

years, the mutual fund would shake up established norms of wealth creation and distribution in the United States. Indeed, it would help reshape America by uniting Wall Street and Main Street, two disparate... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Financial Services

Ratan Naval Tata

Keywords: Diversified

April 2020 (Revised August 2020)
Case

WeWork—November 2018

By: Paul A. Gompers, Patrick Sweeney and Alex Gachanja

In May 2017, SoftBank announced the official launch of the Vision Fund — which promptly became the largest technology-focused investment fund in the world, with nearly $100 billion in capital under its management. Reports from a few months prior hinted that SoftBank... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Valuation; Corporate Governance

08 May 2023
Research & Ideas

How Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Crushed Crowdfunding for Minority Entrepreneurs

but that gap triples during periods of high public anxiety over immigration in the United States. “When there is the greatest anxiety, we see this funding shortfall.” Banks have historically rejected loan... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

2025
Working Paper

Too Much, Too Soon? Early Funding, Technological Unconventionality, and Innovation Capabilities

By: Harsh Ketkar and Maria Roche

The availability of financial resources significantly shapes firm innovation outcomes, especially for early-stage, innovation-focused technology firms. However, prior research has provided conflicting findings about this relationship: On the one hand, resource... View Details

Keywords: Startups; Technology Strategy; Novelty; Unconventionality; Resource Constraints; Early Stage Firms; Business Startups; Technological Innovation; Entrepreneurial Finance

SSRN

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01 Mar 2008
News

Class of 2007 Fellowship Awarded

percent of the class, the MBA Class of 2007 set a participation record for a graduating class. The class raised almost $55,000, including a $25,000 matching gift from HBS Fund... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

13 Mar 2023
Blog Post

Career Journey: Karan Khimji, Co-Founder of 44.01

worked in consulting between Dubai and Paris where I helped utilities and infrastructure funds on their energy transition. I got to experience the evolution of Europe towards clean energy. After a few years,... View Details

01 Dec 2004
News

The Future of Stem Cells

River.) In August 2001, President George W. Bush (MBA ’75) announced a ban on federal funding for research on any human embryonic stem-cell lines created after that date. The decision reflected opposition to the use and destruction View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons

21 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

The Geography of Corporate Giving

Academy of Management Review, HBS professor Christopher Marquis and coauthors Gerald Davis and Mary Ann Glynn develop a framework for understanding an important aspect of this issue: how social and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

25 Jul 2013
News

An Engine of Education Innovation

Stig Leschly Photo credit goes here The first time Stig Leschly (MBA 1997 / JD 1998) really sat down to think about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, he decided to pursue his love of music. He... View Details

Keywords: Elementary and Secondary Schools; Educational Services

2017
Report

The American Angel: The First In-Depth Report on the Demographics and Investing Activity of Individual American Angel Investors

By: Laura Huang, Andy Wu, Min Ju Lee, Jiayi Bao, Marianne Hudson and Elaine Bolle

Early-stage financing from angel investors is critical to the success of high-growth startups. Recent estimates suggest that annual US angel investment activity may total as much as $24 billion each year, contributing to the growth and success of more than 64,000... View Details

Keywords: Angel Investors; Geography; Risk; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Demographics; Geographic Location; Decision Making; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; United States

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01 Jul 2015
News

Mall Operators Begin Cultivating Startups

February 2020 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Prime Coalition: Catalytic Capital for Climate Innovation

By: Ramana Nanda, Benjamin N. Roth and Olivia Hull

With long development timelines and high risk, new energy technologies were often left to languish in the “valley of death,” unable to raise enough funds to bring a product to market. In 2014, Sarah Kearney founded the nonprofit Prime Coalition to solve this problem.... View Details

Keywords: Energy Conservation; Renewable Energy; Social Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Mission and Purpose; Science-Based Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Enterprise; Energy Industry; Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States

14 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

The Hard Work of Measuring Social Impact

Quantifying performance and measuring results are no longer the sole domain of for-profit enterprises. Today, many nonprofit organizations also find themselves on the hot seat—not with stockholders but with donors who expect similar... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

November 1999
Case

Long-Term Capital Management, L.P. (C)

By: Andre F. Perold

Long-Term Capital Management, L.P. (LTCM) was in the business of engaging in trading strategies to exploit market pricing discrepancies. Because the firm employed strategies designed to make money over long horizons--from six months to two years or more--it adopted a... View Details

Keywords: Fluctuation; Capital; Financial Liquidity; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Management; Risk Management; Markets; Motivation and Incentives; Financial Services Industry