Publications

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

February 2024
Teaching Note

TimeCredit

By: Emanuele Colonnelli, Raymond Kluender and Shai Benjamin Bernstein

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 824-139. TimeCredit is an artificial intelligence (AI) startup that is developing large language models (LLMs) to generate accounting memos. The case follows Ndonga Sagnia, a Gambian Harvard Business School MBA student with an accounting... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; AI and Machine Learning; Entrepreneurial Finance; Identity; Partners and Partnerships; Technology Industry

January 8, 2016
Article

When You’ve Made Enough Money to Cause Family Tension

By: Josh Baron, Rob Lachenauer and Diane Coutu

This article discusses the transition successful business founders face when moving from intense business focus to managing significant wealth in their "Second Act." It highlights the shift towards creating a family enterprise, requiring shared financial... View Details

Keywords: Wealth; Family Business; Management Succession; Transition; Family and Family Relationships

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April 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Wayfair

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Susie L. Ma and Matthew G. Preble

In 2016 Niraj Shah and Steve Conine, founders of online home goods retailer Wayfair, are faced with a decision about how to improve user experience on their e-commerce sites. A key driver of consumer interest and conversion to purchase in the home category is visual... View Details

Keywords: Visual Assets; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Business or Company Management; Growth Management; Innovation and Invention; Operations; Strategy; Technology; Retail Industry; Service Industry; United States; Massachusetts

February 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Marvin: A Personalized Telehealth Approach to Mental Health

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Eshani Sharma, Andrew Nguyen, Thomas Arsenault, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Julia Kelley

More than one third of Americans were said to suffer some type of behavioral health ailment at some point in their lifetime, with many people requiring chronic therapy or intervention. Despite significant clinical needs, access to reliable treatment has been difficult... View Details

Keywords: Mental Health; Applications; Startup Management; Telehealth; Health Care Entrepreneurship; Health ＆ Wellness; Health Care; Health Care and Treatment; Customization and Personalization; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Applications and Software

Joseph Fuller is a Professor of Management Practice in General Management and Entrepreneurship. He founded and co-leads the school’s project, Managing the Future of Work, as well as the Harvard Project on the Workforce. He currently leads the FIELD Global Capstone... View Details

August 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Camera IQ and the Metaverse: Building Augmented Reality Brand Experiences

By: Jill Avery and Rayan Nahas

Camera IQ, a camera marketing software company that empowered brands to create and launch augmented reality experiences (AREs) across social platforms, had just raised an additional $5 million to fund further product development and expand its marketing and sales... View Details

January 2023 (Revised November 2024)
Case

ELCA's Series A

By: Anke Becker, Raymond Kluender and William R. Kerr

Vu Phong and Xavier Silva co-founded ELCA to build proprietary software for their technology-enabled language learning tool. Since winning a prestigious venture contest in 2021, their number of registered users grew rapidly, as did the demand for new features like... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Growth and Development Strategy

September 2008
Case

Yucheng Technology

By: Li Jin, Li Liao, Chang Chen and Aldo Sesia

The founder and CEO of an IT company servicing the needs of the financial services industry in China needs to raise capital for the company to grow and survive. He has two options. He can try and obtain financing from private equity investors, or he can accept a... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology; Financial Services Industry; China; United States

August 2008 (Revised December 2009)
Case

Nantero

By: William A. Sahlman, Dan Heath and Caroline Perkins

This case describes a decision confronting the founder of Nantero, a company developing a new semiconductor technology. The company needs to raise additional venture capital. Potential investors have competing visions for the company, and its business model. Some... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Investment; Product Development; Production; Technology; Semiconductor Industry

August 2000
Case

Beansprout Networks

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Rasheea Williams

Beansprout Networks is a 3-year-old Internet company designed to foster effective communication between parents and the pediatricians and child-care providers who care for their children. With a significant headstart in the marketplace, it has attracted considerable... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Health Industry; Information Technology Industry

January 1999 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Infox System GmbH

Apax, a private equity firm, has an opportunity to invest in a travel-related print-materials distribution business in Germany. Infox is typical of many buyout opportunities. One of the founders seeks to exit the business, and recently hired managers will have to... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Germany

18 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 18

acquisition of Vodafone and its performance in Japan. Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/product/vodafone-in-japan-c/an/711470-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 514-008 Lufa Farms In 2013, Mohamed Hage, founder of the rooftop farming... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Proximie: Using XR Technology to Create Borderless Operating Rooms

By: Ariel D. Stern and Alpana Thapar

In mid-January 2022, Nadine Hachach-Haram, founder and CEO of Proximie, was thinking about the company’s growth plans. Launched in 2016, Proximie was a platform that enabled clinicians, proctors, and medical device company personnel to be virtually present in operating... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Technological Innovation; Partners and Partnerships; Strategic Planning; Health Care and Treatment; Analytics and Data Science; Digital Platforms; Health Industry; Lebanon; United Kingdom; United States

Teaching Interest

Scaling Technology Ventures

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

This course is designed for students who plan to launch or join a hypergrowth technology venture, or who plan to invest in growth-stage tech companies. The course addresses key challenges founders and their teams face after achieving product-market fit – and how... View Details

June 2023
Supplement

Social Media Background Screening at Fama Technologies (B)

By: Joseph Pacelli, Jillian Grennan and Alexis Lefort

Fama Technologies is an online screening company that uses AI to analyze job applicants' publicly available online content for signs of risk and culture fit. The case opens with Ben Mones, founder and CEO, looking to secure funding from venture firms. He is running... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Culture; Talent and Talent Management; United States

01 Sep 2011
News

Five Graduates Receive the 2011 Harvard Business School Alumni Achievement Award

05 Oct 2017
News

Why Great Leaders Are Forged in Crisis

January 2001
Case

Valuing Project Achieve

By: Mihir A. Desai and Kathleen Luchs

Project Achieve is a start-up providing information management solutions for schools. Its founders see a need for software both to manage the volumes of information necessary to administer a school and to connect parents, teachers, and students in a more effective way.... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Valuation; Venture Capital; Cost of Capital; Cash Flow; Forecasting and Prediction