startups - Publications - Faculty & Research

November 10, 2022
Article

5 Ways Startups Can Prepare for a Recession

Startups face unique challenges during economic downturns. They typically aren’t yet profitable and so are reliant on outside funding—and therefore are especially exposed when macroeconomic conditions change. To make it through a recession, startup CEOs should hit the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Sales; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Inflation and Deflation; Financial Crisis; Employee Relationship Management; Business Startups; Credit

Citation

Register to Read

2021
Article

Venture Capital Booms and Startup Financing

By: William Janeway, Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

We review the growing literature on the relationship between venture capital booms and startup financing, focusing on three broad areas: First, we discuss the drivers of large inflows into the venture capital asset class, particularly in recent years—which are related... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention; Policy

03 Oct 2023
Blog Post

Hire an MBA: The Benefits and Misconceptions for Startups

Startups are exciting to HBS MBA students for many reasons, including the opportunity for impact, exposure to multiple functions, and the ability to practice skills they are learning at HBS. But, why should a View Details

Keywords: All Industries; Entrepreneurship

06 May 2021
HBS Case

How Four Women Made Miami More Equitable for Startups

Despite widespread investment in entrepreneurship in cities across America, venture capital-funded startups still tend to be founded by white men in Silicon Valley. In contrast, businesses led by women are 63 percent less likely to... View Details

Keywords: by Carolyn DiPaolo

30 Oct 2019
News

How to Recover Gracefully After Shutting Down Your Startup

2021
Book

Why Startups Fail: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Why Startups Fail explores entrepreneurial failure, examining its predictable patterns, how to avoid them, and how to cope when failure does occur. Part I looks at three common failure patterns for early-stage startups, illustrating each with an anchor case... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Failure; Success; Framework

Citation

Purchase

01 Jun 2021
News

Running a Consumer Fintech Startup within Goldman Sachs

2022
Chapter

Immigration Policy Levers for U.S. Innovation and Startups

By: William R. Kerr and Sari Pekkala Kerr

Immigrants account for about a quarter of US invention and entrepreneurship despite a policy environment that is not well suited for these purposes. This chapter reviews the U.S. immigration policy environment that governs how skilled migrants move to America for... View Details

Keywords: High-tech; H1-B; Immigration; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Venture Capital

Citation

Read Now

Purchase

January 2025
Teaching Note

AGENTS.inc: Pathways to Growth at an AI Startup

By: Frank Nagle and Susan Pinckney

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 724-444. In 2024, AI agent startup company AGENTS.inc faced multiple strategic decisions that could shape the company’s ability to grow into the future AI agent market leader. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Growth and Development Strategy; Open Source Distribution; Entrepreneurial Finance; Competition; Computer Industry; Technology Industry; Europe; Germany

Citation

Purchase

12 Apr 2012
News

HBS Welcomes Eleven Alumni Startups

HBS Welcomes Eleven Alumni Startups With more than a 40 percent increase in Alumni New Venture Contest entries this year, our 11 finalists overcame stiff competition to win their local regions. On April 23, they travel to campus to... View Details

Keywords: Bulletin Staff; Alumni New Venture Contest

26 Jun 2013
News

Upstarts Raise Money for Startups

Keywords: Finance; Educational Support Services; Educational Services

21 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

How to Sink a Startup

When Noam Wasserman (HBS MBA 1999) spent his MBA summer internship working for a VC firm, he observed important universalities in the decisions that founders faced. He also saw that the "fundamental implications of those decisions were getting the View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

04 Sep 2017
Blog Post

HBS Startup Bootcamp and Founders Unfiltered

entrepreneurship a bit less intimidating for a first-timer like me. So with a renewed interest in startups, I registered for the 10-day HBS Startup Bootcamp scheduled for the January term. The aim of the program was to provide both... View Details

May 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

MStudio and Djoli: Accelerating Startup Growth in Francophone Africa

By: Paul A. Gompers, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Temitayo Lawal

Djoli, a procurement platform, was one of the startups launched and supported by MStudio, a startup studio in Côte d'Ivoire, in 2023. After a year of operations, Djoli must look beyond MStudio, which had supported them financially and in kind in exchange for equity,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Distribution Industry; Technology Industry; Africa; Côte d'Ivoire

Citation

Educators

Purchase

11 Jan 2016
News

Startup Studio Launched in New York City

17 Sep 2024
News

Is Startup Funding Coming Back?

18 Feb 2019
News

Tracing Ridhi Tariyal's Startup Journey

Keywords: Health and Personal Care Stores; Retail Trade

11 Jan 2013
News

No Room for Weakness at a Startup

13 Nov 2020
News

Student Startups Help Fight COVID-19

Pictured at right: Sanchay Gupta (MD/MBA 2022) is cofounder of Umbulizer Gifts to the HBS Fund support a wide range of people and programs like this. Since its launch in 2012, the Venture Program at Harvard Innovation Labs has helped students from across the University... View Details

July–August 2019
Article

The Soul of a Startup

By: Ranjay Gulati

There’s an essential, intangible something in start-ups—an energy, a soul. It inspires enthusiasm and fosters a sense of deep connection and mutual purpose. While this spirit persists, engagement is high and businesses keep their edge.
But all too often,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Mission and Purpose; Customer Focus and Relationships; Employees; Creativity; Business Growth and Maturation

Citation

Find at Harvard

Register to Read