Startup Investment - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Sep 2015
News

Data-Driven Diligence

Illustration by QuickHoney On the surface, there is seemingly nothing sexy about a startup that sells foam mattresses online. But in January 2014, David Coats (MBA 1992) and Trevor Kienzle (MBA 1991) made a significant seed-round View Details

Keywords: Francis Storrs

15 Nov 2013
News

Helping Bright Ideas Shine Again

role in several of them," says Laguë. "I learned that you spend 90 percent of your time on the companies that don't make it. Investing in fewer companies is more interesting than investing in many, and you... View Details

Keywords: Robert S. Benchley

02 Oct 2015
News

The ‘F’ Word

startup to Dropbox, Carpenter is the protagonist of another case coauthored by Eisenmann and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld (MBA 1996). “Steven Carpenter at Cake Financial” details his efforts to build and grow an online financial services... View Details

Keywords: Walt Disney Studios

08 Sep 2016
News

How We Make It Work

1999), program manager, Strategic Decisions Group Diane and Peter Escher (both MBA 2009) Children: Hazel (4); Josh (2) Diane and Peter both work for startups in downtown Seattle, commuting to different floors of the same building. Diane... View Details

01 Dec 2015
News

Case Study: Bionic Banking

approach for the masses. Investment management startup Alpha Architect, cofounded by COO Patrick Cleary (MBA 2010), is considering the launch of an affordable, active robo-advisor that would seek to... View Details

01 Dec 2016
News

How DC is Taxing the Country

startup formation has been on the decline since the early 1980s; and real median household income is well below its peak in 1999. Most economic gains have gone instead to the wealthy and big businesses. Today’s 5.1 percent unemployment... View Details

Keywords: Francis Storrs

13 Jul 2020
News

The First Five Years: Meaghan Fitzgerald (MBA 2016)

remember, I actually worked in startups for almost 10 years before moving to bigger company roles. So longer term, I’d love to bridge back to the startup world by investing in... View Details

01 Sep 2007
News

Riding It Out

to reduce our costs through lean manufacturing and automation so we could get investors to buy into the business. It also required salesmanship to get people interested in the equine business, which is not at the top of everyone’s list as an View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; dog food; pets; Food Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Food and Beverage Stores; Retail Trade

01 Jun 2017
News

The Exchange: Venture Forth

illustration by Peter Arkle When Professor Paul Gompers began studying the venture capital industry in the late 1980s, colleagues often wondered why. “They’d say that it’s such a backwater and unimportant industry,” he recalls. With more than $127 billion View Details

Keywords: April White

22 Oct 2013
News

Pulling the Plug

then one day in 2008, Stata contacted Giler to encourage him to check out this wireless-electricity startup he had invested in. "It's a good case for networking," Giler says. He returned to the campus a... View Details

Keywords: Francis Storrs; Telecommunications; Information; Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution; Utilities; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

02 Mar 2023
News

Carbon's Second Act

thought needed additional investment of time and resources which was fundamentally what to do with carbon dioxide. MORE Hear all three episodes of this series Skydeck podcast MORE Hear all three episodes of this series Skydeck podcast DM:... View Details

01 Oct 1996
News

Lasting Impressions

attempt at starting his own company. Because venture capitalists were unwilling to fund travel businesses in the wake of the 1973 fuel crisis, Belkin financed his startup with an American Express card and small View Details

Keywords: Deborah E. Blagg

23 Oct 2019
News

Designing a More Artful Future for the Middle East

earned an undergraduate degree in engineering from the American University of Beirut and worked as an investment analyst for Boston Consulting Group in Dubai for three years. Halwani is at HBS thanks to a need-based fellowship. “Receiving... View Details

Keywords: Inclusion

01 Feb 1997
News

Made, Not Born: HBS Courses and Entrepreneurial Management

topics including financing new ventures, deal structuring, valuation, initial public offerings, leveraged buyouts, and financial distress. "Entrepreneurial Finance looks at the acquisition and deployment of resources at each stage of the entrepreneurial process - from... View Details

01 Nov 2013
News

Selling Crafts with a Story

office. They'd touch base for an hour, give each other homework, and then head to their day jobs—Koss working in private equity, investing in retail companies; Paranjape running a bricks-and-mortar lifestyle store. Then they'd hit the... View Details

Keywords: Maureen Harmon; crafts; hobbies; ecommerce; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade; Arts, Entertainment

01 Jun 1999
News

Where Main Street Meets Wall Street

management capability and skills once reserved for institutions or wealthy individuals. They provide a strong incentive to save and invest and have been a great source of wealth accumulation for individuals. Mutual funds also represent an... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons

17 Nov 2016
News

Wired for Innovation

Photography by Michael Stravato From cofounding the first aerial tramway high above Costa Rica’s rainforest canopy, to helping a two-person wind-energy startup become an industry leader, to making a quixotic run for US Congress, Michael... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution; Utilities

21 Dec 2018
News

Bridging the Gap

authentic interests might be. Flint: It sounds like there’s a return on investment here for the college education that could be taken into account in this decision. Falik: I think that the most compelling reason that every young person... View Details

Keywords: Educational Support Services; Educational Services

02 Mar 2016
News

The New Space Race

Express, a lunar mining startup, for two flights in 2017. (NASA) (NASA) Other space companies, however, are experimenting with approaches that eliminate conventional rocket fuel altogether. Colorado startup Escape Dynamics has View Details