Publications

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

2010
Working Paper

Venture Capital Investment in the Clean Energy Sector

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Ramana Nanda

We examine the extent to which venture capital is adequately positioned for the rapid commercialization of clean energy technologies in the United States. While there are several startups in clean energy that are well-suited to the traditional venture capital... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Energy Generation; Venture Capital; Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technological Innovation; Competition; Green Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States

Read Now

19 Feb 2015
Video

Eric Paley, venture capitalist, managing partner at the Founder Collective

September 2017 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Chai Point: Disrupting Chai

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Ramana Nanda and Rachna Tahilyani

Chai Point is India’s largest organized chai retailer. It has missed its target for retail store openings by approximately 25%, goals that are very important to its investors who are also board members. However, it has developed an exciting new internet-based tea... View Details

June 2018
Article

Cost of Experimentation and the Evolution of Venture Capital

By: Michael Ewens, Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

We study how technological shocks to the cost of starting new businesses have led the venture capital model to adapt in fundamental ways over the prior decade. We both document and provide a framework to understand the changes in the investment strategy of VCs in... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Investing; Abandonment Option; Technological Innovation; Venture Capital; Investment

2017
Working Paper

Cost of Experimentation and the Evolution of Venture Capital

By: Michael Ewens, Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

We study how technological shocks to the cost of starting new businesses have led the venture capital model to adapt in fundamental ways over the prior decade. We both document and provide a framework to understand the changes in the investment strategy of VCs in... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Investing; Abandonment Option; Technological Innovation; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Investment

SSRN

Read Now

August 1997 (Revised November 1998)
Case

Cambridge Technology Partners - 1991 Start Up

By: Paul A. Gompers and Catherine M. Conneely

Jim Sims tries to close the deal to create Cambridge Technology Partners (CTP) in a spin-out from a troubled technology consulting firm. The deal looks tenuous. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Negotiation Deal; Information Technology; Organizations; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; Cambridge

Find at Harvard

10 Nov 2008
Research Event

Social Media Leads the Future of Technology

the Internet, to what extent they can capitalize on these transformations remains an open question. HBS professor David Yoffie moderated the session on "The Technology Revolution and its Implications for the Future," with... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

17 Dec 2001
Research & Ideas

Venture Capital: Hot Markets and Current Industry Trends

Although plenty has changed for venture capitalists with the slowing of the economy and market upheavals, there are still plenty of opportunities for entrepreneurs and those who fund them, said panelists at the 2001 Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

24 Jun 2015
News

Qualcomm in Venture With Chinese Chip Maker

May 2004
Teaching Note

Seagate Technology Buyout (TN)

By: Stuart C. Gilson

Teaching Note to (9-201-063). View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Negotiation Deal; Negotiation Participants; Equity; Value; Volatility; Assets; Capital; Computer Industry

February 2000 (Revised April 2003)
Case

InSite Marketing Technology (B)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Genevieve J.S. Feraud

Provides students an example of partnerships/acquisitions that allow delivery of packaged solutions to customers in the electronic commerce space. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Entrepreneurship; Partners and Partnerships; Strategy; Business Strategy; Web Services Industry

February 1997 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Vermeer Technologies (A): A Company Is Born

By: Ashish Nanda

Charles Ferguson has just heard from a venture capital (VC) consortium that it is willing to finance Vermeer Technologies, a company he has cofounded for developing Internet software. The funds are sorely needed, but the VCs have imposed some onerous conditions,... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Selection and Staffing; Applications and Software; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology Industry

01 Oct 2021
News

HBS-Harvard Collaboration Fosters New Ventures

Since its founding in 2011, the Harvard Innovation Labs (HIL)—a collaboration between HBS and Harvard University—has nurtured some 2,500 ventures founded by students, alumni, and faculty members from all 13 schools at Harvard. Current... View Details

November 2001 (Revised October 2004)
Case

IBM Network Technology (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman and Robert C Wood

An unconventional manager within IBM leads the creation of a business unit with multibillion-dollar potential, winning over customers and nudging the organization to make the changes needed to achieve dramatic growth. This case provides an example of how organizational... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Leadership; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Change Management; Management Practices and Processes; Business Plan; Organizational Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Success; Technology Industry

June 2001 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Lucent Technologies: The Future of the New Ventures Group

Lucent Technologies' New Ventures Group has created innovative ways to commercialize Bell Labs research. The success of this approach now forces the group to evaluate whether to stay inside Bell Labs or become an external venture capitalist group. View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Commercialization; Research; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Telecommunications Industry