Publications

Video

Product-Market Fit: How to Find It in the Tech Industry | Business: Explained

January 2007
Case

Gobi Partners: Raising Fund II

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

The three founding partners of Gobi Partners, a venture capital fund investing in early start IT and digital media companies in China, are planning to raise a second fund. The first $51.75 million fund is close to being entirely invested and the portfolio companies are... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Business or Company Management; China

Research Summary

Long-Run Performance Following Equity Issue

By: Paul A. Gompers

In an effort to establish how the transition from private to public firm affects performance, Paul A. Gompers is examining the long-run performance of companies that issue equity in an initial public or seasoned offering. He is also attempting to determine whether... View Details

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang

Launching Technology Ventures
Launching Technology Ventures (LTV) is designed for students who are actively working on their own startups or who will work at early-stage startups. The course material is, in particular, focused on new businesses in the... View Details

November 2010 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Dow's Bid for Rohm and Haas

By: Benjamin C. Esty and David Lane

This case analyzes Dow Chemical Company's proposed acquisition of Rohm and Haas in 2008. The $18.8 billion acquisition was part of Dow's strategic transformation from a slow-growth, low-margin, and cyclical producer of basic chemicals into a higher-growth,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Financial Condition; Financial Management; Contracts; Lawsuits and Litigation; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Chemical Industry

10 Mar 2016
Video

Legal Aspects of Starting a Social Enterprise

12 PM – 1 PM EST, 05 Dec 2017
Webinars: Career

The Startup Rules of Three

Do you have a brilliant idea for a startup? Becoming a successful entrepreneur requires more than just an inspiring concept and a plan for development. There is a reason as many as 75 percent of venture capital-backed startups fail, and nearly 95 percent of all... View Details

12 Oct 2017
Blog Post

Why I Spent this Summer Coding

The summer between RC and EC year represents a great opportunity for risk-free exploration. Encouraged by our outcome at the New Venture Competition and the funding I would receive as a Rock Summer Fellow, I forwent a business internship... View Details

March 2009
Case

Incept LLC and Confluent Surgical (A)

By: Bhaskar Chakravorti, Toby E. Stuart and James Weber

A venture capitalist must decide whether to invest in a medical technology company that licenses intellectual property from a privately held IP holding company based on a platform technology. Entrepreneurs Amar Sawhney and Fred Khosravi founded Incept LLC to... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Intellectual Property; Rights; Agreements and Arrangements; Partners and Partnerships; Trust; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

March 1991 (Revised January 1996)
Case

The General Mills Board and Strategic Planning

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Examines the General Mills Board of Directors' role in the General Mills joint venture with Nestle S.A. to sell cereals outside of North America. It raises the more general question of the appropriate role for the board of directors in strategy formulation. View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Trade; Corporate Governance; Managerial Roles; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; North America

23 Jun 2015
Blog Post

What is SVMP?

too far off, and campus springs back into life with the arrival of our SVMP students. Each summer we welcome a class of about 90 rising college seniors for the annual week-long Summer Venture in Management Program. The program was first... View Details

October 2001 (Revised December 2004)
Case

Chiang-Sho Ltd.

Chiang-Sho Ltd. is a joint venture producing agricultural machinery in China. The CEO must decide how to respond to pressure from the Chinese partner--also the joint venture's largest customer--to increase production and lower prices. The CEO must choose either a... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Business Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; China

Mar 2012
Article

Reviving Entrepreneurship

New enterprises don't exist in a vacuum: They rise or fall depending on myriad contextual factors, all of them interrelated, and all of them affected by government policy. U.S. lawmakers must carefully consider the effects of interventions in at least 12 areas, ranging... View Details

August 2019
Supplement

Baroo (B)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Susie L. Ma

Baroo CEO Lindsay Hyde must secure venture capital funding if she wants to save her pet services startup. If she is unable to finance a series A, she will need to sell or shut down. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Outcome or Result; Failure; Service Industry; United States; Massachusetts

13 May 2021
News

VCs Are Seeing "Best Year in the Industry’s History"

February 1999 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Hotmail

Sabeer Bhatia, cofounder and CEO of Hotmail, is making efforts to finance and grow this business, which is based on free Web-based e-mail. Describes early, successful efforts at raising several rounds of venture capital and presents choices around a next stage of... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Internet; Financing and Loans; Problems and Challenges; Business Startups; Web Services Industry

November 2019 (Revised April 2020)
Case

Away: Scaling a DTC Travel Brand

By: Jill Avery and Joseph B. Fuller

Away, a direct-to-consumer, digital native e-commerce seller of travel luggage, is debating how to invest its latest round of venture funding. How quickly could and should Away scale and what were the most promising growth trajectories to maximize its potential? Three... View Details

May 1999
Case

Susan Brown

By: William A. Sahlman

A number of issues confront an associate in a venture capital firm. She has just learned that her senior partners are not yet willing to make her a general partner of the firm. She has several options and must decide what to do. View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Venture Capital; Personal Development and Career; Leadership Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Financial Services Industry