Publications

22 Feb 2022
News

Breaking News

otherwise. We’ve gone through a decade of journalist entrepreneurs being able to get—or thinking they can get—philanthropic funding as a runway to get their startup going. As with other business models that are weighted too heavily in one... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; illustration by Dana Smith; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

01 Dec 2022
News

Singing to the Corn

3, a startup competitor—but was fired when his strategic recommendations for expansion didn’t align with upper management’s. At that point, Keen made good on his HBS application essay and joined Cherokee Nation Enterprises (now Cherokee... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographed by Vance Jacobs; Agriculture

22 Feb 2022
News

New Urban Order

greatest risk from the disastrous effects of sea-level rise. Yet cities also have the ability to act without waiting for state and federal action, adds Raphael Carty (MBA 1983), former CEO of Callida Energy, a software startup focused on... View Details

Keywords: Kathleen Fu, Deborah Blagg, Julia Hanna, and Maureen Harmon; illustrations by; energy; environment; sustainability; entrepreneurship; Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation; Transportation; Water, Sewage and Supply Systems; Utilities; Construction of Buildings; Construction; Waste Management and Remediation Services; Corporate Services

12 Nov 2021
News

Alumni Business Leaders on Confronting the Climate Change Challenge

a VC investor, I believe we can be a catalyst. In this path, the first step is to educate, and at MPower Partners, Japan’s first ESG-integrated, global VC fund, we work with startups to help them understand that even as a technology... View Details

24 Jun 2021
Blog Post

Celebrating the Past, Crafting the Future Part 2: The First HBS/HKS Class

be a wonderful part of what I do.” Medoff advises current students, “Invest time with this group. There’s no substitute for the time you’ll spend together.” Niyati Gupta Current role: CEO and Co-Founder, Stealth Mode Food Startup Becoming... View Details

01 Nov 2019
What Do You Think?

Should Non-Compete Clauses Be Abolished?

have learned as well as their skills. If they are senior enough, they may also take trade secrets (although those are covered by NDAs, non-disclosure agreements, close relatives to NCCs). In certain industries in which startups are... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

10 May 2020
Blog Post

Let’s Hear it For the Moms – The Incredible Balancing Act of Student Mothers

startup How do you do it? Trial and error, constantly! I really want to be an involved mother, because 1) my husband was commuting to Wharton weekly last year, and 2) my mother was very involved in my upbringing while also a very... View Details

22 Feb 2024
News

GCC Crossroads Aims for a Bright Future; Seattle Alumni Talk Leadership in Tech; Italy Preps for European Alumni Summit

“What was exciting was that we had the full technology ecosystem represented. We had CEOs and entrepreneurs who had gone from startup to launch to IPO, and we had CEOs or CTOs who were representing large, multibillion-dollar, global tech... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

20 Jan 2023
News

Free Spirits

choice, now that startups like Tilden and the titans of the beverage industry are taking a fresh look at what a NA beverage can be and making use of new innovations in brewing technology. Low-alcohol beer has been around as long as humans... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Food Services and Drinking Places; Hospitality

March 2022 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Swvl: Smart Mobility for the Masses

By: Krishna Palepu, Esel Çekin and Menna Hassan

The case focuses on strategy and governance issues at Swvl, a tech-enabled mass mobility marketplace. It describes the journey of CEO and Chairman Mostafa Kandil on his journey from founding the company to its listing on Nasdaq. Since its founding in Egypt in 2017,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Growth and Development Strategy; Initial Public Offering; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry; Middle East; North Africa

October 2002
Case

A Father's Love: Novazyme Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Bradley Campbell

John Crowley, CEO of Novazyme Pharmaceuticals, a start-up biotechnology firm developing an orphan drug to treat a rare lysosomal storage disorder from which his children suffer, must choose between a partnership and a buyout to have sufficient funds and support to get... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Partners and Partnerships; Financing and Loans; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Sales; Price; Product Development; Motivation and Incentives; Decision Choices and Conditions; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

February 2010
Case

Go Mobile: The Phirbol Franchise

By: Rajiv Lal and Natalie Kindred

To grow Phirbol, a telecom retail franchise chain in Delhi, India's underdeveloped markets, its founders were exploring ways to offer more value to the franchisees. In mid-2009, the Phirbol franchise was comprised of some 150 franchisees that had converted their small... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Innovation and Management; Brands and Branding; Service Operations; Franchise Ownership; Value Creation; Telecommunications Industry; Delhi

24 Nov 2015
Research & Ideas

Developing Your Next CEO for the Family Business

industry, such changes are more common. The Family Outsider Family Outsiders who make good CEO candidates can be entrepreneurs like Alejandro Birman, whose startup was so successful that it added more than $200 million to the sales of his... View Details

Keywords: Re: Andi Wang; Retail; Auto

November 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

BrightStar Care: The Evolution of a Leadership Team

By: Boris Groysberg, Colleen Ammerman and John D. Vaughan

BrightStar Care was a rapidly growing franchise of home health care agencies. Founded by husband and wife team JD and Shelly Sun as a single agency near Chicago in 2002, BrightStar had opened nearly 300 franchises across the United States by 2016, generating over $300... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Services; Entrepreneurs; Board Of Directors; Boards Of Directors; Health Care Industry; Growth Strategy; Organizational Change; Brand Positioning; Entrepreneurial Organizations; Entrepreneurial Management; Franchising; Family-owned Business; Home Health Care; Managing Growth; Management Styles; Organizational Development; Talent Management; Women Executives; Women And Leadership; Business Startups; Family Business; Small Business; Talent and Talent Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Health Care and Treatment; Human Capital; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Skills; Management Style; Management Succession; Management Systems; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Strategy

March 2015
Case

BOLT: Seed Venture Capital Firm

By: William A. Sahlman and Robert F. White

BOLT is a different kind of seed venture capital firm built to serve the needs of early-stage startups at the intersection of hardware and software.

In the past decade, the cost of entrepreneurial experimentation has dropped dramatically, particularly in web... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Accelerator; Entrepreneurship; Finance; Venture Capital; Applications and Software; Information Infrastructure; Strategy

February 2014 (Revised August 2016)
Case

Strava

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, William A. Sahlman and Sid Misra

Strava is a new fast-growing social network for the avid cyclist and runner. The Strava case traces the entrepreneurial journey of two serial entrepreneurs who have been co-founders in a prior venture, and who have co-founded Strava 3 years ago. The protagonists must... View Details

December 2016 (Revised December 2018)
Case

From Start-Up to Grown-Up Nation: The Future of the Israeli Innovation Ecosystem

By: Elie Ofek and Margot Eiran

In June 2016, Benjamin (Bibi) Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, wrestled with how to sustain Israel’s strong innovation track record and the country’s reputation as the “startup nation.” Despite the economic miracle the country had wrought since its founding, he... View Details