Publications

05 Sep 2018
News

HBS Named Top School for Producing Entrepreneurs

cofounder Sarah Leary (MBA 1998). What’s the secret to alumni success? Your fellow alumni, says PitchBook’s Garrett Black: “Accurate information is hard to come by in private markets in general, and even more so, arguably, in the realm of View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

May 2022
Supplement

Maestro Pizza (B): The Competition Awakens

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Fares Khrais

Maestro pizza opened its first store in 2013 after its founder, Khalid Al Omran, recognized an opportunity in Saudi Arabia to offer high quality pizza at affordable prices. The business grew rapidly and under the radar at first, but soon enough caught the attention of... View Details

October 2001 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Perlegen Sciences

By: Linda A. Hill and Nicole Tempest

As a biotech start-up company involved in studying human genomes, Perlegen needed to develop an organization that fostered innovation and teamwork among a group of highly trained professionals from both the science and technology fields. Perlegen's CEO, Brad Margus,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Leadership; Groups and Teams; Management Teams; Problems and Challenges; Business Startups; Genetics; Talent and Talent Management; Innovation Strategy; Biotechnology Industry

03 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, October 3, 2017

gender and commercial activity within founders’ local communities. The presence of female business owners in the same community mitigates the role of founders’ gender on the use of commercial activity. We examine these issues through a... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

01 Oct 2024
Cold Call Podcast

Choosing Passion: A Founder’s Mission to Meet a Need for Obesity Care

Keywords: Re: Jon M. Jachimowicz; Health

July 2024
Case

Roja Garimella: Developing a Founder's Judgment

By: Reza Satchu and Patrick Sanguineti

Roja Garimella’s path to becoming a founder was anything but straight. Setting her sights on a career in medicine since childhood, she committed to medical school with her acceptance to college. And yet, throughout her studies, she continually explored alternative... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Judgments; Financial Services Industry; Health Industry

15 Nov 2016
First Look

November 15, 2016

thin representation at senior levels remains in place. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51896 Are 'Better' Ideas More Likely to Succeed? An Empirical Analysis of Startup Evaluation By: Scott, Erin L.,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2022
Supplement

Maestro Pizza (C): Taking the Fight Outside

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Fares Khrais

Maestro pizza opened its first store in 2013 after its founder, Khalid Al Omran, recognized an opportunity in Saudi Arabia to offer high quality pizza at affordable prices. The business grew rapidly and under the radar at first, but soon enough caught the attention of... View Details

June 2018
Case

Meridian Systems

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Michael J. Roberts

The Meridian Systems case focuses on a start-up in the restaurant point of sale (POS) systems market. In early 2018, Meridian is getting ready to roll out a POS system based on a new technology—a tablet-based, Wi-Fi-enabled POS system (the "tablet" system, or... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Sales; Strategy; Salesforce Management; Organizational Structure; Technological Innovation; Marketing Strategy

09 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 9, 2015

Aligning Strategy and Sales By: Cespedes, Frank V. Abstract— Much current opinion asserts that strategy is less important (and may, in fact, be an impediment) in an era of constant change. This publication discusses why claims about View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2018 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Blue Haven Initiative: The PEGAfrica Investment

By: Vikram S. Gandhi, Caitlin Reimers Brumme and Amram Migdal

This case examines Blue Haven Initiative (BHI), an impact investing fund and family office, and one of its investments, PEGAfrica (PEG). BHI founder Liesel Pritzker Simmons’ motivations for using her family wealth to start a family office focused on impact investing,... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Family Office; Development; International Development; International Development Investing; Development Fund; Sustainability; Solar Energy; Solar; Pay As You Go; PAYG; MFI; Social Venture; Business Ventures; Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Economics; Development Economics; Energy; Energy Conservation; Energy Sources; Renewable Energy; Social Entrepreneurship; Finance; Assets; Asset Pricing; Capital; Capital Budgeting; Capital Structure; Venture Capital; Cash; Cash Flow; Currency; Currency Exchange Rate; Equity; Private Equity; Financial Instruments; Debt Securities; Stock Shares; Financing and Loans; Microfinance; International Finance; Investment; Investment Return; Investment Activism; Investment Funds; Investment Portfolio; Price; Geography; Geographic Location; Emerging Markets; Ownership; Ownership Stake; Private Ownership; Social Enterprise; Value; Valuation; Value Creation; Energy Industry; Financial Services Industry; Green Technology Industry; Africa; United States

27 Oct 2009
First Look

First Look: October 27

households. In contrast, small subsidy payments have a large effect on the likelihood of opening a savings account. These payments are more than two times more cost-effective than the financial literacy training. Download the paper:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Dec 2018
News

Ready, Set, Launch

The bad news for aspiring entrepreneurs is that a huge majority of startups will never succeed—as many as three out of four will fail, according to some estimates. The reason is not because they can’t build the product they envisioned.... View Details

30 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

COVID Not Slowing VC Investment

The COVID-19 pandemic has battered industries around the world, but one sector's prospects aren’t so bleak: venture capital. Startup backers—and private-equity managers in general—say that half of their portfolio companies haven’t been... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Financial Services; Banking

14 Jan 2014
First Look

First Look: January 14

startups at the same terms as larger investors. While the cofounders were proud of AngelList's growth, as of June 2013, they were not charging for its use and had not yet determined its business model.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 20

Society: An Alternative View and Opportunities for Future Research By: Serafeim, George Abstract—A long-standing ideology in business education has been that a corporation is run for the sole interest of its shareholders. I present an... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2013
Article

Corporate Venturing

By: Josh Lerner

For decades, large companies have been wary of corporate venturing. But as R&D organizations face pressure to rein in costs and produce results, companies are investing in promising start-ups to gain knowledge and agility. The logic of corporate venturing is... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Knowledge Acquisition; Corporate Strategy; Research and Development; Business Startups; Innovation and Invention

Find at Harvard

2013
Dissertation

Designing Freemium: A Model of Consumer Usage, Upgrade, and Referral Dynamics

By: Clarence Lee, Vineet Kumar and Sunil Gupta

Abstract. Over the past decade "freemium" (free + premium) has become the dominant business model among internet start-ups for its ability to acquire and monetize a large install-base with limited marketing resources. Freemium is a hybrid strategy where a firm offers... View Details

Keywords: Discrete-Continuous Choice Dynamic Structural Models; Bayesian Estimation; Word-of-Mouth; Digital Services; Freemium; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Motivation and Incentives; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Reference Programs; Business Startups