Publications

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May 2002
Case

Venture Capital Fund Restructuring Vignettes (Abridged)

By: Paul A. Gompers

This case examines the changes in fund structures proposed by four venture capital firms in 2002: Accel Partners, Battery Ventures, Charles River Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The venture capital market has experienced a major downturn, and these... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Motivation and Incentives; Business and Shareholder Relations; Investment Funds; Financial Services Industry

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Faculty - Private Capital Project

Hill. He then earned a Ph.D. from Harvard's Economics Department. Affiliated Faculty John D. Dionne Senior Lecturer of Business Administration John D. Dionne is a Senior Advisor to Blackstone and a Lecturer in the Finance Unit at the Harvard Business School. View Details

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Business & Environment - Faculty & Research

"Institutional Entrepreneurship and Climate Change." Chap. 1 in Climate Change and Business: Historical Perspectives , edited by Teresa da Silva Lopes, Paul Duguid, and Robert Fredona, 8–29. London, United... View Details

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Faculty - Race, Gender & Equity

various... Paul A. Gompers Eugene Holman Professor of Business Administration Paul Gompers, Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard... View Details

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Human Behavior & Decision-Making - Faculty & Research

51, no. 1 (June 2025): 18–31. More Publications Faculty Max H. Bazerman Lynn S. Paine Teresa M. Amabile Boris Groysberg Rosabeth M. Kanter Robin J. Ely Michael I. Norton Paul A. View Details

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Accounting & Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Student Grant. Ethan C. Rouen : Received a 2015 Paul and Sandra Montrone Doctoral Fellowship from Columbia Business School. Ethan C. Rouen : Received the 2015 Third-Year Best Student Award from Columbia Business School. Ethan C. Rouen :... View Details

February 2024
Case

Tony Elumelu Foundation: Democratizing Luck Across Africa

By: Paul A. Gompers and Samir Saxena

Founded in 2010, The Tony Elumelu Foundation is Africa’s leading philanthropy working to support entrepreneurs in Africa with access to seed capital, business management training, mentorship, and access to networks. Through a $100 million commitment by its founder,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation Leadership; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Mission and Purpose; Education Industry; Nigeria; Africa

November 1997 (Revised October 2001)
Background Note

Note on Strategic Alliances, A

By: Paul A. Gompers and Alexander Tsai

Presents an overview of strategic alliance. Discusses the academic literature and its implications for the structure of strategic alliances. Also details the types of strategic alliances utilized by small, growing firms. View Details

Keywords: Alliances; Strategy

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Entrepreneurial Management Curriculum - Faculty & Research

Richard Ruback , Royce Yudkoff Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0 Founder Launch Reza Satchu , Shai Bernstein Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 The Founder Mindset Reza Satchu Fall 2025 Q1Q2 3.0 Global Entrepreneurship (also listed under Finance) Paul View Details

March 2020
Case

SRS and the Defense Innovation Unit: Rethinking Procurement

By: Paul A. Gompers and David Lane

SRS and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) follows the process by which SRS, a lean maker of remotely-operated submersible vehicles, navigates the DIU’s acquisition process. Set up in 2015 to speed the U.S. military’s access to promising commercial technologies, the DIU... View Details

Keywords: Procurement; Defense Innovation Unit; Business Startups; Acquisition; Technological Innovation; Investment; Commercialization; United States

01 Dec 2001
News

BOOK: The Money of Invention

by Paul A. Gompers and Josh Lerner (Harvard Business School Press ) Did venture capital cause the explosion in innovation in the last thirty... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information; Finance; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

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HBR Classics - Alumni

HBR CLASSICS Through the years, a number of Harvard Business Review articles written by Harvard Business School faculty and others have risen to “classics” status – articles that are so groundbreaking in their scope or elemental in their... View Details

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Alumni Engagement | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

HBS Social Enterprise Initiative, HBS Professor Emeritus William A. Sahlman explores the future of education with three guests: Michael Collins, vice president of Jobs for the Future; Natalie McCullough (MBA 2000), president and chief... View Details

March 2001 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Honest Tea

By: Paul A. Gompers

This case examines the decisions of Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff, founders of Honest Tea. Honest Tea is a start-up in the ready-to-drink tea market. Goldman and Nalebuff must craft an expansion and financing strategy. View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Expansion; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Decisions

March 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Kashat: Navigating the Uncertainties of the Egyptian Fintech Market

By: Paul A. Gompers and Ahmed Dahawy

Karim Nour, the founder of Kashat, an Egyptian nano-lending fintech company, is contemplating how to manage the growth of his startup. Over the summer of 2022, Kashat's loan disbursements had grown by nearly 40%, fueled by macroeconomic instability in Egypt. However,... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Business Model; Developing Countries and Economies; Acquisition; Business Exit or Shutdown; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Financing and Loans; Capital; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; Egypt

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Advisory Board - Entrepreneurship

About Rock Advisory Board The Rock Center’s Advisory Board is responsible for providing strategic direction for the Rock Center and its staff. The Advisory Board includes HBS entrepreneurial alumni, HBS faculty, and HBS staff. Paul Baier... View Details

01 Mar 2003
News

Three Appointed to Endowed Professorships

Paul A. Gompers, Roy and Elizabeth Simmons Professor of Business Administration Paul Gompers specializes in research on financial issues related... View Details

Keywords: fellowships; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

May 2004 (Revised June 2004)
Case

Sarvega

By: Paul A. Gompers and Vanessa del Valle Broussard

David Cowan, general partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, has taken the lead on Sarvega, a Bessemer-backed company that was recently orphaned by the departure of one of Bessemer's other general partners. Cowan must decide whether to reinvest in Sarvega and, if so,... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Venture Capital; Investment; Governance Compliance; Resignation and Termination; Negotiation Deal; Partners and Partnerships; Information Technology Industry