Publications

April 2017
Teaching Note

DoubleDutch

By: Frank Cespedes

This Teaching Note accompanies HBS No. 815-044 “DoubleDutch” in which the co-founders of the event management start-up, DoubleDutch, have to make a significant decision about their young company's sales function. The teaching note covers: Opportunity analysis,... View Details

Keywords: Sales Management; Selling; Marketing Management; Strategy Implementation; Business Marketing; Salesforce Management; Marketing; Sales; Marketing Strategy; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Technology Industry; United States; Europe; Asia

August 2016 (Revised November 2019)
Supplement

eSig: Growth Analysis

By: Mark N. Roberge and Thomas R. Eisenmann

eSig, an early-stage startup, offers an electronic signature application as a "freemium" product, i.e., users can upgrade from a free basic version to a premium version by paying a subscription fee. Using 9 months of data from 50,000 user activations, available as a... View Details

Keywords: Esignature; Computer Software; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Management; Marketing Channels; Applications and Software; Computer Industry; United States

October 2011 (Revised October 2013)
Supplement

Gracious Eloise: What Do Angels Want? (B)

By: Lena G. Goldberg, Janet Kraus and Mary Beth Findlay

Having received an extensive critique of her business plan but only a small amount of financing from an angel group she pitched in 2010, Eloise Bune responds to the angels' concerns, refines her presentation, and pitches her company again. View Details

Keywords: Business Plan; Business Startups; Investment; Presentations

December 2010 (Revised August 2012)
Case

The Full Yield

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Noemie Myriam Delfassy

New firm created to provide understanding of the role of food in health and nutrition. View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Food; Health Care and Treatment; Nutrition; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

April 2009 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Skyhook Wireless

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Thomas R. Eisenmann

Ted Morgan, the founder of Skyhook Wireless just received a call from Steve Jobs of Apple asking for a meeting. Ted must decide how to prepare for a meeting that could finally give Skyhook an anchor customer. Ted and his team have worked for three years to build a new... View Details

Keywords: Mobile and Wireless Technology; Information Technology; Business Ventures; Business Startups; Technology Industry

July 2008 (Revised October 2024)
Supplement

UpDown: Confidential Instructions for PHUC

By: Noam Wasserman and Deepak Malhotra

Michael Reich is having severe doubts about how he split the equity with his co-founders two months ago, when they completed a one-page "November Agreement." Since then, Michael has found an angel investor and has worked non-stop on the business, while one co-founder... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Participants; Agreements and Arrangements; Business Startups; Ownership Stake

May 1998
Case

Integral Vision Ltd. (A)

A stop-action simulation case takes participants through the process whereby four people (three young entrepreneurs and an investor) take a machine vision company from start-up to acquisition by a major publicly-traded company. Over several years, they have to... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Business Growth and Maturation; Acquisition; Business Startups

24 Feb 2021
News

Inside the Morgan Stanley Multicultural Innovation Lab

Keywords: Angels

01 Oct 2000
News

Bringing Up Baby

As a Walt Disney Co. executive who helped turn around the company's Euro Disney operation, Laura McCartney (MBA '93) knew plenty about problem solving and strategizing in the corporate world. But as a mother, she also knew from personal experience that shopping for... View Details

01 Sep 2013
News

Geisha Secrets

TSAI: A luxury skin-care line based on ancient Japanese rituals. Years of work-related testing of beauty products had left Victoria Tsai (MBA 2006) with acute dermatitis. After trying various medications to no avail, she turned to Japan for a natural cure involving... View Details

Keywords: skincare; beauty products; Health and Personal Care Stores; Retail Trade

Shirish Nimgaonkar

startups in areas such as SaaS, AI and B2B software across functions such as solution / product development, sales, marketing, team building, capital raising and acquisitions. View Details

Career Coach

Adelina Pak

Informed by her prior experiences in the Technology industry, Adelina enjoys helping students understand the various roles within tech and navigate recruiting specific to the industry. She has experience working at both software and hardware, B2C and B2B, as well as... View Details

17 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 17, 2017

economy, while freshly minted MBAs see magic in founding something new. Yes, startups look magical, but they can also be chaotic and inaccessible. Many books are written for those who aspire to be founders, but a company only has one or... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Nov 2021
Blog Post

Building an Internship Program at Your Startup: An Interview with Facily’s Diego Dzodan (MBA 1999)

In the summer of 2020, Eric Westphal (MBA 2021) was looking for an internship where he would have the opportunity to work closely with a startup founder. He considered Boston based startups originally and... View Details

01 Mar 2025
News

Alumni and Faculty Books

Machine: Finding Product-Market Fit in the Age of AI By Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Business School Damn Gravity Media Today’s most successful founders know that the startups that learn the fastest will win. In The... View Details

June 1988 (Revised August 1988)
Case

Alpha and Omega

Students will read the case and prepare an action plan for class. In class the students will discuss their action plan for the formation of a new company. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Planning