by Noam Wasserman - Publications - Faculty & Research

04 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

When Founders Recruit Friends and Family as Investors

his new book, The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup, Harvard Business School Associate Professor Noam Wasserman tells readers how to anticipate, avoid, and,... View Details

Keywords: by Noam Wasserman

01 Jun 2011
Working Paper Summaries

The First Deal: The Division of Founder Equity in New Ventures

Keywords: by Thomas F. Hellmann & Noam Wasserman

04 Oct 2006
Lessons from the Classroom

Surviving Success: When Founders Must Go

When does a company founder have to go? In the frenzied, early months of a new venture's launch, few entrepreneurs anticipate a future beyond their role as company leader. In the case study "Founder–CEO Succession at Wily Technology," HBS assistant professor... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Technology

15 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

The Founding CEO’s Dilemma: Stay or Go?

Noam Wasserman is an assistant professor and MBA Class of 1961 Fellow in the entrepreneurial management unit at Harvard Business School. His paper "Founder-CEO Succession and the Paradox of... View Details

29 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Rich or Royal: What Do Founders Want?

What motivates entrepreneurs? Money? Control? In truth, some entrepreneurs are expecting to get rich. Others want to grow and control a new venture. But most would probably answer: "both." The problem, as Harvard Business School assistant professor View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Financial Services

21 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

How to Sink a Startup

When Noam Wasserman (HBS MBA 1999) spent his MBA summer internship working for a VC firm, he observed important universalities in the decisions that founders faced. He also saw that the "fundamental... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

20 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

Are Company Founders Underpaid?

No one says the life of the entrepreneur is glamorous, at least in the start-up phase. Financing pressures. Bad diet. Family—what family? And now new research from Harvard Business School professor Noam View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Financial Services; Technology

07 Feb 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Creating the Founders’ Dilemmas Course

If Noam Wasserman's entrepreneurship elective were a start-up company, investors would be delighted with its growth. When the Harvard Business School professor first offered his Founders' Dilemmas course in 2009, a mere 42 second-year MBA... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

2012
Book

The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup

By: Noam Wasserman

Often downplayed in the excitement of starting up a new business venture is one of the most important decisions entrepreneurs will face: Should they go it alone or bring in cofounders, hires, and investors to help build the business? More than just financial rewards... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Partners and Partnerships; Social Psychology; Outcome or Result

Citation

Find at Harvard

Purchase

June 2017
Case

Waze Connected Citizens Program

By: Mitchell Weiss and Alissa Davies

Di-Ann Eisnor, Director of Growth at Waze, founded the company’s Connected Citizens Program (CCP), a data-sharing partnership that provided officials with traffic incident and congestion data. Since 2015, her program had enabled officials in Kentucky and elsewhere to... View Details

Citation

Educators

Purchase

03 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 3

substantial information about GMO products, they positively affect approval rates of GMOs by threatening the reputation of the regulatory agency. Our study further shows that firm and product uncertainty increases the impact of the social... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

17 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 17

Working PapersThe First Deal: The Division of Founder Equity in New Ventures Authors:Thomas F. Hellmann and Noam Wasserman Abstract This paper examines the division of founder shares in entrepreneurial... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Apr 2013
First Look

First Look: April 23

suggests that this model-which tolerates moral complexity-is perhaps one of the few that can adapt and endure over time. Manufacturing Morals is a perceptive must-read for anyone looking for insight into the moral decision making of today's business leaders and those... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 27

inception of a promising venture lay the foundations for its eventual ruin. The Founder's Dilemmas is the first book to examine the early decisions by entrepreneurs that can make or break a startup and its team. Drawing on a decade of... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

21 Apr 2015
First Look

First Look: April 21

associated movement, and examines the motives of the actors involved. The book posits integrated reporting as a key mechanism by which companies can ensure their own long-term sustainability by contributing... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel & Sean Silverthorne

18 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 18

Second, we compare patenting by venture‐backed startups and incumbent firms. Using a variety of measures, we find that VC‐backed startups are engaged in more novel and more highly cited innovations compared to incumbent firms. Incumbent... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2024
Supplement

Revenue Solutions, LLC (B)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Pre-abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Abstract: This (B) case supplement is designed for use by faculty only to support classroom instruction in conjunction with... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Financial Management; Joint Ventures; Brands and Branding; Partners and Partnerships; Small Business; Ownership; Personal Development and Career; Consumer Products Industry; United States; California

Citation

Purchase

November 2008 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Savage Beast (A)

By: Noam Wasserman and LP Maurice

For several months, things had been spiraling downwards at Savage Beast, the music-recommendation company started three years before by Tim Westergren. The company's founder-CEO recently left due to pressures both at home and within the venture. Dozens of investors... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Lawsuits and Litigation; Leadership; Groups and Teams

Citation

Educators

Purchase

2010
Chapter

When Does Leadership Matter? A Contingent Opportunities View of CEO Leadership

By: Noam Wasserman, Nitin Nohria and Bharat Anand

There is by now a long-standing debate on the impact that CEOs have on company performance. Studies of leadership describe how CEOs can significantly impact company performance, while the "constraints" perspective argues that leaders are sufficiently constrained by... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Leadership; Performance Improvement; Research; Opportunities

Citation

October 2008 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Apple's Core

By: Noam T. Wasserman

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are best friends who enjoy pulling pranks together and talking about electronics. After several small collaborations, Jobs pitches Wozniak on starting a company together to sell computers based on Wozniak's design for a personal computer.... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Equity; Managerial Roles; Partners and Partnerships; Conflict Management

Citation

Educators

Purchase