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Entrepreneurship: A Working Definition
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleBeing clear on what it means is not just an academic exercise. -
How the Geography of Startups and Innovation Is Changing
Global Business Digital ArticleIt's more global, more urban, and more winner-take-all. -
The One Thing VCs Could Do Immediately to Increase Returns
Sales & Marketing Digital ArticleHow investors can start seeing more opportunities. -
Venture Financing and Entrepreneurial Success
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleDoes high-quality venture financing increase the success of funded ventures? My co-authors, Josh Lerner of HBS and Antoinette Schoar of MIT, and I define... -
When It's OK to Trust Your Gut on a Big Decision
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleMore data isn't always helpful. -
Male and Female Entrepreneurs Get Asked Different Questions by VCs - and It Affects How Much Funding They Get
Innovation & Leadership ResearchResearch finds a new explanation for the gender gap in venture funding. -
Behind Venture Capital's Scenes with Jeff Bussgang
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleI recently sat down with Jeff Bussgang of Flybridge Capital to talk about his new book, Mastering the VC Game, an insider's view into the venture capital... -
What High-Quality Revenue Looks Like
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleIt's not just about growth. -
How to Size Up a Negotiation
Strategy & Execution Digital ArticleIn one of my posts last year, I shared a framework for more effective negotiations. The first step of the framework described the need for pre-negotiation... -
Good Money After Bad? (HBR Case Study and Commentary)
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleChristian Harbinson, a young associate at the venture capital firm Scharfstein Weekes, has a difficult decision to make before the next investment committee... -
Six Myths About Venture Capitalists
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Magazine ArticleAs the director of private equity for the Kauffman Foundation and a former venture capitalist, Mulcahy has observed the industry closely. In 2012 she... -
4 Factors That Predict Startup Success, and One That Doesn't
Innovation & Leadership ResearchEvidence from more than 300 venture capital investments. -
Virtuous Capital: What Foundations Can Learn from Venture Capitalists
Leadership & Managing People Magazine ArticleU.S. foundations and nonprofits work diligently on behalf of society's most needy and yet report that progress is slow and social problems persist. How... -
When Founders Go Too Far
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Magazine ArticleSilicon Valley venture capitalists used to routinely oust start-up founders--who were viewed as green and unskilled--as part of the process leading to... -
Second Thoughts On Going Public
Corporate governance Magazine ArticleWhether, when, and how to take a family or individually owned company public are decisions that have faced a great many entrepreneurs. They have taken actions that have brought happiness and fulfillment to some and unhappiness to others. Perhaps people who are presently reflecting on such dilemmas can draw some useful thoughts from a study […] -
What Founders Need to Know Before Selling Their Startup
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleYou might be surprised at what your acquirer will agree to - if you just ask. -
How the Next Generation Is Approaching Society's Biggest Problems
Organizational Development Digital ArticleKhan Academy is a case study. -
Don't Take Money from VCs Until You've Asked 4 Questions
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleDue diligence should go both ways. -
To Innovate Like a Startup, Make Decisions Like VCs Do
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleIt's not enough to be lean.
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MIPS Computer Systems
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Explores many of the issues that face rapidly growing venture-backed companies in high technology industries. Provides an opportunity for students to... -
Women in Venture Capital: Cindy Padnos and Aileen Lee
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details This case focuses on Cindy Padnos's and Aileen Lee's experiences founding their own VC firms. It introduces some of the tradeoffs and challenges facing... -
Getit
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Sidharth Gupta, CEO of Getit Infomediary Ltd, had just received a term sheet from Helion Venture Partners (Helion), one of India's independent venture... -
Century Galaxy Group: The Price of Compassion
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details The case describes what happened in December 2019 when Guo Meiling, the chairwoman of Beijing Century Galaxy Group, needed to decide whether she should... -
A Day in the Life of a Venture Capitalist
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details This note describes the tasks that fill the working day of a venture capitalist. Those functions involved in investing (deal sourcing, due diligence,... -
Microsoft's IP Ventures
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Microsoft's IP Ventures program, through which Microsoft spun out promising but unused technologies into new companies, is a new approach to corporate... -
Sierra Capital Partners
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details -
Taurion Inc.: Built to Cure an Incurable Disease (Entrepreneurs)
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Taurion Inc. is a start-up company established in 2006 and based in Vienna. It specializes in researching the causes of Alzheimer's disease (AD) as well... -
Martin Smith: January 2002
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details An MBA student must choose between offers from three private equity organizations. Each organization has distinct strengths and weaknesses, and different... -
Brandless: Disrupting Consumer Packaged Goods
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details Brandless, an online direct-to-consumer seller of upscale private-label consumer packaged goods, offered consumers a limited assortment of values-conscious... -
iZumi
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Presents the issues faced while building an innovative company in an emerging space with new intellectual property from the perspective of a venture capitalist.... -
edocs, Inc. (B2): Jonathon Guerster
Finance & Accounting Case Study5.00View Details Supplements the (A) case. -
Dell Ventures
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Describes the rationale behind the strategy and structure of Dell Computer Corp.'s VC arm, Dell Ventures. While Dell Ventures had a phenomenal year one,... -
Arlan Hamilton and Backstage Capital
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Frustrated by an inability to convince existing venture capital firms to invest in companies led by women, people of color, and LGBT founders, Arlan Hamilton... -
Glossier: Co-Creating a Cult Brand with a Digital Community
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details Glossier's proclaimed strategy was "born from content, fueled by community". The digital-first, direct-to-consumer beauty brand had experienced rapid... -
Note on Government Sources of Financing for Small Businesses
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Discusses issues related to government sources of financing for small business in the United States. In addition to presenting motivations for government... -
MuMate
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details MuMate, a fictional cult beverage company, requires capital to fund national expansion. Its cofounders, who have bootstrapped to this point, are now negotiating... -
Tiffany & Co.
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details This premier retail jewelry company was bought from its parent, Avon, by a group of investors led by its own management in 1984. The company was highly... -
Martin Smith: May 2002
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Martin Smith, a recent HBS graduate, has just begun working with a leveraged buyout firm. His first assignment is to evaluate three different deals and... -
Steven B. Belkin
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study5.00View Details Steven Belkin, 26 years old and 2 1/2 years out of HBS, has decided to leave a group travel company he has run for the last year to start his own similar...
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Whaling Ventures
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Whaling was a prominent global industry in the nineteenth century and the United States was dominant. By 1850 there were about 900 whaling ships in the... -
Entrepreneurship: A Working Definition
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleBeing clear on what it means is not just an academic exercise. -
Framedia (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Examines an acquisition in the highly competitive new media advertising industry in China in late 2005. The transaction leads to eventual consolidation... -
Vermeer Technologies (A): A Company Is Born
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Charles Ferguson has just heard from a venture capital (VC) consortium that it is willing to finance Vermeer Technologies, a company he has cofounded... -
Venture Capital in Israel: Emergence and Globalization
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details In-depth look at the emergence of venture capital (VC) in Israel, tracking not only the industry itself, but also its many drivers, including high technology... -
Sula Vineyards (A): Indian Wine - Ce n'est pas possible!
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details The case focuses on the risks and rewards of early-stage investing in a successful emerging market consumer start-up (i.e. non-tech), from seed funding... -
Startup Capital Ventures in China
Global Business Case Study11.95View Details John Dean and Danny Lui began raising their first fund as Startup Capital Ventures (SCV), a small venture capital firm in 2005. They made a soft commitment... -
How the Geography of Startups and Innovation Is Changing
Global Business Digital ArticleIt's more global, more urban, and more winner-take-all. -
Intel Research: Exploring the Future
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details It is 2004 and David Tennenhouse, the director of Intel Research, is reviewing the organization he has built since 2000. Intel Research was charged with... -
Horizon Group
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Contains a description of a situation confronting the co-founder of a company planning to produce software for microcomputers. The company has just completed...