Filter Results
:
(369)
Show Results For
-
All HBS Web
(1,151)
- Faculty Publications (369)
Show Results For
-
All HBS Web
(1,151)
- Faculty Publications (369)
- January 2024 (Revised May 2024)
- Case
Uncle Nearest: Creating a Legacy
By: Hise Gibson, Archie L. Jones, Nicole Gilmore and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone
Fawn Weaver, as a Black woman and industry outsider in a capital-intensive, highly regulated, competitive and male-dominated spirits industry, successfully overcame numerous obstacles to launch a premium American whiskey brand, Uncle Nearest in 2017, which became the...
View Details
Keywords:
Advertising;
Business Startups;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Decisions;
Forecasting and Prediction;
Age;
Ethnicity;
Gender;
Corporate Entrepreneurship;
Entrepreneurship;
Working Capital;
Innovation Leadership;
Innovation Strategy;
Intellectual Property;
Trademarks;
Leadership Style;
Growth and Development;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Marketing;
Product Marketing;
Product Launch;
Marketing Strategy;
Mission and Purpose;
Organizational Culture;
Private Ownership;
Performance Effectiveness;
Strategic Planning;
Problems and Challenges;
Prejudice and Bias;
Social Issues;
Strategy;
Competition;
Competitive Strategy;
Expansion;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Tourism Industry;
United States;
Tennessee;
France
Gibson, Hise, Archie L. Jones, Nicole Gilmore, and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone. "Uncle Nearest: Creating a Legacy." Harvard Business School Case 824-047, January 2024. (Revised May 2024.)
- November 2023
- Case
Will Fintechs and Central Banks Play in Emtech's Sandbox?
By: Daniel Isenberg and William R. Kerr
In February 2023, Emtech’s founder Carmelle Cadet is facing a dilemma. Rapidly running out of cash, Cadet has a term sheet from a leading VC but has a choice of how to structure the investment. The decision will have significant implications for Cadet’s own stake, as...
View Details
Keywords:
Cryptocurrency;
Business Startups;
Venture Capital;
Cash Flow;
Currency;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Digital Platforms
Isenberg, Daniel, and William R. Kerr. "Will Fintechs and Central Banks Play in Emtech's Sandbox?" Harvard Business School Case 824-096, November 2023.
- October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
- Case
KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing
By: George Serafeim, Siko Sikochi and Namrata Arora
The problem was massive: two million hectares of African forests were lost annually to charcoal production for cooking, an area equivalent to 13 times Greater London, resulting in one billion tons of carbon emissions yearly. At the same time, an estimated 700,000...
View Details
Keywords:
Clean Tech;
Digital;
Carbon Credits;
Carbon Offsetting;
Climate Change;
Entrepreneurship;
Energy Sources;
Environmental Sustainability;
Health;
Market Design;
Business Startups;
Transition;
Environmental Regulation;
Policy;
Energy Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Africa;
Kenya;
Rwanda
Serafeim, George, Siko Sikochi, and Namrata Arora. "KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing." Harvard Business School Case 124-022, October 2023. (Revised March 2024.)
- October 2023 (Revised November 2023)
- Case
Sprout Solutions
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Bonnie Yining Cao and Dawn H. Lau
Husband-and-wife co-founders Patrick and Alexandria Gentry had built Sprout Solutions to be one of the biggest Software-as-a-Service human resources management platforms in the Philippines, guided by the mission to "impact the life of every Filipino by improving...
View Details
- September 2023
- Case
Ada: Cultivating Investors
By: Reza Satchu and Patrick Sanguineti
Mike Murchison, co-founder and CEO of Ada, has an enviable dilemma. Launched in 2016 by Murchison and his co-founder David Hariri, Ada is an AI-native company that aims to revolutionize how businesses approach customer service. The company has already attracted a buzz,...
View Details
- September 2023 (Revised September 2023)
- Case
Honest Jobs: A Path to Redemption
By: Paul A. Gompers and Jeffrey Barkas
Founded by a formerly incarcerated job seeker, Honest Jobs' mission is to be the hub where people with criminal records come to build careers and employers come to find great talent. Honest Jobs faced early challenges as a two-sided platform for justice-involved job...
View Details
Keywords:
Business Startups;
Venture Capital;
Recruitment;
Employment Industry;
United States;
Colorado;
Ohio;
Texas
- September 2023 (Revised March 2024)
- Case
ReMo Energy: Sizing Up Investors
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Tom Quinn
In 2023, executives with ReMo Energy (founded 2020) were deciding which size ammonia plant to build as their first project. Their innovative model produced ammonia—useful for making fertilizer and for energy storage—from renewable energy, and they had received funding...
View Details
Keywords:
Factories, Labs, and Plants;
Business Startups;
Cost vs Benefits;
Design;
Energy Conservation;
Energy Generation;
Renewable Energy;
Venture Capital;
Investment Return;
Goods and Commodities;
Size;
Infrastructure;
Risk and Uncertainty;
Science-Based Business;
Commercialization;
Technological Innovation;
Chemical Industry;
Energy Industry;
Green Technology Industry;
United States;
Boston
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Tom Quinn. "ReMo Energy: Sizing Up Investors." Harvard Business School Case 824-027, September 2023. (Revised March 2024.)
- September 2023
- Case
Diamond Standard
By: Lauren H. Cohen, Zhaoheng Gong and Grace Headinger
Cormac Kinney, Founder and CEO of Diamond Standard, was on a mission to transform the U.S. diamond market through unlocking the precious gems as market-traded assets. As a serial FinTech entrepreneur, he hoped to add an additional service to his vault: Carats. The...
View Details
Keywords:
Tokenization;
Fintech;
Cryptocurrency;
Liquidity;
Digital;
Rare Earth Minerals;
Decentralized;
Crypto Economy;
Financial Product;
Metals;
Diamonds;
Commodity;
Assets;
Financial Instruments;
Financial Institutions;
Financial Markets;
Investment;
Technological Innovation;
Natural Resources;
Business Startups;
Currency;
Financial Services Industry;
United States
Cohen, Lauren H., Zhaoheng Gong, and Grace Headinger. "Diamond Standard." Harvard Business School Case 224-009, September 2023.
- September 2023
- Article
Judging Foreign Startups
By: Nataliya Langburd Wright, Rembrand Koning and Tarun Khanna
Can accelerators pick the most promising startup ideas no matter their provenance? Using unique data from a global accelerator where judges are randomly assigned to evaluate startups headquartered across the globe, we show that judges are less likely to recommend...
View Details
Keywords:
Entrepreneurship And Strategy;
Global Strategy;
Entrepreneurial Financing;
Innovation;
International;
Entrepreneurship;
Judgments;
Business Startups;
Geographic Location;
Growth and Development Strategy
Wright, Nataliya Langburd, Rembrand Koning, and Tarun Khanna. "Judging Foreign Startups." Strategic Management Journal 44, no. 9 (September 2023): 2195–2225.
- August 2023 (Revised February 2024)
- Case
DexAI
By: Jo Tango and Christina Wallace
During a challenging fundraising environment, the DexAI founders received two term sheets with nearly identical economic terms but very different legal ones. The entrepreneurs had to navigate: representations and warranties (their personal guarantees that the company's...
View Details
- August 2023 (Revised April 2024)
- Case
eBee: Affordable Mobility for Africa
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Gamze Yucaoglu
The case opens in March 2023, as Sten van der Ham and Jaap Maljers, CEO and co-founder of eBee, an electric bike (e-bike) company in Africa, are contemplating the different avenues for growth and path to profitability for the young and ambitious company. In 2023, the...
View Details
Keywords:
Business Model;
Business Startups;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Business Strategy;
Bicycle Industry;
Africa;
Kenya
Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Gamze Yucaoglu. "eBee: Affordable Mobility for Africa." Harvard Business School Case 724-360, August 2023. (Revised April 2024.)
- July 2023
- Case
Honeycomb
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Kumba Sennaar
Honeycomb, an audio app enabling seniors to record stories and save family memories, suddenly draws interest from a younger user demographic. The co-founders consider pivoting to better serve this new user demographic. How should they think about strategy, brand, and...
View Details
- July 2023
- Supplement
Honeycomb (B): Jumping on The Generative AI Bandwagon?
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Kumba Sennaar
Honeycomb, an audio app enabling users to record stories and save family memories, considers pivoting to embrace generative AI. What should the co-founders business model look like if they pursued this new direction?
View Details
- July 2023 (Revised February 2024)
- Case
Clair
By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Marcos Quirno
Clair was founded with a simple mission: to expedite America’s workers access to their hard-earned wages. In the headwinds of the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup had successfully raised a seed round of $4.5 million, and within two years the earned wage access (EWA)...
View Details
- July 2023 (Revised May 2024)
- Case
Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service
By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel, Lena Duchene and Daniela Beyersdorfer
The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of millions of single-use take-out food...
View Details
Keywords:
Climate Risk;
Digital;
Platform Strategies;
Data;
Packaging;
Sustainability;
Start-up;
Startup;
Entrepreneur;
Impact;
Circular;
Growth Strategy;
Innovation;
Environmental Sustainability;
Innovation and Invention;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Business Startups;
Resource Allocation;
Risk Management;
Adoption;
Strategy;
Performance Productivity;
Service Delivery;
Service Operations;
Supply Chain;
Distribution;
Entrepreneurship;
Climate Change;
Green Technology Industry;
Service Industry;
Retail Industry;
Germany;
Europe
Serafeim, George, Michael W. Toffel, Lena Duchene, and Daniela Beyersdorfer. "Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service." Harvard Business School Case 124-007, July 2023. (Revised May 2024.)
- June 2023 (Revised November 2023)
- Case
Sober Sidekick
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Kumba Sennaar
Case on the nascent business model of a mobile health IT startup. In particular, should they pivot away from their successful lead generation business model to charging health plans.
View Details
Keywords:
Entrepreneurship;
Venture Capital;
Operations;
Business Startups;
Business Model;
Health Industry;
United States
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Kumba Sennaar. "Sober Sidekick." Harvard Business School Case 823-066, June 2023. (Revised November 2023.)
- April 2023
- Case
Drive Capital: A New Road for Venture
By: Paul A. Gompers and Alicia Dadlani
Founded by two former Sequoia Capital partners, Columbus-Ohio-based Drive Capital’s mission was to build a world-class venture capital firm in the middle of the U.S., an area historically overlooked by VCs. Drive faced early challenges of attracting investors, sourcing...
View Details
Keywords:
Venture Capital;
Business Startups;
Entrepreneurship;
Investment;
Business Strategy;
Financial Services Industry;
Biotechnology Industry;
United States;
Ohio
Gompers, Paul A., and Alicia Dadlani. "Drive Capital: A New Road for Venture." Harvard Business School Case 823-056, April 2023.
- March 24, 2023
- Article
What Silicon Valley Bank Did Right
By: Lou Shipley
There’s a reason Silicon Valley Bank became such a fixture among startups: it understood their needs better than any other bank. Even now, many banks don’t have the flexibility and understanding to make banking easy for startups. With SVB gone, a lot of young companies...
View Details
Keywords:
Startup;
Silicon Valley;
Entrepreneurship;
Bank;
Finance;
Business Startups;
Banks and Banking;
Banking Industry
Shipley, Lou. "What Silicon Valley Bank Did Right." Harvard Business Review (website) (March 24, 2023).
- March 2023
- Case
FinTunes, Inc., Board of Directors
By: Lynn S. Paine and Jennifer Fonstad
The board of FinTunes, Inc., a start-up aimed at helping musicians distribute their work and manage their finances, must decide among three candidates to serve as the company’s first independent director. The terms of FinTunes’ last round of financing provided that the...
View Details
- March 2023 (Revised June 2023)
- Case
Doing Business in Kigali, Rwanda
By: Andy Zelleke, A. Zelleke, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Wale Lawal
This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Rwanda. It highlights Rwanda's economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2023 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main...
View Details
Keywords:
Business History;
Business and Government Relations;
Technological Innovation;
Foreign Direct Investment;
Economic Growth;
Transportation Industry;
Tourism Industry;
Rwanda
Zelleke, Andy, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Pippa Tubman Armerding, and Wale Lawal. "Doing Business in Kigali, Rwanda." Harvard Business School Case 323-089, March 2023. (Revised June 2023.)