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- November 2022
- Case
Replika AI: Monetizing a Chatbot
By: Julian De Freitas and Nicole Tempest Keller
In early 2018, Eugenia Kuyda, co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based chatbot Replika AI, was deciding how to monetize the app she had built. Launched in 2017, Replika was a consumer AI “companion app” developed by a team of AI software engineers originally based in...
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- October 2022
- Case
Framebridge (A): Reimagining Custom Framing
By: Rembrand Koning and Alicia Dadlani
In December 2018, Susan Tynan, founder and CEO of Framebridge, a four-year-old venture-backed startup that sold online custom framing, formulated plans for the future. Her vision was to revolutionize the $4 billion industry by making custom framing easy, transparent,...
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- August 2022 (Revised November 2022)
- Case
Wasabi Technologies
By: N. Louis Shipley and Mel Martin
After launching a successful hot cloud storage company, Founder and CEO David Friend is ready to scale the venture rapidly. Wasabi Technologies had focused primarily on direct sales, but an opportunity to pivot to channel sales was on the horizon. The company’s major...
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- July 2022
- Teaching Plan
Wellthy: The Economics of Caring
By: Brian Trelstad
Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 320-028. In 2014, Lindsay Jurist-Rosner (MBA ’09) founded Wellthy, a B2C business that coordinates care for working professionals seeking help to support loved ones with chronic diseases or aging parents. With personal experience as a...
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- February 2022
- Case
Sekisui House and the In-Home Early Detection Platform
By: John D. Macomber and Akiko Kanno
To address an aging population and sales declines, major Japanese homebuilder considers pivoting to provide and support an in-home health detection platform, in competition with tech companies. This case considers the point of view of major builders regarding how...
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- December 2021
- Case
Burning Glass Technologies: From Data to Product
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Amy Klopfenstein
In May 2021, Matt Sigelman, CEO of Burning Glass Technologies, a company that provided labor market analytics for a variety of markets, navigates his company’s transition from data company to product company. Burning Glass originated as a service that used artificial...
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Keywords:
Information Technology;
Applications and Software;
Digital Platforms;
Internet and the Web;
Strategy;
Expansion;
Business Strategy;
Labor;
Employment;
Human Capital;
Jobs and Positions;
Job Design and Levels;
Job Search;
Human Resources;
Selection and Staffing;
Recruitment;
Employees;
Retention;
Competency and Skills;
Experience and Expertise;
Talent and Talent Management;
Analytics and Data Science;
Business Model;
Technology Industry;
North and Central America;
United States
- August 2021
- Case
Wymsee
By: Julia Austin, Sarah Mehta and Tom Quinn
Wymsee was a company that aimed to develop a mobile application (app) that would allow television audience members to identify and purchase clothing or accessories worn by characters in the program they were watching, with the Wymsee founders taking a percentage of...
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Keywords:
Business Model;
Business Plan;
Business Startups;
Film Entertainment;
Television Entertainment;
Technological Innovation;
Knowledge Acquisition;
Product Positioning;
Opportunities;
Adaptation;
Mobile Technology;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Motion Pictures and Video Industry;
Technology Industry;
United States;
New York (city, NY)
- August 2021
- Supplement
Andreessen Horowitz’s Cultural Leadership Fund (B): Kevin Hart and Clubhouse
By: Anita Elberse, Briana Richardson and Cydni Williams
In May 2020, Andreessen Horowitz secures an agreement with Clubhouse, one of Silicon Valley’s hottest startups, to lead its ‘Series A’ funding round. One of the factors that insiders saw as pivotal in the race to be Clubhouse’s VC firm of choice was Andreessen...
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- October 2020 (Revised June 2021)
- Case
COVID-19 Testing at Everlywell
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Olivia Hull
In March 2020, as COVID-19 spreads rapidly across the U.S., Everlywell founder Julia Cheek considers how to respond as a small start-up specializing in at-home lab testing. After making dramatic budget cuts, she decides to pivot the organization to address the...
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Keywords:
Entrepreneurship;
Business Strategy;
Venture Capital;
Health Care and Treatment;
Health Disorders;
Leading Change;
Technology Adoption;
Digital Platforms;
Competitive Strategy;
Science;
Adaptation;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Crisis Management;
Social Entrepreneurship;
Ethics;
Government Legislation;
Health;
Health Testing and Trials;
Health Pandemics;
Consumer Products Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Texas;
United States
- February 2020 (Revised November 2021)
- Case
Wellthy: The Economics of Caring
By: Brian L. Trelstad and Joseph B. Fuller
In 2014, Lindsay Jurist-Rosner (MBA ’09) founded Wellthy, a B2C business that coordinates care for working professionals seeking help to support loved ones with chronic diseases or aging parents. With personal experience as a young professional providing care for her...
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- November–December 2019
- Article
Pivoting Isn't Enough? Managing Strategic Reorientation in New Ventures
By: Rory McDonald and Cheng Gao
New ventures often experience deviations from their plans that oblige them to reorient in pursuit of better fit between their evolving products and their target customers. Yet research is largely silent on how managers explain such changes and justify their ventures in...
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Keywords:
Strategic Reorientation;
Technology Entrepreneurship;
Innovation;
Product Development Processes;
Organizational Adaptation;
Qualitative Methods (General);
Entrepreneurship;
Information Technology;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Strategy;
Innovation and Invention;
Product Development;
Communication Strategy
- November 2018 (Revised June 2022)
- Teaching Note
AirFox (A): Embracing the Blockchain and an ICO
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Nathaniel Schwalb
Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-097. In summer 2017, Victor Santos, CEO of AirFox, considered whether to pivot his startup towards a new product built with blockchain—a quickly growing technology at the time. AirFox was an early stage startup that sold...
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- November 2018
- Case
Yatooq: Longing for Arabic Coffee
By: Mark Roberge, Gamze Yucaoglu and Samer Al-Rachedy
As one of the few female entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia, Lateefa Alwaalan had been trying to produce the perfect cup of Arabic coffee for over a decade. In 2007, she began testing various coffee blends, which she later branded Yatooq, the Arabic word for “craving” or...
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Keywords:
Entrepreneurial Sales;
Entrepreneurial Selling;
Entrepreneurial Marketing;
Barrier To Entry;
Business Start-ups;
Yatooq;
Entrepreneurship;
Private Sector;
For-Profit Firms;
Business Strategy;
Patents;
Business Startups;
Strategic Planning;
Competitive Strategy;
Adaptation;
Corporate Entrepreneurship;
Corporate Strategy;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Saudi Arabia;
Asia
- August 2018
- Case
MISHA: Modernizing the World of Shisha
By: William R. Kerr and Gamze Yucaoglu
The case opens in 2017 with two of the five co-founders of MISHA telling the company’s CEO Michal Portz that they believe it is time for the global venture to shut down its operations and cease investments. Portz and another co-founder believe MISHA can still...
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Keywords:
Innovation And Management;
Entrepreneurship;
Private Sector;
For-profit Firms;
Business Strategy;
Decision;
Business Startups;
Emerging Markets;
Business Model;
Marketing Strategy;
Distribution Channels;
Market Entry and Exit;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Competitive Advantage;
Value Creation;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Technology Industry;
Qatar;
United States
- July 2018 (Revised January 2021)
- Case
RunKeeper
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai
The case examines the focus of an early stage company and how venture capital can distort a founder’s view. It encompasses issues such as financing, understanding the founders’ definition of success/failure, defining and pivoting a business model, and determining the...
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- May 2018 (Revised January 2019)
- Case
AirFox (A): Embracing the Blockchain and an ICO
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Edward B. Berk and Nate Schwalb
In summer 2017, Victor Santos, CEO of AirFox, considered whether to pivot his startup towards a new product built with blockchain—a quickly growing technology at the time. AirFox was an early stage startup that sold Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to small telecom...
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- March 2018
- Case
Chaudhary Group: Rebuilding Nepal
By: Christopher J. Malloy, Lauren H. Cohen and Inakshi Sobti
After the 2015 Nepal earthquake, the Chaudhary Group, a billion-dollar conglomerate in Nepal, decides to play a pivotal role in rebuilding the country. The Group's philanthropic arm (Chaudhary Foundation) works with stakeholders and develops a blue print for short- and...
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Keywords:
Leadership;
Family Business;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Developing Countries and Economies;
Social Entrepreneurship;
Values and Beliefs;
Venture Capital;
Microfinance;
Geographic Location;
Collaborative Innovation and Invention;
Management;
Crisis Management;
Management Teams;
Resource Allocation;
Business and Community Relations;
Business and Government Relations;
Natural Disasters;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Social Issues;
Business Strategy;
Consumer Products Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Nepal
- January 2018 (Revised January 2019)
- Case
ZappRx
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Olivia Hull
In October 2015, ZappRx founder Zoe Barry is deciding between two business models for her health technology start-up. Her product, a software application that aims to expedite the prescription fulfillment process for patients with rare diseases, has attracted interest...
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- January 2017 (Revised September 2022)
- Case
Classtivity: Payal's Pirouette
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Olivia Hull
A few months after launching a new fitness technology product, the small staff of New York startup Classtivity gathers on a Saturday in April 2013 to take stock. With one successful pivot under its belt, Classtivity is finally generating revenue and enthusiasm among...
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Keywords:
Product Pivot;
Boutique Fitness;
Fitness Industry;
Market Sizing;
Consumer Technology;
Bundling;
Subscription Model;
Two-sided Marketplace;
ClassPass;
Entrepreneurship;
Venture Capital;
Business Startups;
Transition;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Technological Innovation;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Customer Value and Value Chain;
Marketing Strategy;
Failure;
Business Strategy;
Technology Industry;
Health Industry;
New York (city, NY)
- 2017
- Book
Democracy: A Case Study
By: David Moss
Democracy: A Case Study invites readers to experience American history anew and come away with a deeper understanding of the greatest strengths and vulnerabilities of the nation’s democracy as well as its resilience over time. The book adapts the case method to...
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