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Scaling a Midsize Startup
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleIn between unicorns and mom-and-pop startups lies the "mighty middle." -
Why It's So Hard to Scale a Great Idea
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleFive hurdles - and how to overcome them. -
HBR's List of Audacious Ideas for Solving the World's Problems
Leadership & Managing People Magazine ArticleAs the global economy vacillates between signs of recovery and omens of collapse, businesses and governments are clamping down. But the world doesn't... -
Entrepreneurs vs. Executives at Socaba.com (Commentary for HBR Case Study)
Organizational Development Magazine ArticleIt's been four years since Dave Souza, Joe Castle, and Ryan Bahar started Socaba.com--an e-business that sells office supplies and services. Six months... -
What the Lean Startup Method Gets Right and Wrong
Entrepreneurs and founders Digital ArticleIt puts a premium on customer experience, but undervalues strategic thinking. -
Creativity with a small c
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleSchumpeter's vision of the lone entrepreneur is so entrenched in our minds that we unconsciously tend to believe that entrepreneurial flair is a matter... -
How GE Applies Lean Startup Practices
Operations and supply chain management Digital ArticleThey’re reinventing their appliance business with rapid prototyping. -
In Big Companies, Lean Is Only One Piece of the Puzzle
Entrepreneurship Digital ArticleAt mature companies, it’s tougher to turn on a dime. -
4 Factors That Predict Startup Success, and One That Doesn't
Innovation & Leadership ResearchEvidence from more than 300 venture capital investments. -
How the Geography of Startups and Innovation Is Changing
Global Business Digital ArticleIt's more global, more urban, and more winner-take-all. -
Your Strategy Needs a Story
Strategy formulation Digital ArticleA well-told story can help employees and other stakeholders understand how your business works and where it’s heading. -
Four Lean Advertising Campaigns That Went Viral
Advertising Digital ArticleInexpensive videos can sell products, but you’ve got to know what works (and what doesn’t). -
Innovation Potential: Innovation Inventory #2
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleThis article is part of a 10-part series highlighting what companies need to do to transform uncertainty into opportunity. The full list will be posted... -
The Overlooked Key to a Successful Scale-Up
Innovation & Leadership Magazine ArticleMany start-ups experience enormous popularity and runaway growth, but only a few go on to become stable giants. What separates them from the pack? They... -
Dear Entrepreneur: Think Cash, Not Ideas
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleLast week NBA legend-turned-entrepreneur Magic Johnson sold his Starbucks franchises back to the corporation for a reported $75 million. Rumor has it,... -
VC Funding Can Be Bad For Your Start-Up
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleMost successful entrepreneurs never take any venture capital. -
You Can Negotiate with Venture Capitalists
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Magazine ArticleBusiness owners who have found venture capitalists (VCs) willing to put money into their companies may be tempted to take the money on any terms. Because... -
What Big Companies Can Learn from the Success of the Unicorns
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleInnovation requires focus. -
Entrepreneurial Execution: The Future of Strategy
Strategy & Execution Digital ArticleInstead of the extremes of strategy execution I criticized last week, many organizations would benefit from a blended approach that combines entrepreneurship...
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Early-Stage Term Sheets
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details This note was written as an updated version of "The Early-Stage Term Sheet" (UV2526) and may be used in its place. In seeking funding for an early-stage... -
Doximity: Financing a Social Network for Physicians
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Despite the existence of large social networks, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, co-founders Jeff Tangney and Dr. Nate Gross believed there was a unique... -
MOVE Guides (A)
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details It was a crisp autumn day in London in 2012. Brynne Kennedy and Steve Black, the co-founders of MOVE Guides, were huddling with their lead software developer,... -
Pathfinder Capital
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Two former consultants have raised a search fund and are looking for a company to buy and run. After eight months of looking at deals, they have just... -
Grab: Discovering New Frontiers for Growth in the Southeast Asian Sharing Economy
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details Launched in 2012, Grab began in Malaysia as a third-party e-hailing taxi dispatching mobile application. The company expanded at a remarkable speed and... -
AIT Group Plc
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details A U.S. venture capital firm has just learned that the deal structure for purchasing an illiquid U.K. software firm is unacceptable to institutional investors.... -
An Overview of Corporate Venture Capital
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details This note examines the corporate venture capital (CVC) industry, which has played an increasingly large role in the global innovation ecosystem, especially... -
School of Rock: Tuning into Structured Empowerment (A)
Management Case Study11.95View Details In summer 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before CEO Rob Price's... -
MinderSoft, Inc.
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details The MinderSoft case explores the entrepreneur's attempt to raise a first round of venture capital. The founder and venture fund's valuation differ by... -
Better Place: The Electric Vehicle Renaissance
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details This case describes the innovative business model of Better Place Inc., an electric vehicle company. The key challenges in operating the business model... -
Integral Vision Ltd. (A)
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details A stop-action simulation case takes participants through the process whereby four people (three young entrepreneurs and an investor) take a machine vision... -
Privateer Holdings: Navigating a Rocketing, But Complex, Cannabis Marketplace
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Privateer Holdings was a Seattle-based private equity firm that was "shaping the future of the legal cannabis industry." In late 2017, Privateer held... -
Vermeer Technologies (A1): Hiring the CEO
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study5.00View Details Supplements the (A) case. -
Xedia and Silicon Valley Bank (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Xedia, a networking equipment manufacturer that helps provide high-speed Internet service for corporate clients through access routing, wants a bridge... -
Lovepop
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details As they prepare to graduate from Harvard Business School, the co-founders of greeting card company startup Lovepop need capital to cover the company's... -
Yale University Investments Office
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Yale University's investment office was responsible for managing its endowment, which totaled nearly $4 billion in June 1995. Yale had developed a rather... -
Ramcides: Growing Pains for a Family-Run Business in an Emerging Market
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details During the Holi festival in March 2012, the managing director of Ramcides, a family-run agrochemical business, was considering the path of the company... -
Darwinians at the Gate: Sustainability, Innovation and Growth at DSM
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details For Feike Sijbesma, CEO of Royal DSM since 2007, rapid changes were normal as major trends were playing out. Global population swelled, the balance of... -
Herend Porcelain Manufactory: Designing Strategy in a COVID-19 World
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details Herend Porcelain Manufactory Ltd. (Herend) was an almost 200-year-old porcelain manufactory located in western Hungary. The company had weathered multiple... -
Odyssey Healthcare
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details In January 2001, Dick Burnham, CEO of Odyssey Healthcare, and Odyssey's Board of Directors were considering selling the hospice care company to a larger...
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Early-Stage Term Sheets
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details This note was written as an updated version of "The Early-Stage Term Sheet" (UV2526) and may be used in its place. In seeking funding for an early-stage... -
Doximity: Financing a Social Network for Physicians
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Despite the existence of large social networks, such as Facebook and LinkedIn, co-founders Jeff Tangney and Dr. Nate Gross believed there was a unique... -
Scaling a Midsize Startup
Innovation & Leadership Digital ArticleIn between unicorns and mom-and-pop startups lies the "mighty middle." -
MOVE Guides (A)
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details It was a crisp autumn day in London in 2012. Brynne Kennedy and Steve Black, the co-founders of MOVE Guides, were huddling with their lead software developer,... -
Pathfinder Capital
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Two former consultants have raised a search fund and are looking for a company to buy and run. After eight months of looking at deals, they have just... -
Grab: Discovering New Frontiers for Growth in the Southeast Asian Sharing Economy
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details Launched in 2012, Grab began in Malaysia as a third-party e-hailing taxi dispatching mobile application. The company expanded at a remarkable speed and... -
AIT Group Plc
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details A U.S. venture capital firm has just learned that the deal structure for purchasing an illiquid U.K. software firm is unacceptable to institutional investors.... -
An Overview of Corporate Venture Capital
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details This note examines the corporate venture capital (CVC) industry, which has played an increasingly large role in the global innovation ecosystem, especially... -
School of Rock: Tuning into Structured Empowerment (A)
Management Case Study11.95View Details In summer 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before CEO Rob Price's... -
MinderSoft, Inc.
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details The MinderSoft case explores the entrepreneur's attempt to raise a first round of venture capital. The founder and venture fund's valuation differ by...