Field Studies
Each year, approximately 900 field study or ISR projects are undertaken by students. Field studies generally include working with an existing company on an issue they are facing or working on the student’s own business plan, all under faculty supervision for credit. ISRs typically involve working on a more general intellectual or scholarly issue (e.g. how do the terms of angel financing typically differ from those of VC financing?), again, under the supervision of a faculty member for credit.
If you are interested in working with an existing company, check here for a current list of projects. Certainly, you are free to find a company/project on your own. If you would like to post a project (or help a company post one), check here. Note that students' project efforts are free to companies (and students receive no compensation) but companies must agree to pay for any travel, research or other expenses incurred during the project.
If you are interested in working on your own business plan, note that this most typically occurs in the winter term in conjunction with participation in the HBS Business Plan Contest. Some students do more preliminary work in the fall, performing an opportunity assessment either as a field study or part of the field study seminar, Evaluating the Entrepreneurial Opportunity.