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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013 (Revised from original 2011 version)

  Career at a Crossroad: Akhil Patel

  Noam Wasserman, Lisa Brem and Yael Braid

  Akhil Patel is passionate about his business idea: an innovative green technology fuel cell. He wants to dive in and commit to his startup, but his fiancée is much more risk averse, his parents don't approve of the startup, and Akhil has an enticing alternative offer from a prestigious consulting firm. Should Akhil follow his dream and become an entrepreneur? Or should he take the "safer" consulting job?

  Keywords: Decisions; Risk and Uncertainty; Opportunities; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Green Technology Industry; Consulting Industry;

  Citation:

  Wasserman, Noam, Lisa Brem, and Yael Braid. "Career at a Crossroad: Akhil Patel." Harvard Business School Case 812-010, January 2013. (Revised from original August 2011 version.)

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013

  Family Matters at ProLab

  Noam Wasserman and Yael Braid

  Hillary Mallow, founder-CEO of ProLab, learns that her health-services company is two months shy of bankruptcy. She needs to act—immediately—but isn't sure where to begin. Prolab's client list and geographic presence have grown steadily over the years, so the recent downturn is quite unexpected. Most worrisome, ProLab's executive team is in major trouble; contentiousness has developed between Hillary's husband, ProLab's CFO, and Hillary's business partner, ProLab's COO, which now threatens to envelop everyone else. With her company at stake and personal relationships on the line, Hillary must scramble to resolve the complicated mess that could mean the end of her company, or worse.

  Keywords: entrepreneurship; family business; Entrepreneurship; Health Industry;

  Citation:

  Wasserman, Noam, and Yael Braid. "Family Matters at ProLab." Harvard Business School Case 813-130, January 2013.

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• Background Note | HBS Case Collection | 2012 (Revised from original 2010 version)

  A 'Rich-vs.-King' Approach to Term Sheet Negotiations

  Noam Wasserman, Furqan Nazeeri and Kyle Anderson

  This note offers a new approach to venture capital term-sheet negotiations, with actionable steps based on insights from Professor Wasserman's "Rich-vs.-King" approach to founder decisions. A core thesis of this note is that trying to negotiate all terms in a term sheet will be less effective than focusing on the terms that are most important to the specific entrepreneur in question, taking into account the entrepreneur's goals and motivations in founding the venture. In particular, terms that are higher priority to a control-motivated "King" founder are often lower priority to a wealth-motivated "Rich" founder and vice versa. Thus, this note identifies the most common terms that differ in their importance to different types of founders and provides a framework for weighing the relative importance of each potential term-sheet outcome for their specific type.

  Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Framework; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Motivation and Incentives; Financial Services Industry;

  Citation:

  Wasserman, Noam, Furqan Nazeeri, and Kyle Anderson. "A 'Rich-vs.-King' Approach to Term Sheet Negotiations." Harvard Business School Background Note 810-119, December 2012. (Revised from original March 2010 version.)

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