Abstract
As his major-league pitching career was starting to wind down in 2006, baseball all-star Curt Schilling decided to become an entrepreneur. Looking to focus his tenacity and his passion for online role-playing games on a new challenge, he founded an online gaming venture, which later became known as 38 Studios. During the venture's first two years, he built a team of 70 people, including an executive team of business and industry veterans and learned key lessons about the challenges faced by industry-changing entrepreneurs. Wanting to self-fund the venture initially, and later finding it hard to raise outside money, he put a substantial percentage of his net worth on the line to build 38 Studios. Now he is facing a critical acquisition decision that could either double his problems or help solve them.
Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions;
Business Startups;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Entrepreneurship;
Financing and Loans;
Leadership;
Personal Development and Career;
Groups and Teams;
Video Game Industry;
Citation:
Wasserman, Noam T., Jeffrey J. Bussgang, and Rachel Gordon. "Curt Schilling's Next Pitch." Harvard Business School Case 810-053, June 2011. (Revised from original December 2009 version.)