The Financial Perspective:  What Should Entrepreneurs Know?

William A. Sahlman

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Chapter | The Entrepreneurial Venture | 1999

The Financial Perspective: What Should Entrepreneurs Know?

by William A. Sahlman

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Corporate Finance;

Format: Print

Citation:

Sahlman, William A. "The Financial Perspective: What Should Entrepreneurs Know?" Chap. 14 in The Entrepreneurial Venture. 2nd ed. by William A. Sahlman, Howard H. Stevenson, Michael J Roberts, and Amar V. Bhide, 238–261. Harvard Business School Press, 1999.

About the Author

William A. Sahlman

Baker Foundation Professor, Dimitri V. D'Arbeloff - MBA Class of 1955 Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus

Entrepreneurial Management

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Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2018 (Revised May 2019)

Khan Academy 2018

William Sahlman and Nicole Tempest Keller

Founded in 2008, Khan Academy was a global educational nonprofit with a mission to provide a free, world-class education for anyone anywhere in the world. By 2018, the organization had expanded into numerous content areas, product areas, and geographic markets. However, a newly minted 3-year strategic plan called for greater focus and prioritization to enable the young organization to maximize its impact. It also called for increased fundraising efforts to ensure long-term sustainability. The case poses several questions: How can the organization balance its far-reaching aspirational vision for transforming education globally with the short term need for greater focus? Would the priorities set in the strategic plan enable Khan Academy to create systemic global change? How should donors evaluate the attractiveness and impact of a potential investment in Khan Academy relative to other organizations in the educational market? Was Khan Academy on the right path to ensuring long-term sustainability? What should Khan Academy’s management team do?

Keywords: entrepreneur; sustainability; scaling; Social Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Strategy; Education; Entrepreneurship; Teaching; Education Industry; California;

Citation:
Sahlman, William, and Nicole Tempest Keller. "Khan Academy 2018." Harvard Business School Case 819-064, October 2018. (Revised May 2019.) View Details

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Exercise | June 2018

Venture Capital Term Sheets

Ramana Nanda, William A. Sahlman and Robert White

Citation:
Nanda, Ramana, William A. Sahlman, and Robert White. "Venture Capital Term Sheets." Harvard Business School Exercise 818-137, June 2018. View Details

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Book Review | Business History Review | Summer 2018

Leslie Berlin, Troublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age

William A. Sahlman

Leslie Berlin's book Troublemakers, is an engaging and insightful people-first exploration of the roots of Silicon Valley, from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. Berlin portrays seven individuals who played important roles at critical junctures in the development of technologies we now take for granted: the Internet; personal, connected computing and communications devices; genetic engineering; software as a service (SAAS); streaming video; massively multiplayer online games; and democratized access to the world's information. They helped lay the foundation for the economic powerhouse called Silicon Valley.

Keywords: Silicon Valley; Technological Innovation; Disruptive Innovation; History; California;

Citation:
Sahlman, William A. "Leslie Berlin, Troublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age." Business History Review 92, no. 2 (Summer 2018): 343–353. View Details

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The Financial Perspective: What Should Entrepreneurs Know?

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