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  • October 2007 (Revised April 2009)
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TH!NK: The Norwegian Electric Car Company

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron
  • Format:Print
  • | Pages:24
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Abstract

On August 1, 2007, 61-year-old Jan-Olaf Willums' plane was flying along the Greenland coastline on his way back to Norway after intense discussions with several prominent U.S. venture capital investors, among them Kleiner Perkins and Rockport Capital Partners, about investing in a plan to accelerate his company's entry into the North American market. A successful engineer, entrepreneur, and sustainable development champion, Willums was CEO of Think Global AS (TH!NK), a privately held Norwegian maker of electric vehicles (EVs). Having already raised $85 million in venture backing, TH!NK was just a few months away from the broad European launch of its line of EVs, the first commercially available, highway-safe cars in the world that produced zero greenhouse emissions.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Innovation and Invention; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Auto Industry; Green Technology Industry; Europe; Norway

Citation

Lassiter, Joseph B., III, and David Kiron. "TH!NK: The Norwegian Electric Car Company." Harvard Business School Case 808-070, October 2007. (Revised April 2009.)
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About The Author

Joseph B. Lassiter

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Related Work

    • February 2010 (Revised October 2010)
    • Faculty Research

    Re-THINK-ing THINK: The Electric Car Company

    By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron
Related Work
  • Re-THINK-ing THINK: The Electric Car Company By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and David Kiron
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