Scaling a Startup: Pacing Issues

Thomas  Eisenmann

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Background Note | HBS Case Collection | November 2011 (Revised November 2014)

Scaling a Startup: Pacing Issues

by Thomas Eisenmann

Keywords: Business Startups;

Language: English

Format: Print

10 pages

Educators Purchase

Citation:

Eisenmann, Thomas. "Scaling a Startup: Pacing Issues." Harvard Business School Background Note 812-099, November 2011. (Revised November 2014.) (request a courtesy copy.)

About the Author

Thomas R. Eisenmann

Howard H. Stevenson Professor of Business Administration

Entrepreneurial Management

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Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2019 (Revised December 2019)

Anthony Soohoo at Dot & Bo: Bringing Storytelling to Furniture E-Commerce

Thomas R. Eisenmann, Allison M. Ciechanover and George Gonzalez

The case provides students an opportunity to examine the founding of an e-commerce startup that used storytelling and compelling images to sell furniture and home accessories to millennials. The case describes the rapid sales growth the company experienced, as well as the challenges it faced with operations, delivery, and order tracking. Finally, the protagonist is poised to raise a Series C financing he hopes will value the company at $200 million.

Keywords: e-commerce; Startups; furnishing; Leadership; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Internet; Failure; United States;

Citation:
Eisenmann, Thomas R., Allison M. Ciechanover, and George Gonzalez. "Anthony Soohoo at Dot & Bo: Bringing Storytelling to Furniture E-Commerce." Harvard Business School Case 820-036, September 2019. (Revised December 2019.) View Details

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Supplement | HBS Case Collection | September 2019 (Revised December 2019)

Anthony Soohoo: Retrospection on Dot & Bo

Thomas R. Eisenmann, Allison M. Ciechanover and George Gonzalez

The case provides students an opportunity to examine the founding of an e-commerce startup that used storytelling and compelling images to sell furniture and home accessories to millennials. The case describes the rapid sales growth the company experienced, as well as the challenges it faced with operations, delivery, and order tracking. Finally, the protagonist is poised to raise a Series C financing he hopes will value the company at $200 million.

Keywords: e-commerce; Startups; furnishing; Leadership; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Internet; Failure; United States;

Citation:
Eisenmann, Thomas R., Allison M. Ciechanover, and George Gonzalez. "Anthony Soohoo: Retrospection on Dot & Bo." Harvard Business School Supplement 820-037, September 2019. (Revised December 2019.) View Details

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Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2016 (Revised November 2019)

eSig: Growth Analysis

Mark Roberge and Tom Eisenmann

eSig, an early-stage startup, offers an electronic signature application as a "freemium" product, i.e., users can upgrade from a free basic version to a premium version by paying a subscription fee. Using 9 months of data from 50,000 user activations (available as a case supplement), students are asked to project the number of new users eSig will acquire in Q1 2016 and recommend how much they should spend during the quarter on each major marketing channel (e.g., Facebook ads, Google ads, content marketing, etc.). Note: the name and functionality of the actual freemium application upon which the case is based have been disguised.

Keywords: esignature; Computer software; Business or Company Management; Marketing Channels; Software; Business Startups; Computer Industry;

Citation:
Roberge, Mark, and Tom Eisenmann. "eSig: Growth Analysis." Harvard Business School Case 817-009, August 2016. (Revised November 2019.) View Details

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Scaling a Startup: Pacing Issues

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