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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | June 2019 (Revised April 2020)

  Vox Capital: Pioneering Impact Investing in Brazil

  Julie Battilana, Marissa Kimsey and Falko Paetzold

  Vox Capital was the first certified impact investing fund in Brazil. Founded in 2009, it provides early-stage capital for companies offering innovative and scalable solutions to enhance the lives of low-income Brazilians, while aiming to simultaneously generate attractive market-rate financial returns for investors. This case examines the evolution of Vox Capital, across understanding the landscape, launching, raising funds, selecting investees, structuring deals, building investee capacities, tracking performance, developing internal systems, and advancing the field of impact investing.

  Keywords: impact investing; social performance measurement; Social Entrepreneurship; Investment Funds; Social Enterprise; Brazil;

  Citation:

  Battilana, Julie, Marissa Kimsey, and Falko Paetzold. "Vox Capital: Pioneering Impact Investing in Brazil." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 419-087, June 2019. (Revised April 2020.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | March 2020

  Nadine Vogel: Transforming the Marketplace, Workplace, and Workforce for People with Disabilities

  Lakshmi Ramarajan, Hannah Riley-Bowles and Michael Norris

  In 2019, Nadine Vogel, founder and CEO of Springboard Consulting, a firm that worked with Fortune 500 companies on issues related to disability and their workforce, faced the decision of the best path forward to grow her small company. Should she built more and better expertise to expand the topics she worked on with her current clientele? Or should she explore the possibility of moving into the new market of smaller businesses?

  Keywords: Diversity; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Decision Choices and Conditions; United States; Florida; New York (state, US);

  Citation:

  Ramarajan, Lakshmi, Hannah Riley-Bowles, and Michael Norris. "Nadine Vogel: Transforming the Marketplace, Workplace, and Workforce for People with Disabilities." Harvard Business School Case 420-062, March 2020.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | June 2019 (Revised February 2020)

  Eric Hawkins Leading Agile Teams @ Digitally-Born AppFolio (A)

  Tsedal Neeley, Paul Leonardi and Michael Norris

  Eric Hawkins, director of engineering at AppFolio—a digital technology firm that offered cloud-based business software to small and medium sized companies—was shocked by an unusual request from his senior leadership team. Could Hawkins and one of his agile teams build a check scanner feature inside their management software? AppFolio’s founders had instructed to never build a check scanner; providing technologies to help businesses move into the digital era was a primary company goal. A scanner for paper checks would contradict the hard-won culture of software innovation and project self-selection that AppFolio and Hawkins’ teams lived by. Hawkins also worried that creating a new team to work on the check scanning project would cause workload and morale issues. But the sales team believed that this technology could close deals with larger, more complex property management companies, some with managers who wanted the check scanner feature. Several large-scale deals were on the line. Hawkins quickly assembled an agile market validation team and considered two options: hold fast to the company’s values and refuse to build the check scanner feature or capitulate and build a basic check scanner with minimum functionality. Engineers would likely consider this a “loser” project, yet sales might get a boost that could open a new revenue stream. Hawkins had to make his decision quickly.

  Keywords: digital transformation; values; Agile; vision; corporate culture; Leadership; Values and Beliefs; Organizational Culture; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; United States; California;

  Citation:

  Neeley, Tsedal, Paul Leonardi, and Michael Norris. "Eric Hawkins Leading Agile Teams @ Digitally-Born AppFolio (A)." Harvard Business School Case 419-066, June 2019. (Revised February 2020.)  View Details

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