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• Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2018 (Revised January 2020)

  Husk Power: Scaling the Venture

  Benjamin N. Roth, Joseph B. Lassiter III and Natalia Rigol

  In January 2018, Husk Power had just raised $20 million to scale operations for a second time. From 2007 through 2013, Husk built 80 biomass waste (primarily rice husk from rice mills) plants that provided electricity to 250,000 villagers and shop owners spread across 350 villages in India and Africa.
  By 2015, Husk underwent a major pivot. Rather than a rural electrification vision aimed at providing power to rural households through biomass gasification alone, Sinha envisioned plants organized around village commercial customers that used biomass gasification, solar energy, and battery power in tandem, allowing for power generation nearly 24-7. To bring this vision to reality, Sinha ceased operations of nearly all of the existing plant locations and began the conversion to new locations built around the “new” hybrid plant. Thus in 2015, Husk was operating a mere 10 power plants and serving roughly 2,000 customers, down from the 80 plants and roughly 250,000 customers they had prior to this shift.
  After downsizing and reorganizing operations, was Husk Power once again ready to scale?

  Keywords: scaling; Energy; Entrepreneurship; Emerging Markets; Growth and Development; Energy Industry; India;

  Citation:

  Roth, Benjamin N., Joseph B. Lassiter III, and Natalia Rigol. "Husk Power: Scaling the Venture." Harvard Business School Case 819-069, December 2018. (Revised January 2020.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | March 2011 (Revised April 2018)

  1366 Technologies: Scaling the Venture

  Joseph B. Lassiter III, Ramana Nanda, David Kiron and Evan Richardson

  For some time, 1366's co-founders, Frank van Mierlo and Ely Sachs, had faced a choice, which was now made all the more stark: 1366 could expand to produce silicon wafers itself, raising the required capital from "friendly" investors and building shipment volume slowly, or 1366 could accelerate its market entry dramatically by partnering with the Asian manufacturers that had begun to dominate the world-wide solar industry. While accelerated growth was attractive to 1366 and its current investors, the company believed that it would face considerable risks if it were to expose its intellectual property to the "wrong" partners. 1366 had no intention of losing control of its technology, but given the pace of innovation and the active role of governments in the solar industry, van Mierlo and Sachs feared this might not be a race that could be won by the cautious.

  Keywords: Technology; Innovation Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Intellectual Property; Management Teams; Renewable Energy; Financial Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Finance; Energy Industry; Technology Industry; United States;

  Citation:

  Lassiter, Joseph B., III, Ramana Nanda, David Kiron, and Evan Richardson. "1366 Technologies: Scaling the Venture." Harvard Business School Case 811-076, March 2011. (Revised April 2018.)  View Details

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• Supplement | HBS Case Collection | March 2018 (Revised April 2018)

  1366 Technologies: Scaling the Venture (B)

  Joseph B. Lassiter III and Ramana Nanda

  It was March 2018. Should proposed U.S. solar tariffs keep U.S.-based 1366 CEO Frank van Mierlo from starting up his 1st full-scale manufacturing plant overseas?

  Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Finance; Intellectual Property; Trade; Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Energy Industry; United States; China; Korean Peninsula;

  Citation:

  Lassiter, Joseph B., III, and Ramana Nanda. "1366 Technologies: Scaling the Venture (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 818-116, March 2018. (Revised April 2018.)  View Details

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