Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs

Shikhar  Ghosh; Joseph  Fuller; Michael  Roberts

Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2015 (Revised March 2016)

Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs

by Shikhar Ghosh, Joseph Fuller and Michael Roberts

Abstract

The case provides a vehicle for teaching about both corporate intrapreneurship and the use of lean startup methods. It tells the story of a product manager within Intuit who develops an idea for a new product that spans two of the company's existing business units—professional tax software, sold to accountants and the consumer-focused TurboTax product. The new product—TurboTax Personal Pro—connects consumers with professional accountants online, allowing them to have their taxes prepared by a professional. The cycle of product development transpires within the larger, corporate context of Intuit, where founder Scott Cook has been attempting to transform the enterprise into a leaner, more innovative company. As the project unfolds, many of the barriers that inhibit innovative in large companies—conflicting incentives, competition over decision rights, the inflexibility of core processes—are revealed. The case also describes in detail the lean startup methods used by the new product team, but in a resource-rich environment, unlike an entrepreneurial firm.

Keywords: Business Units; Business or Company Management; Software; Accounting; Product Development; Financial Services Industry;

Language: English

Format: Print

22 pages

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Citation:

Ghosh, Shikhar, Joseph Fuller, and Michael Roberts. "Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs." Harvard Business School Case 816-048, September 2015. (Revised March 2016.)

Case | HBS Case Collection | November 2020

Truebird—An AlleyCorp Venture

Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

In December 2018, Kevin Ryan and Wendy Tsu faced an important decision – to finalize the CEO candidate for Truebird, an innovative, automated coffee café concept. Like many of AlleyCorp and Ryan’s companies, Truebird started with the observation of an unmet need – an inability to get good coffee at a reasonable price without a wait. Ryan’s track record as a serial entrepreneur included companies such as MongoDB, Gilt Groupe, Zola, and Business Insider. The commonality across AlleyCorp’s diverse businesses was a systematic process to ideation, led by Wendy Tsu, and an emphasis on the early Co-founder/CEO. Over the years, Ryan had refined his process of identifying the most appropriate person to serve as CEO. Two strong candidates had been shortlisted for the CEO position at Truebird. Unlike traditional approaches that used the reference check as a safety net, Ryan and Tsu considered reference check interviews as a stronger indicator of on-the-job performance. How should they structure a reference check process that would allow a complete understanding of each candidate? What questions should they ask when they found people who had worked with, or for, each of the candidates?

Keywords: Startup; hiring; staffing; recruiting; Business Ventures; Finance; Leadership; Management Skills; Management Teams; Jobs and Positions; Job Interviews; Human Resources; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Technology Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States;

Citation:

Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Truebird—An AlleyCorp Venture." Harvard Business School Case 821-030, November 2020. View Details

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As companies struggle with chronic skills shortages and changing labor demographics, a new generation of talent platforms, offering on-demand access to highly trained workers, has begun to help. These platforms include marketplaces for premium expertise (such as Toptal and Catalant), for freelance workers (Upwork and 99designs), and for crowdsourcing innovation (Kaggle and InnoCentive). Almost all Fortune 500 firms use such platforms. But most do so in an ad hoc, inefficient way, according to a Harvard Business School/BCG study. Companies need to get much more strategic about their engagement with talent platforms and fully embrace their ability to increase labor force flexibility, speed time to market, and facilitate business model innovation. That will require rewiring policies and processes and redefining working norms. Most important, leaders must inspire the cultural shift needed to realize the platforms’ transformative potential.

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Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs

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