Social Is the New Financial: How Startups' Social Media Activities Influence Funding Outcomes

Andy  Wu; Fujie  Jin; Lorin  Hitt

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Working Paper | 2015

Social Is the New Financial: How Startups' Social Media Activities Influence Funding Outcomes

by Andy Wu, Fujie Jin and Lorin Hitt

Language: English

Format: Print

Citation:

Wu, Andy, Fujie Jin, and Lorin Hitt. "Social Is the New Financial: How Startups' Social Media Activities Influence Funding Outcomes." Working Paper, July 2015.

About the Author

Andy Wu

Assistant Professor of Business Administration

Strategy

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Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2019 (Revised June 2019)

SoundCloud: Subscription Streaming?

Ashish Nanda, Eric Van den Steen, Andy Wu, Jeffrey Boyar and Bonnie Bennett Slater

Established in 2007, SoundCloud already boasted the second largest number of active music listeners among all streaming services and was recognized as the go-to platform for new artists by early 2014. Yet, its founders were questioning the robustness of the firm’s current focus on serving as a lab for emerging musical artists. They were wondering if the firm should instead enter the booming mainstream music streaming market.

Keywords: audio; recording; artist; music; music downloads; streaming; radio; subscription; subscription model; mainstream; Growth; lawsuit; licensing; customers; platform; Pivot; Music Entertainment; Strategy; Leadership; Business Model; Decision Making; Advertising; Music Industry; Europe; Germany; Sweden; United States;

Citation:
Nanda, Ashish, Eric Van den Steen, Andy Wu, Jeffrey Boyar, and Bonnie Bennett Slater. "SoundCloud: Subscription Streaming?" Harvard Business School Case 719-430, January 2019. (Revised June 2019.) View Details

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Technical Note | HBS Case Collection | May 2019

Nascent Platform Strategy: Overcoming the Chicken-or-Egg Dilemma

Andy Wu, David R. Clough and Sasha Kaletsky

This note provides a framework for addressing the classic chicken-or-egg dilemma facing entrepreneurs launching nascent multi-sided platforms. There are several conditions that lead to a difficult chicken-or-egg problem: strong network effects, high multi-homing costs, limited differentiation, and high other barriers to entry. To overcome this challenge and create competitive advantage by reaching critical scale in network size, there are three categories of solutions to the problem: increasing value, decreasing cost, or subsidizing value for the platform participants. For a multi-sided platform, there are also dynamic considerations for addressing whether to stage one side of the platform first or build both simultaneously.

Keywords: Multi-Sided Platforms; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Advantage;

Citation:
Wu, Andy, David R. Clough, and Sasha Kaletsky. "Nascent Platform Strategy: Overcoming the Chicken-or-Egg Dilemma." Harvard Business School Technical Note 719-507, May 2019. View Details

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Boxed

Laura Huang, Andy Wu and Jiayi Bao

Boxed.com (“Boxed”) is an ambitious e-commerce retailer start-up, founded by visionary CEO Chieh Huang in 2013. From starting in Huang’s garage in 2013, to winning Emerging E-Retailer of the Year in 2016, to having four operational distribution centers in 2018, Boxed used a variety of strategies in order to gain customers and grow its presence. This case explores the journey that the scrappy, new entrant navigated as it competed against large, goliath players in an already established retail and e-commerce industry.

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Citation:
Huang, Laura, Andy Wu, and Jiayi Bao. "Boxed." Harvard Business School Case 719-496, April 2019. View Details

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Social Is the New Financial: How Startups' Social Media Activities Influence Funding Outcomes

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