Help Scout

Shikhar  Ghosh; Julia  Austin; Christopher  Payton

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Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2016 (Revised May 2017)

Help Scout

by Shikhar Ghosh, Julia Austin and Christopher Payton

Language: English

Format: Print

13 pages

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Citation:

Ghosh, Shikhar, Julia Austin, and Christopher Payton. "Help Scout." Harvard Business School Case 817-049, September 2016. (Revised May 2017.)

About the Author

Shikhar Ghosh

Professor of Management Practice

Entrepreneurial Management

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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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Technical Note | HBS Case Collection | October 2020

Firing at Startups

Shikhar Ghosh and Shweta Bagai

Keywords: firing;

Citation:
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Firing at Startups." Harvard Business School Technical Note 821-057, October 2020. View Details

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Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2020

Twiga Foods: Revolutionizing African Retail (A)

Shikhar Ghosh, Pippa Tubman Amerding and Wale Lawal

Citation:
Ghosh, Shikhar, Pippa Tubman Amerding, and Wale Lawal. "Twiga Foods: Revolutionizing African Retail (A)." Harvard Business School Case 821-043, October 2020. View Details

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