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

Educators Purchase

Citation:

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

About the Authors

Shikhar Ghosh

Professor of Management Practice

Entrepreneurial Management

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Julia B. Austin

Senior Lecturer of Business Administration

Entrepreneurial Management

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Case | HBS Case Collection | July 2019

Instabeat - One More Lap?

Shikhar Ghosh, Nicole Tempest Keller and Alpana Thapar

This case follows Lebanese entrepreneur, Hind Hobeika, an engineer and competitive swimmer who spends seven years trying to launch a wearable heartrate monitor and motion sensor to help swimmers track their performance while swimming. While the Beirut-based entrepreneur gained initial traction soon after founding her company Instabeat in September 2011, winning $150,000 in prize money from business plan competitions and raising $100,000 from a local venture capital firm, Hobeika soon faced a series of set-backs in trying to manufacture the product. Given the complexity of the hardware product she was trying to build, Hobeika had invested a significant amount of capital in the manufacturing design and had faced continuous delays. In addition, the product was not proving to be economically viable. By early 2016, Hobeika was out of money and had to let her team go. The business issues had also taken a toll on her personal life. However, Hobeika saw a potential path forward. The VC who had originally backed her was closing a new round of funding and was willing to discuss another potential round. More importantly, while in London, she had recently met Alex Asseily, a prominent Lebanese-British entrepreneur who encouraged her to stay the course. He suggested that she relocate to San Francisco, where he would soon be based, and offered to help her. Would it be worthwhile to leave everything behind, relocate, and rebuild the business? Hobeika had to decide  should she continue or not? If so, under what circumstances? If not, what would she do next?

Keywords: Startup; decision making; entrepreneurship; hardware; technology; manufacturing; prototyping; design; organizational culture; female protagonist; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Hardware; Technology; Design; Organizational Culture; United States; Lebanon;

Citation:
Ghosh, Shikhar, Nicole Tempest Keller, and Alpana Thapar. "Instabeat - One More Lap?" Harvard Business School Case 820-005, July 2019. View Details

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Technical Note | HBS Case Collection | June 2019

Valuing Employee Equity at Early Stage Ventures

Shikhar Ghosh, Christopher Stanton and Sanchali Pal

Citation:
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Stanton, and Sanchali Pal. "Valuing Employee Equity at Early Stage Ventures." Harvard Business School Technical Note 819-167, June 2019. View Details

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Supplement | HBS Case Collection | June 2019

Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk; Risk Tolerance Exercise

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Ghosh, Shikhar. "Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk; Risk Tolerance Exercise." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 819-704, June 2019. View Details

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