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• Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2019

  Rand Fishkin at Moz (B)

  Thomas R. Eisenmann

  In 2016, senior management at Moz, a venture capital-backed startup providing software tools for digital marketing professionals, must decide how to address a looming cash flow crisis precipitated by failed efforts to broaden its product line. Seattle-based Moz had originally focused only on search engine optimization (SEO) software. Aiming to accelerate growth, over the past three years the startup had launched products targeted at content marketers, social media marketers, and small local businesses. Adoption of these new products had been disappointing, and the resource drain and distraction of launching them had reduced the growth of Moz's core SEO product. Management was wrestling with whether to either: 1) shut down or sell the new products; or 2) double down on the new products, funding further investment in them by selling the core SEO business or milking it as a "cash cow."

  Keywords: Startups; scaling; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Startups; Diversification; Growth Management;

  Citation:

  Eisenmann, Thomas R. "Rand Fishkin at Moz (B)." Harvard Business School Case 820-003, August 2019.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2019

  Rand Fishkin at Moz (C)

  Thomas R. Eisenmann

  In 2016, senior management at Moz, a venture capital-backed startup providing software tools for digital marketing professionals, must decide how to address a looming cash flow crisis precipitated by failed efforts to broaden its product line. Seattle-based Moz had originally focused only on search engine optimization (SEO) software. Aiming to accelerate growth, over the past three years the startup had launched products targeted at content marketers, social media marketers, and small local businesses. Adoption of these new products had been disappointing, and the resource drain and distraction of launching them had reduced the growth of Moz's core SEO product. Management was wrestling with whether to either: 1) shut down or sell the new products; or 2) double down on the new products, funding further investment in them by selling the core SEO business or milking it as a "cash cow."

  Keywords: Startups; scaling; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Startups; Diversification; Growth Management;

  Citation:

  Eisenmann, Thomas R. "Rand Fishkin at Moz (C)." Harvard Business School Case 820-004, August 2019.  View Details

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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | August 2019

  Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up

  Leslie John and Mitch Weiss

  Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.
  
  The case serves as a microcosm of issues of digital privacy: the availability of data – personal data in particular – has tremendous potential to improve people’s lives and commercial endeavors alike, but it also introduces a host of privacy perils. How can the benefits of this availability of personal data be realized while mitigating the pitfalls? Concern over firms’ use and misuse of consumers’ data has been increasing, fueling a debate surrounding the regulation of online privacy. In this case, students debate this question, and devise a framework of different approaches to resolving these issues.
  The case provides a ripe area of inquiry for privacy issues: so-called “platform” companies, and especially platforms that run adjacent to, or even in public space. Cities are among the most ancient type of “platform,” providing a foundation for users of all types (individuals, organizations, companies) to interact, exchange, and innovate. Where platforms rely on users to generate and share data, privacy issues abound; Sidewalk Toronto is no exception.

  Keywords: privacy; privacy by design; Privacy Regulation; platforms; data; data security; behavioral science; Data and Data Sets; Safety; Entrepreneurship; Business and Government Relations; Consumer Behavior;

  Citation:

  John, Leslie, and Mitch Weiss. "Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-023, August 2019. (Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.)  View Details

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