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• Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2019

  Rand Fishkin at Moz (A)

  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; Technology Industry;

  Citation:

  Eisenmann, Thomas R. "Rand Fishkin at Moz (A)." Harvard Business School Case 820-002, August 2019.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2016 (Revised April 2019)

  InsightSquared: Developing the Sales and Marketing Plan

  Mark Roberge, Tom Eisenmann and Frank Cespedes

  Fred Shilmover and Sam Clemens prepared for their fourth quarter board meeting. They were excited to have scaled their software startup, InsightSquared, to $2 million in revenue and secured an $8 million round of venture capital. However, they disagreed on the path ahead, specifically on the sales and marketing plan. Shilmover preferred a sales-centric approach to growth while Clemens preferred a marketing-centric one. Which strategy was optimal for their venture’s next phase of growth?

  Keywords: Sales planning; Software; Marketing; Sales; Planning; Growth and Development Strategy;

  Citation:

  Roberge, Mark, Tom Eisenmann, and Frank Cespedes. "InsightSquared: Developing the Sales and Marketing Plan." Harvard Business School Case 816-074, February 2016. (Revised April 2019.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2019

  Analytical Space: The Next Frontier?

  Thomas R. Eisenmann, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and David Lane

  With one satellite aloft and in the midst of beta testing in late 2018, Analytical Space founders Justin Oliveira and Dan Nevius turned to critical questions about the pioneering startup’s go-to-market, pricing, and business development strategy. Analytical Space aimed to build and operate a constellation of inexpensive satellites that would receive and relay to the ground data gathered by orbiting Earth observation satellites, thereby speeding and increasing the amount of data their operators could collect and sell to clients in the multi-billion market for information on crops, weather, and other observable changes on Earth. The cofounders now needed to select the best initial customers, validate demand for their unique data relay service, and establish pricing that would both spur adoption and impress investors ahead of their next financing round.

  Keywords: pricing decisions; demand validation; revenue model; business development; space tech; satellites; earth observation; remote sensing; Business Startups; Emerging Markets; Growth and Development Strategy; Finance; Selection and Staffing; Business Strategy; Aerospace Industry;

  Citation:

  Eisenmann, Thomas R., Jeffrey J. Bussgang, and David Lane. "Analytical Space: The Next Frontier?" Harvard Business School Case 819-089, January 2019.  View Details

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