Hyperloop Transportation Technologies: Building Breakthrough Innovations in Crowd-Powered Ecosystems

Lynda M. Applegate; Terri L. Griffith; Ann  Majchrzak

Case | HBS Case Collection | May 2017 (Revised October 2017)

Hyperloop Transportation Technologies: Building Breakthrough Innovations in Crowd-Powered Ecosystems

by Lynda M. Applegate, Terri L. Griffith and Ann Majchrzak

Abstract

Dirk Ahlborn, co-founder and CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc. (HTT) looks back at the evolving organizational design and community that allows HTT to be crowd-powered. Since the founding in 2013, HTT has dealt with building an organization with less than 20 employees, yet serving multiple governmental entities and having over 25 patents pending . Rather than employees, HTT has invited over 800 people to contribute a minimum of 10 hours per week in exchange for future equity. Everything from recruitment, incentives, culture, technology, and intellectual property controls are handled with the idea that a community can work together to solve a global problem (transportation) by “turning a collective passion into a vision and the vision into a reality” (Ahlborn quote). The open question is how this approach will fair as the organization moves from design to delivery

Keywords: collaboration; crowdsourcing; entrepreneurial finance; innovation; organizational design; product development; Startups; Business Startups; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Entrepreneurship; Finance; Product Development;

Language: English

Format: Print

22 pages

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Citation:

Applegate, Lynda M., Terri L. Griffith, and Ann Majchrzak. "Hyperloop Transportation Technologies: Building Breakthrough Innovations in Crowd-Powered Ecosystems." Harvard Business School Case 817-134, May 2017. (Revised October 2017.)

Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2019 (Revised August 2020)

The Predictive Index

Lynda M. Applegate and James Weber

Mike Zani and Daniel Muzquiz needed to decide next steps to create a new category in the human resources consulting industry and scale their company.
Zani and Muzquiz, serial entrepreneurs, acquired Predictive Index in 2014. Previously, as clients of the 65-year-old Predictive Index, they had used its behavioral assessment tool to help them hire staff and build teams and they strongly believed in its value. They also believed, however, that Predictive Index had the potential to be something more. After acquiring the company, they invested in technology and people to modernize the business, and Predictive Index earned recognition as a “best place to work.” In 2018, they developed a Talent Optimization platform, an offering that had the potential to transform the industry by helping companies align their business strategies with their human capital and leadership development strategies. In late 2019, as they prepared a broad rollout of Talent Optimization, and planned to scale their business by an order of magnitude, the pair wondered what hurdles they might face along the way and what other steps they should take to reach their goals.

Keywords: Human Resources; Selection and Staffing; Talent and Talent Management; Recruitment; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Change Management; Disruptive Innovation; Market Platforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Consulting Industry; Service Industry; United States;