As they prepare to graduate from Harvard Business School, the co-founders of greeting card company startup Lovepop need capital to cover the company’s operating costs and must choose between two seed financing offers. One offer is from an angel group and the other from a startup accelerator. Having bootstrapped the company’s operations since its founding a year and a half earlier, the founders must weigh the differences in valuation and pros and cons of the accelerator program to determine which option is appropriate for Lovepop at this stage. In addition to addressing the challenges of early stage fundraising, the case details the terms, offerings, and operations of startup accelerators.
Keywords: accelerator; incubator; Seed Financing; convertible debt; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Borrowing and Debt; Growth and Development Strategy; Valuation; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; Boston; Massachusetts; United States;
Citation:
White, Robert F., Ramana Nanda, and Olivia Hull. "Lovepop." Harvard Business School Case 818-015, October 2017. (Revised November 2017.) View Details
