Urban Us

Mitchell  Weiss; Phoebe  Peronto

Case | HBS Case Collection | May 2018 (Revised October 2018)

Urban Us

by Mitchell Weiss and Phoebe Peronto

Abstract

Shaun Abrahamson and Stonly Baptiste aimed to invest in what they called "urbantech superheroes." At Urban Us, the seed-stage urban technology-focused venture capital firm the two started in 2012, they looked for startups innovating around the future of cities. By 2017, they had assessed over 700 potential deals. Each one required a go/no-go decision, and four along the way were no different in that regard. Of Remix, SeamlessDocs, Starcity, and One Concern, which should they back? Setting aside the question for the moment of why urbantech startups needed superpowers, which of these possessed them?

Keywords: public entrepreneurship; govtech; urbantech; seed investing; Urban Us; Shaun Abrahamson; Stonly Baptiste; Remix; One Concern; Starcity; SeamlessDocs; Venture Capital; Public Sector; City; Urban Development; Entrepreneurship; Miami; San Francisco; New York (city, NY);

Language: English

Format: Print

20 pages

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Citation:

Weiss, Mitchell, and Phoebe Peronto. "Urban Us." Harvard Business School Case 818-115, May 2018. (Revised October 2018.)

About the Author

Mitchell B. Weiss

Professor of Management Practice, Richard L. Menschel Faculty Fellow

Entrepreneurial Management

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Background Note | HBS Case Collection | December 2019

An (Abbreviated) Perspective on Entrepreneurship

Mitchell Weiss and Benjamin Henkes

Among the many competing definitions of entrepreneurship, the one adopted in The Entrepreneurial Manager at HBS was authored by Howard Stevenson in the 1980s and elaborated on in the decades since. Stevenson provided a managerial take on the term; he described entrepreneurship as a distinct approach to management. That approach is the subject of this brief note. The note provides his definition of entrepreneurship ("the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled") and six domains that differentiate entrepreneurial managers from administrative managers.

Citation:
Weiss, Mitchell, and Benjamin Henkes. "An (Abbreviated) Perspective on Entrepreneurship." Harvard Business School Background Note 820-083, December 2019. View Details

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Course Overview Note | December 2019

The Entrepreneurial Manager: Spring 2020

Mitchell Weiss and Benjamin Henkes

This is the course overview note for The Entrepreneurial Manager, taught in the first year at Harvard Business School. Students will learn how to be opportunity-driven managers and how to lead under uncertainty. They'll learn how to identify opportunities, how to design and develop integrated operating models to pursue those opportunities, how to resource those activities amidst uncertainty, and, ultimately, how (and if) to scale them. The note covers the motivation for the course, historical and contemporary, and the course structure.

Citation:
Weiss, Mitchell, and Benjamin Henkes. "The Entrepreneurial Manager: Spring 2020." Harvard Business School Course Overview Note 820-082, December 2019. View Details

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Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | November 2019

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Mitchell Weiss, Christine Snively and Sarah Mehta

Citation:
Weiss, Mitchell, Christine Snively, and Sarah Mehta. "Bigbelly." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-064, November 2019. View Details

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