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• Case | HBS Case Collection | February 2019

  Extend Fertility: Conceiving the Market for Egg Preservation (A)

  Debora L. Spar and Olivia Hull

  In April 2003, entrepreneur and MBA student Christy Jones was planning a new venture to help women preserve their fertility. Her company, Extend Fertility, would commercialize a technique known as egg freezing, in which a woman’s eggs were extracted and stored at low temperatures until she was ready to become a mother. To date, the emerging technology had mostly been used to preserve the fertility of cancer patients whose treatment course could damage their eggs. Jones’s business would target a massively broader population: healthy women wishing to postpone motherhood. Before Jones could launch Extend Fertility, she needed to answer two pressing questions. What, exactly, would an egg-freezing service be selling? And to whom?

  Keywords: Assisted reproduction; gender; strategy; entrepreneur; health and wellness; fertility; infertility; Women's health; Creating markets; egg freezing; fertility clinic; Strategy; Demographics; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Marketing; Science; Technology; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Commercialization; Science-Based Business; Marketing Strategy; Business Plan; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Mission and Purpose; Personal Development and Career; Social Issues; Integration; Health; Ethics; Health Industry; United States;

  Citation:

  Spar, Debora L., and Olivia Hull. "Extend Fertility: Conceiving the Market for Egg Preservation (A)." Harvard Business School Case 719-019, February 2019.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2018 (Revised January 2019)

  ZappRx

  Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Olivia Hull

  In October 2015, ZappRx founder Zoe Barry is deciding between two business models for her health technology start-up. Her product, a software application that aims to expedite the prescription fulfillment process for patients with rare diseases, has attracted interest from specialty drug manufacturers who wish to build an exclusive platform for patients taking their medications. But Barry, against the advice of her management team, is considering an alternative business model, which would open the platform up to all manufacturers in a given disease area. Instead of financing product development through individual contracts, the comprehensive platform would be free to doctors and pharma alike and financed via an aggressive fundraising strategy and through the sale of the prescription data collected on the app. Barry is willing to take the risk, but her management team is staunchly opposed. Which path should ZappRx take? The case is a window into the early go-to-market and business model decisions that an entrepreneur must make, in this case in the face of pushback from her own management team. The case also provides a detailed picture of the specialty pharmaceutical industry and challenges students to think about target customer identification and talent management in a start-up environment.

  Keywords: Speciality Drugs; Hub Services; Pivot; Speciality Prescriptions; Health Care and Treatment; Customization and Personalization; Online Technology; Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Pharmaceutical Industry; Massachusetts;

  Citation:

  Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Olivia Hull. "ZappRx." Harvard Business School Case 818-001, January 2018. (Revised January 2019.)  View Details

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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | November 2018

  Sanctuary Soft: International Expansion Strategies

  Boris Groysberg and Olivia Hull

  Citation:

  Groysberg, Boris, and Olivia Hull. "Sanctuary Soft: International Expansion Strategies." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 419-008, November 2018.  View Details

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