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

  SoundCloud: Subscription Streaming?

  Ashish Nanda, Eric Van den Steen, Andy Wu, Jeffrey Boyar and Bonnie Bennett Slater

  Established in 2007, SoundCloud already boasted the second largest number of active music listeners among all streaming services and was recognized as the go-to platform for new artists by early 2014. Yet, its founders were questioning the robustness of the firm’s current focus on serving as a lab for emerging musical artists. They were wondering if the firm should instead enter the booming mainstream music streaming market.

  Keywords: audio; recording; artist; music; music downloads; streaming; radio; subscription; subscription model; mainstream; Growth; lawsuit; licensing; customers; platform; Pivot; Music Entertainment; Strategy; Leadership; Business Model; Decision Making; Advertising; Music Industry; Europe; Germany; Sweden; United States;

  Citation:

  Nanda, Ashish, Eric Van den Steen, Andy Wu, Jeffrey Boyar, and Bonnie Bennett Slater. "SoundCloud: Subscription Streaming?" Harvard Business School Case 719-430, January 2019. (Revised June 2019.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2018 (Revised May 2019)

  C3: Driven to Succeed

  Robert Simons and George Gonzalez

  CEO Tom Siebel navigates his Internet-of-Things (IoT) startup through a series of pivots, market expansions, and even an elephant attack to become a leading artificial intelligence software company. The case describes his unusual management approach emphasizing employee testing and selection, customer testing and selection, and a high degree of professionalism. This case is accompanied by an eight-segment video series (preview below) that shows Tom Siebel discussing his management philosophy. A link to access the videos in the classroom is provided on p. 2 of the Teaching Note.

  Keywords: strategy execution; performance measurement; critical performance variables; strategic boundaries; digital transformation; Internet of Things; artificial intelligence; software development; big data; Machine learning; Business Startups; Management Style; Business Strategy; Performance; Measurement and Metrics; Organizational Culture; Technology Industry; United States; California;

  Citation:

  Simons, Robert, and George Gonzalez. "C3: Driven to Succeed." Harvard Business School Case 119-004, August 2018. (Revised May 2019.)  View Details

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• Technical Note | HBS Case Collection | May 2019

  Nascent Platform Strategy: Overcoming the Chicken-or-Egg Dilemma

  Andy Wu, David R. Clough and Sasha Kaletsky

  This note provides a framework for addressing the classic chicken-or-egg dilemma facing entrepreneurs launching nascent multi-sided platforms. There are several conditions that lead to a difficult chicken-or-egg problem: strong network effects, high multi-homing costs, limited differentiation, and high other barriers to entry. To overcome this challenge and create competitive advantage by reaching critical scale in network size, there are three categories of solutions to the problem: increasing value, decreasing cost, or subsidizing value for the platform participants. For a multi-sided platform, there are also dynamic considerations for addressing whether to stage one side of the platform first or build both simultaneously.

  Keywords: Multi-Sided Platforms; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Advantage;

  Citation:

  Wu, Andy, David R. Clough, and Sasha Kaletsky. "Nascent Platform Strategy: Overcoming the Chicken-or-Egg Dilemma." Harvard Business School Technical Note 719-507, May 2019.  View Details

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