Publications
Publications
- December 2018 (Revised June 2021)
- HBS Case Collection
Bulb 2017: Launch
By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock
Abstract
On August 21, 2015, Amit Gudka and Hayden Wood, co-founders of Bulb Ltd. (Bulb) launched a new business to supply energy to the United Kingdom’s 27 million residential homes with a promise of 100% renewable electricity at affordable prices. By the end of March 2017, Bulb had grown to supply 29,311 properties, well ahead of its Launch Plan of 23,166 and beyond the point of breakeven. It had been a slow start, and growth had been volatile, reaching a rate of over 3,000 new members per week at one point, putting severe strains on service levels. Moreover, Gudka and Wood had been forced to change many aspects of their plan and defer launching value-added services to help customers reduce energy consumption and create Bulb’s vision of distributed generation. Now, the company was generating profits; enough to grow, but not at the level of the original plan, and there would be nothing left to invest in value-added services. Should the founders scale back on their growth ambitions and delay adding services until they had reached the scale to support them? Or should they seek more funding and accelerate growth?
Keywords
Green Energy; Start-up; Launch; Customer Acquisition; Customer Churn; Customer Engagement; Electricity; Resources; Growth Strategy; B-Corp; Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurial Journey; Entrepreneurial Financing; Renewable Energy; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Working Capital; Product Launch; Customers; Growth Management; Business Plan; Decision Making; United Kingdom
Citation
Wells, John R., and Benjamin Weinstock. "Bulb 2017: Launch." Harvard Business School Supplement 719-441, December 2018. (Revised June 2021.)