Publications
Publications
- February 2019 (Revised October 2019)
- HBS Case Collection
Extend Fertility: Conceiving the Market for Egg Preservation (A)
By: Debora L. Spar and Olivia Hull
Abstract
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; Entrepreneur; Health And Wellness; Fertility; Infertility; Women's Health; Creating Markets; Egg Freezing; Fertility Clinic; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Marketing Strategy
Citation
Spar, Debora L., and Olivia Hull. "Extend Fertility: Conceiving the Market for Egg Preservation (A)." Harvard Business School Case 719-019, February 2019. (Revised October 2019.)