Case | HBS Case Collection | July 2019

Instabeat—One More Lap?

by Shikhar Ghosh, Nicole Tempest Keller and Alpana Thapar

Abstract

This case follows Lebanese entrepreneur, Hind Hobeika, an engineer and competitive swimmer who spends seven years trying to launch a wearable heartrate monitor and motion sensor to help swimmers track their performance while swimming. While the Beirut-based entrepreneur gained initial traction soon after founding her company Instabeat in September 2011, winning $150,000 in prize money from business plan competitions and raising $100,000 from a local venture capital firm, Hobeika soon faced a series of set-backs in trying to manufacture the product. Given the complexity of the hardware product she was trying to build, Hobeika had invested a significant amount of capital in the manufacturing design and had faced continuous delays. In addition, the product was not proving to be economically viable. By early 2016, Hobeika was out of money and had to let her team go. The business issues had also taken a toll on her personal life. However, Hobeika saw a potential path forward. The VC who had originally backed her was closing a new round of funding and was willing to discuss another potential round. More importantly, while in London, she had recently met Alex Asseily, a prominent Lebanese-British entrepreneur who encouraged her to stay the course. He suggested that she relocate to San Francisco, where he would soon be based, and offered to help her. Would it be worthwhile to leave everything behind, relocate, and rebuild the business? Hobeika had to decide—should she continue or not? If so, under what circumstances? If not, what would she do next?

Keywords: Startup; manufacturing; prototyping; female protagonist; Business Startups; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Hardware; Technology; Design; Organizational Culture; United States; Lebanon;

Language: English Format: Print 23 pages EducatorsPurchase

Citation:

Ghosh, Shikhar, Nicole Tempest Keller, and Alpana Thapar. "Instabeat—One More Lap?" Harvard Business School Case 820-005, July 2019.

Related Work

  2. Supplement | HBS Case Collection | July 2020

    Instabeat—Crossing the Finish Line

    Shikhar Ghosh, Nicole Tempest Keller and Alpana Thapar

    Lebanese entrepreneur Hind Hobeika was just 21 years old when she launched her startup, Instabeat, which had developed the first real-time bio-feedback device for swimmers to monitor and improve their performance. It had been an extremely testing 10-year journey to bring the Instabeat product to market due to numerous manufacturing challenges that had caused Hobeika to almost shut down the business in 2016. However, with help from the co-founder of Jawbone, Hobeika raised additional capital and restarted Instabeat, moving its headquarters from Lebanon to San Francisco. Hobeika used the new funding to move quickly ¾ expanding her team, finding a new manufacturing partner, and re-starting conversations with the Michael Phelps Organization. However, her COO believed she should take the opposite approach – slow down and focus on getting a shippable product.
    In 2017 her manufacturing struggles resurfaced and Hobeika found herself once again seeking a new manufacturer. After an extensive search, she selected a manufacturer based in China, but found it difficult to manage the process from San Francisco. Ultimately Hobeika decided she needed to move to China to keep the manufacturing on track. What started out as a plan to be in China for one or two months, turned into nine months. Hobeika weathered many personal challenges of living in China, but was determined to bring the product across the finish line. By May 2019 Hobeika had returned to San Francisco with a finished product and was preparing for launch when a new, well-funded competitor introduced its own “smart” swimming goggles. Hobeika needed to decide how to proceed.

    Keywords: start-up; wearables; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Technology; Hardware; Strategy; Operations; Management; United States; Lebanon;

    Citation:

    Ghosh, Shikhar, Nicole Tempest Keller, and Alpana Thapar. "Instabeat—Crossing the Finish Line." Harvard Business School Supplement 821-012, July 2020.  View Details
    CiteView DetailsPurchase Related

About the Author

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Shikhar Ghosh
Professor of Management Practice
Entrepreneurial Management

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