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  • August 2020
  • Case
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Gerald Chertavian

By: Leslie Perlow and Matthew Preble
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:11
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Abstract

Gerald Chertavian (HBS 1992) finds himself at a personal crossroads. It is 1999--the height of the dot com-bubble--and Chertavian and his business partners have just sold their Internet-based business for $83 million. His share of the sale’s proceeds means that he has met his goal of securing his young family’s financial well-being. Now, at age 35, he debates what to do next with his life. As a young man entering Harvard Business School, he made himself a promise: once he secured his family’s finances, he would found the non-profit organization that he first envisioned while volunteering with disadvantaged youth in New York City. He wanted to create an organization that trained young adults in the skills needed to start building successful careers, and to connect them with employers who could provide real-world job opportunities. Was now the time to launch this organization? Or, should Chertavian take one of the several attractive job offers that had come his way following the high-profile sale of his company, make even more money, and then launch his organization at some later date in the future from an even stronger financial position?

Keywords

Social Enterprise; Personal Development and Career; Decision Choices and Conditions

Citation

Perlow, Leslie, and Matthew Preble. "Gerald Chertavian." Harvard Business School Case 421-030, August 2020.
  • Educators

About The Author

Leslie A. Perlow

Organizational Behavior
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  • Luke Fuszard By: Leslie Perlow and Matthew Preble
  • Dallin and Elizabeth Anderson By: Leslie A. Perlow and Matthew G. Preble
  • Experimenting During the Shift to Virtual Team Work: Learnings from How Teams Adapted Their Activities During the COVID-19 Pandemic By: Ashley V. Whillans, Leslie Perlow and Aurora Turek
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