August 2020
Case
HBS Case Collection

Gerald Chertavian

By: Leslie Perlow and Matthew Preble

Format:Print
| Language:English
| Pages:11

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?