March 2022
Case
HBS Case Collection

Metric

By: Christina Wallace, Rebecca Cink and Maria Lappas

Format:Print
| Language:English
| Pages:9

Abstract

Megan Murday, the founder of Metric, an environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) analytics startup, must decide which customer segment to target as a beachhead market. She received positive feedback from a Swiss venture capital (VC) firm, indicating their immediate interest in using Metric's software. However, Murday also considered private equity (PE) firms, impact investors, and startups as potential beachhead markets. PE firms had a large market size and a high willingness to pay, while impact investors were already aligned with Metric's mission. Startups were socially conscious and forgiving of early-stage challenges. This case provides background on the burgeoning ESG sector and the various standards and metrics being proposed to standardize reporting.