Publications
Publications
- September 2023 (Revised December 2023)
- HBS Case Collection
TetraScience: Noise and Signal
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn
Abstract
In 2019, TetraScience CEO “Spin” Wang needed advice. Five years earlier, he had cofounded a startup that saw early success with a hardware product designed to help laboratory scientists in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical spaces more easily collect data from various instruments. At the time, longtime technology CEO Patrick Grady warned the cofounders that the growth was illusory, and that they should think about how to better structure their business and to start anew thinking about design in four facets—category, product, organization, and ecosystem. Paying attention to these “first principles,” Grady believed, would lead TetraScience to pivot away from its initial hardware business and into a new cloud-based service. The cofounders had rejected Grady’s advice at first, but in 2019, with the company facing bankruptcy, Wang called him up again to talk strategy.
Keywords
Entrepreneurship; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Organization; Restructuring; Forecasting and Prediction; Digital Platforms; Analytics and Data Science; AI and Machine Learning; Organizational Structure; Network Effects; Competitive Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Boston
Citation
Eisenmann, Thomas R., and Tom Quinn. "TetraScience: Noise and Signal." Harvard Business School Case 824-024, September 2023. (Revised December 2023.)