Shikhar Ghosh

MBA Class of 1961 Professor of Management Practice of Business Administration

Shikhar Ghosh is a Professor of Management Practice in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit. He currently teaches in the elective curriculum and is the course head for 2032: Five Technologies That Will Reshape the World in the Next Decade. Shikhar received the Apgar Award for innovation in teaching for this course. He is also the Faculty Co-Chair of the HBS Rock Center for Entrepreneurship. He formerly taught and served as course head for Founder’s Journey in the elective curriculum and was co-course head of The Entrepreneurial Manager, required for all 900 1st-year MBAs.

Shikhar has been a successful entrepreneur for the last 20 years. He has been the founder and CEO or Chairman of eight technology-based entrepreneurial companies and was the past Chairman of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council (MTLC) and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TIE) - two leading entrepreneurial organizations. He was selected by Business Week as one of the best Entrepreneurs in the US, by Forbes as one of the ‘Masters of the Internet Universe’ and by Fortune as the CEO of one of the 10 most innovative companies in the US. Companies he founded were selected as both the ‘hottest’ and ‘coolest’ emerging companies by business publications.

Shikhar joined the Boston Consulting Group after getting his MBA from HBS in 1980. At BCG he focused on organization and innovation in large organizations. He was elected a worldwide partner of the firm in 1987. Shikhar left BCG in 1988 to become CEO of Appex, an early-stage venture backed company that built the inter-carrier infrastructure for the US mobile phone industry. Appex provided centralized services that enabled independent mobile carriers to operate as a single seamless network. Appex’s services included call forwarding across carriers, fraud prevention services, billing and customer service. Appex was bought by EDS in 1990. By the time Shikhar left in 1993, Appex’s revenues exceeded $100 million with an order backlog of over $1 billion. It was selected by Business week as the fastest growing private company in the US.

Shikhar founded Open Market in 1993. Open Market was one of the pioneering companies in the commercialization of the Internet. It built the first commercial infrastructure for enabling secure commerce on the Internet and provided the software and services that enabled companies like Time Warner and AT&T to offer their services on the Internet. Open Market was one of the first Internet companies to go public. It was selected by numerous business publications as one of the companies that helped to make the Internet what it is today.

Since leaving Open Market Shikhar has been the founder, CEO or Chairman of several companies in the wireless, payment, Internet marketing, and on-line retailing industries. He has worked in all facets of the entrepreneurial process – starting companies with technical teams, providing and raising capital with venture capitalists, buying and selling companies, or taking them public and closing down unsuccessful companies. He has been a keynote speaker in numerous conferences on innovation, entrepreneurship, digital media and on the future of the Internet.

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Publications

Research Summary

Cases and Teaching Materials

Cases and Teaching Materials

Ghosh, Shikhar, and Liang Wu. "Art Blocks: NFTs and Digital Art." Harvard Business School Case 824-008, August 2023. (Revised November 2023.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Liang Wu. "Ava Labs: Structure and Challenges of Establishing a Blockchain." Harvard Business School Case 824-056, August 2023. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Verve Therapeutics: Taking DNA Editing to Heart." Harvard Business School Case 823-113, June 2023. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Shweta Bagai, and Marilyn Morgan Westner. "Replika: Embodying AI." Harvard Business School Case 823-090, January 2023. (Revised June 2023.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar. "Hacking the U.S. Election: Russia's Misinformation Campaign." Harvard Business School Case 823-043, December 2022. (Revised June 2023.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Audrey Tang: Using Technology to Strengthen Democracy in Taiwan." Harvard Business School Case 823-048, September 2022. (Revised August 2023.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Anvita Dekhane. "BabyChakra: At the Crossroads." Harvard Business School Case 822-088, April 2022. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Esel Çekin. "InstaDeep: AI Innovation Born in Africa (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 822-105, February 2022. (Revised July 2022.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Esel Çekin. "InstaDeep: AI Innovation Born in Africa (A)." Harvard Business School Case 822-104, February 2022. (Revised September 2022.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Steem versus Hive: Testing Blockchain Governance." Harvard Business School Case 822-075, January 2022. View Details
Stanton, Christopher, Shikhar Ghosh, William R. Kerr, Sarah Gulick, and James Palano. "Collage.com: Scaling a Distributed Organization (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 820-101, February 2020. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Marilyn Morgan Westner. "Mylestone: Can Multiple Pivots Preserve the Life of a Death Tech Startup?" Harvard Business School Case 822-018, August 2021. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Marilyn Morgan Westner, and Reza Satchu. "Wes Hall and the BlackNorth Initiative." Harvard Business School Case 821-056, November 2020. (Revised February 2021.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Firing at Startups." Harvard Business School Technical Note 821-057, October 2020. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Pippa Tubman Amerding, and Wale Lawal. "Twiga Foods: Revolutionizing African Retail (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 821-044, October 2020. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Pippa Tubman Amerding, and Wale Lawal. "Twiga Foods: Revolutionizing African Retail (A)." Harvard Business School Case 821-043, October 2020. (Revised February 2021.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Truebird—An AlleyCorp Venture." Harvard Business School Case 821-030, November 2020. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Amir Reza Rezvani. "Disrupting Justice at RightNow: Rich or King." Harvard Business School Case 821-028, September 2020. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Amir Reza Rezvani. "Disrupting Justice at RightNow: Persevere, Pivot or Perish." Harvard Business School Case 821-027, September 2020. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Nicole Tempest Keller, and Alpana Thapar. "Instabeat—Crossing the Finish Line." Harvard Business School Supplement 821-012, July 2020. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Amir Reza Rezvani. "Justice-as-a-Service at RightNow." Harvard Business School Case 820-117, May 2020. (Revised July 2020.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Instabeat—One More Lap?" Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-067, October 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Marilyn Morgan Westner. "Unifying Divisions: Loop's Mission to Preserve the Planet." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-050, October 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Business Model Exercise: Purpose and Overview." Harvard Business School Exercise 820-708, October 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar. "Dulcie Madden (A)—Growth or Exit? Exercise on Cash Flows." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 820-707, October 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Dulcie Madden (A), (B), (C)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-068, October 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Dulcie Madden (C)—A Final Chance?" Harvard Business School Supplement 820-054, October 2019. (Revised January 2020.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Dulcie Madden (B)—A Difficult Choice." Harvard Business School Supplement 820-053, October 2019. (Revised January 2020.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Payton, and Shweta Bagai. "Dulcie Madden (A)—Growth or Exit?" Harvard Business School Case 820-052, October 2019. (Revised January 2020.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Anthology: Pivoting the Business Model." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-061, October 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Collective Academy." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-058, October 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Difficult Conversations (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-057, September 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Difficult Conversations (B)." Harvard Business School Exercise 820-056, September 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Difficult Conversations (A)." Harvard Business School Exercise 820-055, September 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Marilyn Morgan Westner. "Unifying Divisions: Joro's Mission to Preserve the Planet." Harvard Business School Case 820-032, August 2019. (Revised April 2021.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Uncharted Play (A)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-046, September 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Haibo Zhao, and Shweta Bagai. "Mobike and ofo: Dancing with Titans (A)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-029, September 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Nicole Tempest Keller, and Alpana Thapar. "Instabeat—One More Lap?" Harvard Business School Case 820-005, July 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Ramana Nanda, Suraj Srinivasan, and Terrence Shu. "A Note on Boards in VC-Backed Ventures." Harvard Business School Technical Note 819-128, April 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Kevin Ryan Inc." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-025, July 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Stanton, and Sanchali Pal. "Valuing Employee Equity at Early Stage Ventures." Harvard Business School Technical Note 819-167, June 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Careem: Base Camp or Mountain Peak? Designing an OS for Scaling." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-149, June 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Yesware (A)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-150, May 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar. "Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk; Risk Tolerance Exercise." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 819-704, June 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-147, May 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Shweta Bagai, and Sanchali Pal. "Founders' Agreements." Harvard Business School Background Note 819-143, May 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Triangulate: Stay, Pivot or Exit." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-144, May 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Haibo Zhao. "Mobike and ofo: Dancing with Titans (A)." Harvard Business School Case 819-135, May 2019. (Revised September 2019.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Ramana Nanda, Rachna Tahilyani, and Shweta Bagai. "Chai Point: Disrupting Chai." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-130, April 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Careem: Raising a Unicorn." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-124, May 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Ryan Greene at Rainier Wearables." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-120, April 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "RunKeeper." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-112, April 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Skyhook Wireless." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-118, March 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "CrossFit (A)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-117, March 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Dinr: My First Start-Up (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-116, March 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "BlackBuck (A)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-111, March 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "BlackBuck (A)." Harvard Business School Case 819-031, August 2018. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Gamze Yucaoglu, and Alpana Thapar. "Careem: Base Camp or Mountain Peak? Designing an OS for Scaling." Harvard Business School Case 819-049, September 2018. (Revised November 2018.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Greg Marsh. "Kevin Ryan Inc." Harvard Business School Case 819-047, September 2018. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "RunKeeper." Harvard Business School Case 819-020, July 2018. (Revised January 2021.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Stanton, Allison Ciechanover, and Jeff Huizinga. "Dinesh Moorjani and Hatch Labs." Harvard Business School Case 818-026, September 2017. (Revised February 2018.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Payton, and Ali Huberlie. "Uncharted Play (C)." Harvard Business School Supplement 818-061, October 2017. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Payton, and Ali Huberlie. "Uncharted Play (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 818-060, October 2017. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Ramana Nanda, and Rachna Tahilyani. "Chai Point: Disrupting Chai." Harvard Business School Case 818-020, September 2017. (Revised March 2018.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Scaling Yesware—The Star Performance Framework." Harvard Business School Case 818-049, September 2017. (Revised October 2017.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Thomas R. Eisenmann, and Christopher Payton. "Ryan Greene at Rainier Wearables." Harvard Business School Case 818-047, August 2017. (Revised November 2021.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Alpana Thapar. "Careem: Raising a Unicorn." Harvard Business School Case 818-022, September 2017. (Revised March 2023.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Anthology: Pivoting the Business Model." Harvard Business School Case 817-066, November 2016. (Revised December 2016.) View Details
Eisenmann, Thomas, Shikhar Ghosh, and Christopher Payton. "Triangulate: Stay, Pivot or Exit?" Harvard Business School Case 817-059, October 2016. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Sarah Mehta. "Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk." Harvard Business School Case 817-040, October 2016. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Julia Austin, and Christopher Payton. "Help Scout." Harvard Business School Case 817-049, September 2016. (Revised May 2017.) View Details
Stanton, Christopher, and Shikhar Ghosh. "Collage.com: Scaling a Distributed Organization." Harvard Business School Case 817-038, September 2016. (Revised September 2017.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Collective Academy." Harvard Business School Case 817-026, August 2016. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Kristina Maslauskaite. "Dinr: My First Start-up (A)." Harvard Business School Case 816-080, February 2016. (Revised May 2016.) View Details
Fuller, Joseph B., and Shikhar Ghosh. "The Entrepreneurial Manager: Course Overview, 2016 Winter Term." Harvard Business School Course Overview Note 816-065, December 2015. View Details
Fuller, Joseph B., Shikhar Ghosh, and Christopher Payton. "Jim Sharpe: Operational Cash Flow Tool." Harvard Business School Exercise 816-070, February 2016. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Rest Devices." Harvard Business School Case 816-076, January 2016. (Revised December 2016.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Joseph Fuller, and Michael Roberts. "Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs." Harvard Business School Case 816-048, September 2015. (Revised March 2016.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Joseph B. Fuller, and Christopher Payton. "GenapSys Exercise - Introduction to Free Cash Flow Curves." Harvard Business School Exercise 816-701, November 2015. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Payton, and Ali Huberlie. "Clover Food Lab: Building Out the Team." Harvard Business School Case 816-042, August 2015. (Revised October 2015.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Yabbly (A)." Harvard Business School Case 816-030, August 2015. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Payton, and Ali Huberlie. "Yesware (A)." Harvard Business School Case 816-039, August 2015. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Michael J. Roberts, and Christopher Payton. "Sam Martin & Cathy Slater." Harvard Business School Case 816-029, August 2015. (Revised August 2017.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Kristina Maslauskaite. "Dinr: My First Start-up (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 816-025, August 2015. (Revised June 2016.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Ali Huberlie. "Uncharted Play (A)." Harvard Business School Case 816-018, July 2015. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Joan Farre-Mensa, and Christopher Payton. "Entrepreneurial Finance Lab: A Founding Story (A)." Harvard Business School Case 815-119, March 2015. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Yamsafer." Harvard Business School Case 815-092, March 2015. View Details
Nanda, Ramana, and Shikhar Ghosh. "Venture Capital Investment in the Clean Energy Sector." Harvard Business School Technical Note 814-052, March 2014. View Details
Sahlman, William A., Thomas R. Eisenmann, Joseph B. Fuller, and Shikhar Ghosh. "Maricopa, Inc.: Finding the Right Treatment for Growth." Harvard Business School Case 314-065, January 2014. View Details
Eisenmann, Thomas R., Joseph B. Fuller, and Shikhar Ghosh. "Steven Carpenter at Cake Financial (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 814-054, January 2014. View Details
Cespedes, Frank V., Shikhar Ghosh, and Matthew Preble. "Myomo: Getting Sales in Motion." Harvard Business School Case 814-034, October 2013. (Revised April 2015.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, William R. Kerr, and Alexis Brownell. "FanMode: Launching a Global Sports Venture." Harvard Business School Case 813-190, June 2013. (Revised February 2014.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Ali Huberlie, and Christopher Payton. "CrossFit (A)." Harvard Business School Case 815-089, February 2015. (Revised February 2016.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Joseph B. Fuller, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Alex Godden, and Andrew Sandoe. "MuMaté: Funding Growth." Harvard Business School Case 814-063, January 2014. (Revised December 2014.) View Details
Marshall, Paul W., Thomas R. Eisenmann, Shikhar Ghosh, and Lauren Barley. "Keurig and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters." Harvard Business School Case 812-101, December 2011. View Details
Eisenmann, Thomas R., Shikhar Ghosh, and James K. Sebenius. "Keurig: Confidential Information for Negotiation with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters." Harvard Business School Case 812-102, December 2011. View Details
Eisenmann, Thomas R., Shikhar Ghosh, and James K. Sebenius. "Green Mountain Coffee Roasters: Confidential Information for Negotiation with Keurig." Harvard Business School Case 812-103, December 2011. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Lynda M. Applegate, Rhea Ghosh, and Amar Kumar. "The Sandbox: Creating a Bottom-Up Entrepreneurial Ecosystem." Harvard Business School Case 811-053, April 2011. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Stephanie van Sice. "Indica." Harvard Business School Case 810-130, April 2010. (Revised March 2011.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Thomas R. Eisenmann. "Skyhook Wireless." Harvard Business School Case 809-119, April 2009. (Revised May 2017.) View Details

All Publications

Cases and Teaching Materials

Ghosh, Shikhar, and Liang Wu. "Art Blocks: NFTs and Digital Art." Harvard Business School Case 824-008, August 2023. (Revised November 2023.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Liang Wu. "Ava Labs: Structure and Challenges of Establishing a Blockchain." Harvard Business School Case 824-056, August 2023. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Verve Therapeutics: Taking DNA Editing to Heart." Harvard Business School Case 823-113, June 2023. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Shweta Bagai, and Marilyn Morgan Westner. "Replika: Embodying AI." Harvard Business School Case 823-090, January 2023. (Revised June 2023.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar. "Hacking the U.S. Election: Russia's Misinformation Campaign." Harvard Business School Case 823-043, December 2022. (Revised June 2023.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Audrey Tang: Using Technology to Strengthen Democracy in Taiwan." Harvard Business School Case 823-048, September 2022. (Revised August 2023.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Anvita Dekhane. "BabyChakra: At the Crossroads." Harvard Business School Case 822-088, April 2022. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Esel Çekin. "InstaDeep: AI Innovation Born in Africa (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 822-105, February 2022. (Revised July 2022.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Esel Çekin. "InstaDeep: AI Innovation Born in Africa (A)." Harvard Business School Case 822-104, February 2022. (Revised September 2022.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Steem versus Hive: Testing Blockchain Governance." Harvard Business School Case 822-075, January 2022. View Details
Stanton, Christopher, Shikhar Ghosh, William R. Kerr, Sarah Gulick, and James Palano. "Collage.com: Scaling a Distributed Organization (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 820-101, February 2020. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Marilyn Morgan Westner. "Mylestone: Can Multiple Pivots Preserve the Life of a Death Tech Startup?" Harvard Business School Case 822-018, August 2021. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Marilyn Morgan Westner, and Reza Satchu. "Wes Hall and the BlackNorth Initiative." Harvard Business School Case 821-056, November 2020. (Revised February 2021.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Firing at Startups." Harvard Business School Technical Note 821-057, October 2020. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Pippa Tubman Amerding, and Wale Lawal. "Twiga Foods: Revolutionizing African Retail (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 821-044, October 2020. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Pippa Tubman Amerding, and Wale Lawal. "Twiga Foods: Revolutionizing African Retail (A)." Harvard Business School Case 821-043, October 2020. (Revised February 2021.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Truebird—An AlleyCorp Venture." Harvard Business School Case 821-030, November 2020. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Amir Reza Rezvani. "Disrupting Justice at RightNow: Rich or King." Harvard Business School Case 821-028, September 2020. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Amir Reza Rezvani. "Disrupting Justice at RightNow: Persevere, Pivot or Perish." Harvard Business School Case 821-027, September 2020. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Nicole Tempest Keller, and Alpana Thapar. "Instabeat—Crossing the Finish Line." Harvard Business School Supplement 821-012, July 2020. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Amir Reza Rezvani. "Justice-as-a-Service at RightNow." Harvard Business School Case 820-117, May 2020. (Revised July 2020.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Instabeat—One More Lap?" Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-067, October 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Marilyn Morgan Westner. "Unifying Divisions: Loop's Mission to Preserve the Planet." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-050, October 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Business Model Exercise: Purpose and Overview." Harvard Business School Exercise 820-708, October 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar. "Dulcie Madden (A)—Growth or Exit? Exercise on Cash Flows." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 820-707, October 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Dulcie Madden (A), (B), (C)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-068, October 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Dulcie Madden (C)—A Final Chance?" Harvard Business School Supplement 820-054, October 2019. (Revised January 2020.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Dulcie Madden (B)—A Difficult Choice." Harvard Business School Supplement 820-053, October 2019. (Revised January 2020.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Payton, and Shweta Bagai. "Dulcie Madden (A)—Growth or Exit?" Harvard Business School Case 820-052, October 2019. (Revised January 2020.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Anthology: Pivoting the Business Model." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-061, October 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Collective Academy." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-058, October 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Difficult Conversations (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-057, September 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Difficult Conversations (B)." Harvard Business School Exercise 820-056, September 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Difficult Conversations (A)." Harvard Business School Exercise 820-055, September 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Marilyn Morgan Westner. "Unifying Divisions: Joro's Mission to Preserve the Planet." Harvard Business School Case 820-032, August 2019. (Revised April 2021.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Uncharted Play (A)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-046, September 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Haibo Zhao, and Shweta Bagai. "Mobike and ofo: Dancing with Titans (A)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-029, September 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Nicole Tempest Keller, and Alpana Thapar. "Instabeat—One More Lap?" Harvard Business School Case 820-005, July 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Ramana Nanda, Suraj Srinivasan, and Terrence Shu. "A Note on Boards in VC-Backed Ventures." Harvard Business School Technical Note 819-128, April 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Kevin Ryan Inc." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 820-025, July 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Stanton, and Sanchali Pal. "Valuing Employee Equity at Early Stage Ventures." Harvard Business School Technical Note 819-167, June 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Careem: Base Camp or Mountain Peak? Designing an OS for Scaling." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-149, June 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Yesware (A)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-150, May 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar. "Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk; Risk Tolerance Exercise." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 819-704, June 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-147, May 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Shweta Bagai, and Sanchali Pal. "Founders' Agreements." Harvard Business School Background Note 819-143, May 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Triangulate: Stay, Pivot or Exit." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-144, May 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Haibo Zhao. "Mobike and ofo: Dancing with Titans (A)." Harvard Business School Case 819-135, May 2019. (Revised September 2019.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Ramana Nanda, Rachna Tahilyani, and Shweta Bagai. "Chai Point: Disrupting Chai." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-130, April 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Careem: Raising a Unicorn." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-124, May 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Ryan Greene at Rainier Wearables." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-120, April 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "RunKeeper." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-112, April 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Skyhook Wireless." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-118, March 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "CrossFit (A)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-117, March 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "Dinr: My First Start-Up (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-116, March 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "BlackBuck (A)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-111, March 2019. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "BlackBuck (A)." Harvard Business School Case 819-031, August 2018. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Gamze Yucaoglu, and Alpana Thapar. "Careem: Base Camp or Mountain Peak? Designing an OS for Scaling." Harvard Business School Case 819-049, September 2018. (Revised November 2018.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Greg Marsh. "Kevin Ryan Inc." Harvard Business School Case 819-047, September 2018. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Shweta Bagai. "RunKeeper." Harvard Business School Case 819-020, July 2018. (Revised January 2021.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Stanton, Allison Ciechanover, and Jeff Huizinga. "Dinesh Moorjani and Hatch Labs." Harvard Business School Case 818-026, September 2017. (Revised February 2018.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Payton, and Ali Huberlie. "Uncharted Play (C)." Harvard Business School Supplement 818-061, October 2017. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Payton, and Ali Huberlie. "Uncharted Play (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 818-060, October 2017. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Ramana Nanda, and Rachna Tahilyani. "Chai Point: Disrupting Chai." Harvard Business School Case 818-020, September 2017. (Revised March 2018.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Scaling Yesware—The Star Performance Framework." Harvard Business School Case 818-049, September 2017. (Revised October 2017.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Thomas R. Eisenmann, and Christopher Payton. "Ryan Greene at Rainier Wearables." Harvard Business School Case 818-047, August 2017. (Revised November 2021.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Alpana Thapar. "Careem: Raising a Unicorn." Harvard Business School Case 818-022, September 2017. (Revised March 2023.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Anthology: Pivoting the Business Model." Harvard Business School Case 817-066, November 2016. (Revised December 2016.) View Details
Eisenmann, Thomas, Shikhar Ghosh, and Christopher Payton. "Triangulate: Stay, Pivot or Exit?" Harvard Business School Case 817-059, October 2016. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Sarah Mehta. "Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk." Harvard Business School Case 817-040, October 2016. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Julia Austin, and Christopher Payton. "Help Scout." Harvard Business School Case 817-049, September 2016. (Revised May 2017.) View Details
Stanton, Christopher, and Shikhar Ghosh. "Collage.com: Scaling a Distributed Organization." Harvard Business School Case 817-038, September 2016. (Revised September 2017.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Collective Academy." Harvard Business School Case 817-026, August 2016. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Kristina Maslauskaite. "Dinr: My First Start-up (A)." Harvard Business School Case 816-080, February 2016. (Revised May 2016.) View Details
Fuller, Joseph B., and Shikhar Ghosh. "The Entrepreneurial Manager: Course Overview, 2016 Winter Term." Harvard Business School Course Overview Note 816-065, December 2015. View Details
Fuller, Joseph B., Shikhar Ghosh, and Christopher Payton. "Jim Sharpe: Operational Cash Flow Tool." Harvard Business School Exercise 816-070, February 2016. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Rest Devices." Harvard Business School Case 816-076, January 2016. (Revised December 2016.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Joseph Fuller, and Michael Roberts. "Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs." Harvard Business School Case 816-048, September 2015. (Revised March 2016.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Joseph B. Fuller, and Christopher Payton. "GenapSys Exercise - Introduction to Free Cash Flow Curves." Harvard Business School Exercise 816-701, November 2015. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Payton, and Ali Huberlie. "Clover Food Lab: Building Out the Team." Harvard Business School Case 816-042, August 2015. (Revised October 2015.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Yabbly (A)." Harvard Business School Case 816-030, August 2015. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Christopher Payton, and Ali Huberlie. "Yesware (A)." Harvard Business School Case 816-039, August 2015. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Michael J. Roberts, and Christopher Payton. "Sam Martin & Cathy Slater." Harvard Business School Case 816-029, August 2015. (Revised August 2017.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Kristina Maslauskaite. "Dinr: My First Start-up (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 816-025, August 2015. (Revised June 2016.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Ali Huberlie. "Uncharted Play (A)." Harvard Business School Case 816-018, July 2015. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Joan Farre-Mensa, and Christopher Payton. "Entrepreneurial Finance Lab: A Founding Story (A)." Harvard Business School Case 815-119, March 2015. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Yamsafer." Harvard Business School Case 815-092, March 2015. View Details
Nanda, Ramana, and Shikhar Ghosh. "Venture Capital Investment in the Clean Energy Sector." Harvard Business School Technical Note 814-052, March 2014. View Details
Sahlman, William A., Thomas R. Eisenmann, Joseph B. Fuller, and Shikhar Ghosh. "Maricopa, Inc.: Finding the Right Treatment for Growth." Harvard Business School Case 314-065, January 2014. View Details
Eisenmann, Thomas R., Joseph B. Fuller, and Shikhar Ghosh. "Steven Carpenter at Cake Financial (Abridged)." Harvard Business School Case 814-054, January 2014. View Details
Cespedes, Frank V., Shikhar Ghosh, and Matthew Preble. "Myomo: Getting Sales in Motion." Harvard Business School Case 814-034, October 2013. (Revised April 2015.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, William R. Kerr, and Alexis Brownell. "FanMode: Launching a Global Sports Venture." Harvard Business School Case 813-190, June 2013. (Revised February 2014.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Ali Huberlie, and Christopher Payton. "CrossFit (A)." Harvard Business School Case 815-089, February 2015. (Revised February 2016.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Joseph B. Fuller, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Alex Godden, and Andrew Sandoe. "MuMaté: Funding Growth." Harvard Business School Case 814-063, January 2014. (Revised December 2014.) View Details
Marshall, Paul W., Thomas R. Eisenmann, Shikhar Ghosh, and Lauren Barley. "Keurig and Green Mountain Coffee Roasters." Harvard Business School Case 812-101, December 2011. View Details
Eisenmann, Thomas R., Shikhar Ghosh, and James K. Sebenius. "Keurig: Confidential Information for Negotiation with Green Mountain Coffee Roasters." Harvard Business School Case 812-102, December 2011. View Details
Eisenmann, Thomas R., Shikhar Ghosh, and James K. Sebenius. "Green Mountain Coffee Roasters: Confidential Information for Negotiation with Keurig." Harvard Business School Case 812-103, December 2011. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, Lynda M. Applegate, Rhea Ghosh, and Amar Kumar. "The Sandbox: Creating a Bottom-Up Entrepreneurial Ecosystem." Harvard Business School Case 811-053, April 2011. View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Stephanie van Sice. "Indica." Harvard Business School Case 810-130, April 2010. (Revised March 2011.) View Details
Ghosh, Shikhar, and Thomas R. Eisenmann. "Skyhook Wireless." Harvard Business School Case 809-119, April 2009. (Revised May 2017.) View Details

Research Summary

Overview

I am focused on exploring the human side of developing early stage entrepreneurial ventures. These enterprises are characterized by the pursuit of opportunity, shortage of resources to pursue their goals and uncertainty at every step of the journey. Some of the questions that I explore are - How should founding teams be structured? What are the tensions that develop as these teams face complex challenges and develop into larger organizations? - How do the challenges faced by founders change as their organizations grow? What is the correct balance between informal and formal systems and processes as the organization outgrows the ability of the founding team to actively direct operations? What are the typical transition points as the organization becomes more complex? - How do entrepreneurs face the challenges of success and failure? What metrics so they use to measure their progress and make choices around the critical exit decisions - should I continue or stop the venture, should i sell or stay in the venture? - How well do most commonly used frameworks and approaches for managing large stable organizations address the needs of small, rapidly growing organizations that face uncertainty in all facets of their operations?