William Sahlman is a Baker Foundation Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.
Mr. Sahlman received an A.B. degree in Economics from Princeton University (1972), an M.B.A. from Harvard University (1975), and a Ph.D. in Business Economics (1982), also from Harvard. He joined the Harvard Business School faculty in 1980.
His research focuses on the investment and financing decisions made in entrepreneurial ventures at all stages in their development. Mr. Sahlman has written numerous articles and two textbooks on topics including entrepreneurial management, venture capital, private equity, deal structuring, incentives, commercializing science, impact investing, and the role of entrepreneurship in the global economy.
In 1985, Mr. Sahlman introduced a new second-year elective course called Entrepreneurial Finance. Over 8,000 students have taken that course since it was first offered. In 2000, Mr. Sahlman helped design and introduce The Entrepreneurial Manager, a required course in the First Year MBA curriculum. Mr. Sahlman has published over 200 cases and notes for classroom use.
From 2007 to 2016, Mr. Sahlman was Senior Associate Dean for External Relations. He is co-chair of the Rock Center for Entrepreneurship. He was co-chair of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit from 1999 to 2002. From 1991 to 1999, he was Senior Associate Dean, Director of Publishing Activities, and chairman of the board for Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. From 1990 to 1991, he was chairman of the Harvard University Advisory Committee on Shareholder Responsibility. From 2009 to 2015, he was chairman of the Advisory Committee for Harvard Stem Cell Science. He is a member of the board of advisors or board of directors of several private companies. In 2011, Mr. Sahlman participated in The IPO Task Force, a private group focused on regulatory reform of the initial public offering process. The Task Force published a report called: Rebuilding the IPO On-Ramp: Putting Emerging Growth Companies and the Job Market Back on the Road to Growth.
In April 2011, the National Venture Capital Association gave Mr. Sahlman The American Spirit Award, which was created in 1999 "to recognize individuals who have shown outstanding leadership by applying business skills, knowledge, expertise and resources to make a meaningful contribution to society."
Sahlman, William A., Howard H. Stevenson, Michael J Roberts, and Amar V. Bhide. The Entrepreneurial Venture. 2nd ed. Harvard Business School Press, 1999.
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Leslie Berlin's book Troublemakers, is an engaging and insightful people-first exploration of the roots of Silicon Valley, from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. Berlin portrays seven individuals who played important roles at critical junctures in the development of technologies we now take for granted: the Internet; personal, connected computing and communications devices; genetic engineering; software as a service (SAAS); streaming video; massively multiplayer online games; and democratized access to the world's information. They helped lay the foundation for the economic powerhouse called Silicon Valley.
A case study is presented concerning a nonprofit organization that helps entrepreneurs in emerging-markets countries in regions including Latin America and Asia, focusing on the decision over whether to expand its services into the Miami, Florida, area, a question on which the two co-founders of the organization disagree. It presents perspectives on the case from nonprofit executive Linda Rottenberg and entrepreneur Gururaj "Desh" Deshpande.
New enterprises don't exist in a vacuum: They rise or fall depending on myriad contextual factors, all of them interrelated, and all of them affected by government policy. U.S. lawmakers must carefully consider the effects of interventions in at least 12 areas, ranging from capital markets to tax treatment to intellectual property to health care. Their decisions could shore up—or further weaken—what has long been America's greatest economic asset.
The financial crisis of 2008-2009 has revealed that our broad model of corporate governance is broken, independent of the shortcomings in the regulatory system. Managers and boards of directors in scores of systemically important firms failed to protect employees, customers, or shareholders, and placed the global financial system at risk. I assert that the root cause of the crisis can be found in five related systems: incentives, risk management and control, accounting, human capital, and culture. The worst firms had lethal combinations of strong incentives, weak control and risk management, flawed internal and external accounting, low skill and/or low integrity people, and corrosive cultures. Piecemeal attempts to fix elements of corporate governance will fail. The problem, to illustrate, is not just the structure of compensation. Nor will increasing required capital prevent problems at companies with strong incentives and weak controls. I believe that we may need a new kind of external agency for systemically risky firms that would take a holistic look at the five systems to identify weaknesses, make recommendations to managers and boards, and set regulatory policies, including assessing charges for insuring against losses. Without such a comprehensive assessment and improvement plan, boards cannot do their jobs, and the system will remain as subject to calamitous events as it was before the crisis.
Sahlman, William A., and Howard H. Stevenson. "Capital Market Myopia."Journal of Business Venturing 1, no. 1 (winter 1985): 7–30. (Reprinted as Chap. 3 in The Entrepreneurial Venture, edited by William A. Sahlman, Howard H. Stevenson, Michael J. Roberts and Amar Bhide, 35-64. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1999.)
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Sahlman, William A. "The Financial Perspective: What Should Entrepreneurs Know?" Chap. 14 in The Entrepreneurial Venture. 2nd ed. by William A. Sahlman, Howard H. Stevenson, Michael J Roberts, and Amar V. Bhide, 238–261. Harvard Business School Press, 1999.
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Sahlman, William A. "Aspects of Financial Contracting in Venture Capital." Chap. 16 in The Entrepreneurial Venture. 2nd ed. by William A. Sahlman, Howard H. Stevenson, Michael J Roberts, and Amar V. Bhide, 304–325. Harvard Business School Press, 1999. (Originally published in Continental Bank Journal of Applied Corporate Finance 1, no. 2 (summer 1988): 23-36. Also reprinted in The New Corporate Finance: Where Theory Meets Practice, edited by D. Chew, 229. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993. Part IV: 4.)
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Sahlman, William A. "The Horse Race Between Capital and Opportunity." Chap. 18 in The Entrepreneurial Venture. 2nd ed. by William A. Sahlman, Howard H. Stevenson, Michael J Roberts, and Amar V. Bhide, 335–350. Harvard Business School Press, 1999.
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Sahlman, William A. "Why Sane People Shouldn't Serve on Public Boards." Chap. 24 in The Entrepreneurial Venture. 2nd ed. by William A. Sahlman, Howard H. Stevenson, Michael J Roberts, and Amar V. Bhide, 441–449. Harvard Business School Press, 1999.
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Sahlman, William A. "How Small Companies Should Handle Advisers." Chap. 25 in The Entrepreneurial Venture. 2nd ed. by William A. Sahlman, Howard H. Stevenson, Michael J Roberts, and Amar V. Bhide, 450–458. Harvard Business School Press, 1999.
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Sahlman, William A. "Don't Fix What Isn't Broken." Chap. 4 in Financing Entrepreneurs, edited by C. A. Beltz, 61–65. Washington, D.C.: AEI Press, 1993.
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Sahlman, William A. "Aspects of Financial Contracting in Venture Capital." In The New Corporate Finance: Where Theory Meets Practice, edited by D. Chew, 229, Part IV:4. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1993.
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Sahlman, William A., and Howard H. Stevenson. "The Entrepreneurial Process." Chap. 5 in Small Business and Entrepreneurship, edited by Paul Burns and Jim Dewhurst, 94–157. London: Macmillan Education, 1989.
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Stevenson, Howard H., and William A. Sahlman. "Importance of Entrepreneurship in Economic Development." Chap. 1 in Entrepreneurship, Intrapreneurship, and Venture Capital: The Foundations of Economic Renaissance, edited by Robert D. Hisrich, 3–26. Canada: Lexington Books, 1986.
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The financial crisis of 2008-9 has revealed that our broad model of corporate governance is broken, independent of the shortcomings in the regulatory system. Managers and boards of directors in scores of systemically important firms failed to protect employees, customers, or shareholders, and placed the global financial system at risk. I assert that the root cause of the crisis can be found in five related systems: incentives; risk management and control; accounting; human capital; and culture. The worst firms had lethal combinations of strong incentives, weak control and risk management, flawed internal and external accounting, low skill and/or low integrity people, and corrosive cultures. Piecemeal attempts to fix elements of corporate governance will fail. The problem, to illustrate, is not just the structure of compensation. Nor will increasing required capital prevent problems at companies with strong incentives and weak controls. I believe that we may need a new kind of external agency for systemically risky firms that would take a holistic look at the five systems to identify weaknesses, make recommendations to managers and boards, and set regulatory policies, including assessing charges for insuring against losses. Without such a comprehensive assessment and improvement plan, boards cannot do their jobs, and the system will remain as subject to calamitous events as it was before the crisis.
Online global education nonprofit tries to balance far-reaching long term aspirational vision with short term need for greater focus and prioritization
Sahlman, William A., Robert F. White, Ruth Page, and Hunter Ashmore. "BionX." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 816-702, May 2016.
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Nanda, Ramana, William A. Sahlman, Robert White, and Hunter Ashmore. "Business Models Problem Set." Harvard Business School Exercise 816-016, August 2015. (Revised August 2017.)
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Sahlman, William, and Robert White. "BOLT: Seed Venture Capital Firm." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 815-121, May 2015. (Revised December 2015.)
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"Discover Capital" provides an in-depth look at a first time search fund run by the tenacious Kelly Quann Bianucci. It provides background information about search funds and follows Kelly as she successfully raises her over-subscribed fund and begins the search process.
The following useful information is included for students who are considering starting a search fund: offering memoranda, fundraising techniques, staffing, screening techniques, marketing materials and processes, letters of intent, and deal evaluation criteria.
The case also looks at the potential fund returns from the perspective of an investor.
It was September 2013, and NOWaccount Network Corporation (NOW®) co-founders John Hayes and Lara Hodgson were putting the final touches on the presentation deck for their annual shareholders' meeting. Along with co-founder Stacey Abrams, the pair had designed NOW's business model three years ago, and the company was at a critical juncture. NOW offered a program—called NOWaccount—that provided working capital to small businesses by converting their trade receivables almost immediately into cash. Founded in December 2010, Atlanta, Georgia-based NOW was serving clients in nine states. With 2013 year-to-date revenue of roughly $100,000, NOW was financed with $2.5 million of founder, and friends and family equity.
NOW's wholly-owned, not-for-profit special purpose entity (SPE), Trade Credit Guaranty Corporation (TCGC), purchased approved receivables, funding 90% of the invoice face values by electronic transfers into clients' bank accounts. As of September 2013, TCGC had purchased more than $13 million of small business trade receivables from more than 40 clients. Once TCGC reached a scale of approximately $150 million of funds in use for receivable purchases, the co-founders planned to tap into the securitization market for capital by issuing asset-backed securities (ABS), collateralized by a pool of receivables, much like the credit card industry. ABS would provide TCGC ongoing capital at a lower cost.
The question the co-founders confronted was whether they should get to the $150 million securitization threshold by piecing together smaller pools of capital from credit unions and possibly smaller banks (a slower approach but one that did not involve dilution because it was all debt finance), or by accepting larger chunks of capital from a major global bank and a private equity firm, getting them much closer to the threshold but at the cost of significant dilution (35%) as these financiers were also looking for a combination of equity and warrants in NOW. As they prepared to discuss their options at the shareholders' meeting, Hayes and Hodgson considered each option's trade-offs in timing, cost, control, and execution risk.
Nanda, Ramana, William A. Sahlman, and Lauren Barley. "NOWaccount." Harvard Business School Case 814-048, October 2013. (Revised August 2016.)
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The case describes Rubicon Global, a startup that aimed to disrupt the waste management industry. The company started with a bold idea: create a cloud-based, full-service waste management company providing low-cost, highly efficient, and environmentally friendly service anywhere in the country through a national network of independent waste haulers and recyclers. A player in the sharing economy, Rubicon was developing an on-demand mobile application that did for waste management what Uber had done for taxi service.
Rubicon had made great progress since introducing its service. They had signed up large multi-national customers and had a number of large potential contracts in the negotiation phase. The team needed more capital to build out the network and technology platform. Management and the board had to make a number of critical decisions: how much should the company raise, for what purpose, from whom, and on what terms?
The fall of 2010 marked the 20th year that Mitchell Joseph, a fourth generation beverage executive, serial entrepreneur, and the founder of the Joseph Company (the "Company"), had been working on developing the technology for a self-chilling can. Mitchell was at an impasse and had some important decisions to make. The latest versions of the self-chilling can technology (Phase 2 and 3) were showing encouraging progress, cooling liquid in aluminum cans by approximately 30°F in less than three minutes. He was sure that this product performance would make the can attractive to beverage companies around the world.
Sahlman, William A., Robert F. White, and Stephanie Puzio. "West Coast Chill." Harvard Business School Multimedia/Video Case 815-704, March 2015.
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BOLT is a different kind of seed venture capital firm built to serve the needs of early-stage startups at the intersection of hardware and software.
In the past decade, the cost of entrepreneurial experimentation has dropped dramatically, particularly in web and mobile applications. Teams can generate and test hypotheses quickly and efficiently. What used to take millions of dollars and years can now be accomplished with thousands of dollars and in a matter of months. As a result, the rate of exploration has exploded. The drop in the cost of creating and testing such ventures has resulted in the formation of new kinds of venture investment firms. A prominent example is the accelerator or incubator. These firms evaluate hundreds of proposals, choose a small number of teams, and then provide help, mentorship, a little capital, and access to networks in return for a share of the equity.
More recently, there have been a number of parallel changes in the world of hardware-based ventures. Important factors include:
• low cost but powerful design and simulation software
• versatile, inexpensive 3D printing technology
• access to high quality, low cost manufacturing capabilities in places like China
Almost every hardware venture incorporates software and data capture, transmission, and interpretation, all of which benefit from the trends described earlier. Unlike pure software ventures, companies that have important hardware components need access to expensive and complicated machinery, ranging from lathes to printed circuit board prototyping equipment. These companies also need expertise in operating this equipment and transitioning from prototypes to final products.
Ben Einstein, Axel Bichara, and Scott Miller, the founders of BOLT, recognized this trend and created a seed venture firm focused on the unique needs of these ventures and entrepreneurs. BOLT has all the elements required to design, develop, prototype, test, and make ready for manufacture novel combinations of hardware and software. They have equipment, skilled staff, and access to experienced mentors and networks that can help ventures accomplish more in less time and with less money than would otherwise be possible. They provide a place and process to help create the next generation of independent hardware companies. In addition, they provide financial and investment advice and coaching to their portfolio company management teams.
Einstein was a product design and development guru, Bichara was an entrepreneur-turned-venture capitalist and Miller was an expert in engineering and manufacturing. They closed on a $4 million fund in early 2013 and opened a space in downtown Boston that contained a remarkable array of equipment and talent to attract and nurture high potential ventures.
This multimedia case offers insights into the BOLT team, the facilities, the process and a few of the ventures that chose to work with BOLT. It also provides insights into the evolving world of entrepreneurship and venture capital. The case focuses on the founders' decision to raise a second fund and expand to a second location.
Sahlman, William A., and Michael J. Roberts DBA. "WebTracker, Spreadsheet for Instructors (Brief Case)." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 915-546, February 2015.
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Sahlman, William A., and Michael J. Roberts DBA. "WebTracker, Spreadsheet for Students (Brief Case)." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 915-545, February 2015.
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Sahlman, William A., and Michael J. Roberts DBA. "WebTracker." Harvard Business School Brief Case 915-543, February 2015. (Revised January 2018.)
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Sahlman, William A., Ramana Nanda, David Lane, and Lisa Mazzanti. "Endeavor: Miami Heats Up." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 814-071, February 2014.
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William A. Sahlman, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Joseph B. Fuller and Shikhar Ghosh
The founders of Maricopa, Inc., a startup that sold proprietary hair-care products directly to salons, were preparing a board presentation to address the young company's inability to meet financial projections. While the products had caught on with customers, the financial shortcomings raised some questions about the company's business plan. The company had gone through much of its cash and needed additional funding to continue operating.
At the same time, two VC investors were deciding how to proceed with their investments in Maricopa. The larger VC firm questioned Maricopa's management's decisions and was hesitant to further fund the company. However the Maricopa investment was much more important to the smaller VC firm, and its representative on Maricopa's board worked hard to convince her counterpart from the larger firm that while the firm had struggled, it was a young startup with strong potential. Without the larger firm investing again in Maricopa, the business was at risk of going under.
Endeavor Global was a nonprofit that for 15 years had worked to nurture entrepreneurship in emerging markets by selecting local high-impact entrepreneurs for mentoring and aid in scaling up their businesses from committed local business leaders. In summer 2012, Endeavor received an invitation to replicate its model in Miami, Florida, and the Endeavor board was meeting to debate the value of such a move. At issue were questions of organizational mission and the relevance of Miami, as well as branding, funding, and focus. The invitation had come in the midst of a major expansion effort by Endeavor into new emerging markets and threatened to disrupt those efforts and tax a new hybrid funding model which Endeavor was implementing. Founder Linda Rottenberg, with the support of her board, must determine the implications of possibly opening in Miami on Endeavor's resources and mission. How could Rottenberg justify to overseas affiliates a choice to invest in a first-world city?
Sahlman, William A., Ramana Nanda, David Lane, and Lisa Mazzanti. "Endeavor: Miami Heats Up." Harvard Business School Case 814-043, November 2013. (Revised December 2013.)
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The Iora Health case looks at a new approach to the management and delivery of primary care. Instead of having a doctor, half a nurse and two accountants, Iora deploys a doctor, a nurse and several health coaches, all operating as an integrated team. Iora focuses on measuring and improving health. They are paid to manage a population rather than on a fee for service basis. They spend twice as much on primary care and hope to save over 20% on total care by improving health and obviating the need for acute interventions. The action question in the cases revolves around a proposed financing for the company at a time when several locations are up and running but the model has not been fully validated.
The case describes the growth of Coupa, a software as a service platform for procurement / expense management. The issues in the case are around how fast to grow and how to finance that growth. The case includes a detailed financial model that will help students analyze the impact of hiring additional sales people and the consequent impact on sales and profits.
Foro Energy developed proprietary and patent-pending fiber-laser technologies that could disrupt existing processes and services for the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. These breakthrough laser technologies were protected by a strong intellectual property (IP) portfolio, which provided Foro with the flexibility to pursue a number of different business models. The market potential for oilfield applications was large, as global spending in the O&G E&P industry was expected to approach $600 billion in 2012.
Explores some of the issues involved in valuing cash flow streams. A simple model is presented that reveals the effect on value of changing assumptions about the appropriate discount rate, the level of profitability, the growth rate of sales, the asset intensity ratio, and the leverage ratio. Helps students address some of the following issues: 1) What is the definition of cash flow? 2) What effects do changes in the discount rate have on valuation? 3) How sensitive is value to changes in assumptions about the underlying characteristics of the cash flow stream? 4) How does growth affect value? 5) How does the use of leverage affect value? 6) What are price-to-earnings ratios? and 7) What factors affect price-to-earnings ratios?
William A. Sahlman, Ramana Nanda, Joseph B. Lassiter III and James McQuade
John Gilleland, CEO of TerraPower, returned to his office after a lengthy meeting with potential investors. It was October 2012, and TerraPower was in the process of raising a $200M Series C round to finance the ongoing development of its next-generation nuclear reactor. Though early in the fundraising process, Gilleland noted that this most recent conversation was similar to conversations with other interested cleantech growth equity investors. The conversations circled around a common theme: "This is the biggest idea that's ever been presented at our partners' meeting. We love what you're doing, but it's not right for us as an investment." Outside of raising money from typical growth equity and infrastructure funds, Gilleland could partner with a government and/or form a joint venture with an existing nuclear power player. Reliance Industries as an investor in TerraPower could provide an entry point into the fast growing Indian market. At the same time, Gilleland and Gates had talked with China National Nuclear Corp. about a possible cooperation with TerraPower. Whom should Gilleland call next?
Sahlman, William A., Ramana Nanda, Joseph B. Lassiter III, and James McQuade. "TerraPower." Harvard Business School Case 813-108, November 2012. (Revised December 2017.)
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In 2011, SecondMarket was an online platform that facilitated secondary transactions of illiquid assets, including private company stock. This case explores reasons for the decline in small-cap IPOs in the United States from the 1990s to the 2000s and how the emergence of SecondMarket provided liquidity to privately held companies like iContact, an email and social marketing software-as-a-service (SaaS) company.
Mary Tolan, CEO Accretive Health, examines whether to expand the company's operations in hospital revenue cycle management into the field of Total Cost of Care management.
Sahlman, William A., and Evan Richardson. "Accretive Health." Harvard Business School Case 812-061, November 2011. (Revised December 2013.)
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In the three years since Bishop and Button purchased Verengo in a leveraged buyout (LBO), the company had gone through dramatic changes. Initially a residential windows and insulation firm, after the economic recession of 2008 the company switched gears and began offering solar installations to local residential customers. Aided by favorable regulatory changes and a consumer financing partnership, Verengo's solar business took off and became the company's primary focus. By the end of 2010, Verengo had grown to $27 million in revenue and was the largest solar integrator in Southern California. In December 2010, Verengo raised $9.7 million in growth equity funding and was considering its options for future growth. Eager to expand to markets outside of Southern California, Bishop and Button knew that they had to carefully assess the firm's many opportunities and tightly manage its growth.
Sahlman, William A., Joseph B. Lassiter III, and Liz Kind. "Verengo Solar Plus!" Harvard Business School Case 812-049, October 2011. (Revised November 2011.)
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In March 2011, CSN Stores is a collection of nearly 200 Internet retail websites, including Cookware.com, Strollers.com, and Luggage.com. Co-founders Niraj Shah and Steve Conine were considering making a major investment to build brand equity at the corporate level.
The case focuses on an investment made by AXA Private Equity, a French manufacturer of food ingredients. The investment is made at the height of the financial markets, and financed with significant debt. Soon thereafter, the financial crisis impacted the company's financial performance, the valuation of all companies, and the balance sheet of banks. When the company breaches a covenant this set off a series of negotiations over the restructuring of the debt on the balance sheet. The case raises issues over the proper valuation and financing for a company, how capital markets can impact this, and the incentives and motivations of all the stakeholders.
The founding team at ScoreBig, an event ticketing company, is on the verge of a public launch of their product. The company has made great progress in negotiating access to tickets, designing its interface, and building a proprietary architecture. For consumers, ScoreBig offered the opportunity to buy tickets at below face value. For event managers, ScoreBig helped solve the problem of filling empty seats and recruiting new customers in a way that did not harm other forms of ticket sales. ScoreBig has raised over $20 million in three rounds of financing.
Sahlman, William A., Jeffrey Glass, and Evan W. Richardson. "ScoreBig." Harvard Business School Case 812-043, September 2011. (Revised August 2015.)
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Joseph B. Lassiter III, William A. Sahlman, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld and Evan Richardson
Samir Kaul, a Partner at Khosla Ventures, looked out his office window. It was late June, 2011, and like almost every day in Menlo Park, the sun was shining. Kaul was reflecting on what had been a very positive 10 months in the venture capital business. Over that span, he had helped three of his portfolio companies through IPOs, and helped Khosla Ventures raise its third fund, bringing the total outside capital raised by the group to more than $2.1B.
Lassiter, Joseph B., III, William A. Sahlman, Alison Berkley Wagonfeld, and Evan Richardson. "Khosla Ventures: Biofuels Gain Liquidity." Harvard Business School Case 812-035, September 2011. (Revised July 2012.)
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Sahlman, William, Evan W. Richardson, and James McQuade. "The Venture Capital Problem Set." Harvard Business School Background Note 812-039, September 2011. (Revised August 2012.)
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Eric Giler, WiTricity CEO, must decide how to grow a company based around an untested but potentially ground-breaking technology for wireless electricity transmission.
In late 2010, Silicon Valley-based Chegg, the leading online college textbook rental company, is scaling rapidly. The case recounts Chegg's history from its origins as a distant competitor to Craigslist in college classified listings through a pivot into textbook rental followed by a period of explosive growth. Resulting challenges in scaling warehouse operations, customer service, and information technology are described, along with efforts to professionalize sourcing/pricing and product management functions. The case closes with questions about how Chegg should respond to the pending transition from printed textbooks to electronic textbooks.
By 2008, a number of the firm's early cleantech investments were showing promise, and the companies were starting to need significantly more money to create the massive scale required in the energy sector. As Khosla thought about the hundreds of millions of dollars required by his portfolio companies, he wondered how he should position his firm at this stage of development. Should Khosla develop a new fund that focused on later-stage investments? Should he seek investments from large industry players such as the major oil companies? Should he try raising money from the managers of the sovereign funds in countries such as Singapore, Kuwait, and China? How should the firm work with its strategic partners? Khosla knew that lining up enough later stage funding would be challenging, as the cleantech industry was still unproven for investors. Nevertheless, he was determined to continue his pattern of making bold investments in this emerging field.
Lassiter, Joseph B., III, William A. Sahlman, and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld. "Khosla Ventures: Biofuels Strategy." Harvard Business School Case 809-004, September 2008. (Revised July 2012.)
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This note describes the payoff structure of investment in individual venture capital–backed companies and in venture capital portfolios. Venture Capital investments are characterized by high failure rate (0ver 50%) and a small number of given successes (greater than 10% returns). As an asset, class, venture capital has produced high cyclical returns that mirror trends in capital markets and in markets for new technology. There is a large disparity in median and upper quantize performance. A small number of funds do well on a constant basis. Overall returns on venture capital have been low for the decade ending in 2009. ?????
The case explores decisions faced by Gilt Groupe co-founders in 2009 regarding how rapidly to grow, which growth strategies to pursue and how much capital to raise.
Angel investors Ram Shriram, Mike Maples, Eric Paley, James Geshweiler, and Jim Southern discuss their investment philosophies and the changing landscape of angel investing. Questions include: • How has angel investing changed in the last few years? • How do you evaluate a prospective investment's attractiveness? • How do you think about risk and reward in angel investing? • Is it possible for Angel funds to be too big?
Bling Nation, a Palo Alto, CA startup, was founded in 2007 as a mobile payment service provider that bypassed industry participants such as Visa and MasterCard. Bling Nation partnered with local community banks and merchants in small towns. The banks provided their consumers with Bling Nation “tags”—microchip stickers that could be placed on any mobile phone device. The tags allowed users to make payments directly from their checking accounts and functioned similarly to a debit card. While Bling Nation had already raised $33 million, and its founders were confident of the market potential for mobile payments, they recognized the challenges they faced in scaling their current business model.
This case describes the plan to finance a revolutionary new television set manufacturing business in late 2009. Yatin Mundkur, a venture capitalist at Artiman Ventures, has recruited a team of veteran eecutives from the optical disk drive business, to design large display televisions that use lasers to "paint" a picture on a phosphorous screen. Munkur had previously worked with Amit Jain (CEO) and Roger Hajjar (CTO). The company has made significant progress in creating its product but must raise additional capital to commercialize the technology at a time when a financial crisis has made it difficult to raise capital for any venture.
This case describes a set of issues confronting the founders of innocent, a 10-year old beverage company that dominated the UK smoothie market. The team must decide how to proceed with expansion of the product line and outside the UK and Ireland. They must also decide how to finance the company, all within a challenging macroeconomic context.
Venture capitalist William Doyle must raise $35 million for a portfolio company with a promising, novel cancer therapy, just as global capital markets are imploding in the fall of 2008. NovoCure, Ltd., has developed an electrical-field-based therapy, called Tumor Treating fields, for the treatment of cancerous tumors. The therapy has shown significant efficacy with no side effects after five years of testing in human patients. Doyle believes NovoCure has the potential to become an important company with a major new cancer therapy platform but must complete pivotal (Phase III) clinical trials and receive FDA approval. Doyle's venture capital firm, WFD Ventures, has invested $25 million in three rounds to fund pilot clinical trials for glioblastoma and other non-small cell lung cancer, and the first pivotal clinical trial for glioblastoma. Additional financing is needed to proceed with the strategically important second pivotal trial. In the fall of 2008 Doyle was negotiating the final terms of an investment by two prominent hedge funds when the liquidity crisis caused the hedge funds to withdraw from the transaction. Dole must now reevaluate his options for securing the needed financing for this promising young company.
Distrobot is a start-up that has developed a new system for warehouse automation. The company is trying to raise money to finance the launch of the product. The founder must decide how much capital to raise, from whom, and on what terms.
The protagonists must decide whether to invest in an auto emissions testing company as the first investment in the leveraged buyout fund they recently formed. Issues of how to raise the needed equity capital and how to structure the acquisition are emphasized.
The founder and CEO of a CRM software start-up must decide between an attractive acquisition offer and the opportunity to go public. Discusses the growth of the company--including a lengthy discussion of entrepreneurial bootstrapping--as well as an aborted IPO attempt in 2000. The central question is whether the company will create more value by staying independent or by joining a larger organization.
This case describes a decision confronting the founder of Nantero, a company developing a new semiconductor technology. The company needs to raise additional venture capital. Potential investors have competing visions for the company, and its business model. Some investors want the company to license its technology to semiconductor companies. Others want the company to become a "lableless" semiconductor company producing and selling its own products. The question for the team at Nantero is, what model makes sense and which investor offers the most attractive terms?
Sahlman, William A., Dan Heath, and Caroline Perkins. "Nantero." Harvard Business School Case 809-031, August 2008. (Revised December 2009.)
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At the end of 1999, Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos--just named Time Magazine's Man of the Year--ponders the next moves for his company. Having expanded into numerous categories in 1999, ranging from Z-shops to Auctions to E-cards as well as increasing the number of distribution sites to seven, Amazon.com is quickly transforming itself as an electronic retailer. But does Amazon.com's strategy make sense? Critics worry that Bezos may be stretching the Amazon.com brand too far instead of focusing on a few retail categories. Bezos sees the opportunity to dominate various retail categories online--leveraging off its base of 16.9 million customers--before the brick-and-mortar retailers do.
Rayport, Jeffrey F., Dickson Louie, and William A. Sahlman. "Amazon.com (D)." Harvard Business School Case 901-022, February 2001. (Revised November 2009.)
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Rayport, Jeffrey F., Dickson Louie, and William A. Sahlman. "(TN) Amazon.com (A), (B), (C), and (D)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-025, April 2001. (Revised November 2009.)
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Lassiter, Joseph B., III, William A. Sahlman, and Noam Wasserman. "Nantucket Nectars: The Exit." Harvard Business School Case 810-041, September 2009. (Revised February 2014.)
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Sahlman, William A., and Jackie Donnelly Russell. "Blink: The European Air-Taxi Service." Harvard Business School Case 809-058, October 2008. (Revised October 2009.)
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Describes a method for valuing high-risk, long-term investments such as those confronting venture capitalists. The method entails forecasting a future value (e.g., five years from the present) and discounting that terminal value back to the present by applying a high discount rate (e.g., 50%). Provides an explanation of this method, including a detailed discussion of the determinants of the key factors ranging from the discount rate to the terminal value. The pedagogic objective is to make students aware of the issues involved in valuing such "futures" investments. A model is provided that further elucidates the determinants of value.
"ZINK Imaging" describes the issues confronting CEO Wendy Caswell as she uses a partnership model to commercialize ZINK's disruptive printing technology platform, ZINK Paper. The case focuses on the frameworks ZINK has used to decide which markets to target and which business partners to choose. Caswell contemplates changes to the partnership model in an effort to speed product introduction to manage the company's burn rate and reach profitability. The context for the case is the company's imminent need to raise an additional $25 million.
Only three short months into her new position as CEO of publicly traded golf apparel manufacturer Cutter & Buck, Fran Conley discovers accounting irregularities that call into question the reliability of this company's financial statements. Working closely with her board of directors, Conley must figure out what is really going on. She must also deal with the possibility of SEC sanctions, class action lawsuits, threat of NASDAQ delisting, loss of D&O insurance, departure of senior managers, and problems with access to credit. She is also trying to turn the company around after two years of poor performance.
Describes a set of financing issues confronting a rapidly growing company that uses "Word-of-Mouth" marketing techniques in promoting research, new products, or services. The company proposes to set the terms for a new round of venture capital it needs and to have venture capitalists bid for the right to invest on those terms by proving that they can add value to BzzAgent, Inc.
Sahlman, William A., and Caroline Perkins. "BzzAgent, Inc. - 2005." Harvard Business School Case 807-057, September 2006. (Revised July 2009.)
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Describes some of the issues confronting the entrepreneurial team responsible for creating a highly successful natural beauty and skin care company. They are considering selling all or some portion of the company's stock.
Charles Barker must decide whether to become an outside investor in a private round of financing for an early stage, high-growth-potential venture producing plastic pouring spouts for orange juice cartons. Barker must evaluate the opportunity, content, and deal to decide whether the deal makes sense for him, and whether he should recommend the investment to his clients.
Sahlman, William A., and Andrew S. Janower. "Beechwood Spouts (A)." Harvard Business School Case 396-016, October 1995. (Revised July 2009.)
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Briefly summarizes the process that venture capitalists use to analyze high-risk, long-term investments. Contains information on methods that can be used to calculate valuation, share price, percent ownership, implied valuation, dilution, and option pools.
Describes some important issues confronting the management of a successful information company in 2002, competitive threat from a larger firm that is also a strategic investor. Management must decide how to respond to the.
This case describes some issues confronting the leader of a major investment bank. She is pleased with the financial performance of her firm but concerned about signs of a bubble in the market.
This case includes structured interviews with four serial entrepreneurs about the way in which they built and used their boards in each of their companies and what they have learned through that process. These entrepreneurs were asked similar questions, such as "How do you build a board of directors in a venture-backed start up?"; "What do you expect of the board and how do you ensure those expectations are met?"; "What are the most and least value-added board activities?"; "How do you manage the board?"; "How does board composition change over time?"; "What were your biggest surprises about boards?"; and "What advice would you give first-time entrepreneurs?"
Describes Texas Pacific Group's purchase and operation of J. Crew, the catalog and specialty clothing retailer. Highlights the issues involved in financing such a transaction, and then focuses on the operational challenges of turning around the business, and of TPG's intensive involvement in the running of the business. Details the improvements in the business, and then the retrenchment, leaving the business facing a significant debt payment coming due. TPG must decide whether to sell the business and get out "whole," or whether it can develop and execute a more successful strategy going forward.
Roberts, Michael J., William A. Sahlman, and Lauren Barley. "Texas Pacific Group--J. Crew." Harvard Business School Case 808-017, August 2007. (Revised April 2008.)
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Describes a set of issues confronting the leaders of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, an innovative cross-university effort to accelerate scientific discovery and translation in the domain of stem cells. Covers a wide range of topics, including understanding how science research gets funded, how politics affect research, how universities approach intellectual property, how countries (and states) compete for talent, and how therapies are developed.
Describes a set of financial and strategic decisions confronting the founding management team of a new online financial services company. Prosper Marketplace is an internet-based market for individuals to borrow money from other individuals who wish to invest in such loans.
Sahlman, William A., and Elizabeth Kind. "Prosper Marketplace, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 807-074, December 2006. (Revised March 2008.)
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Traces the genesis and founding of Zoots, the largest chain of dry cleaning establishments in the U.S. Founded by some of the founders of the very successful Staples chain, the company raises a very large amount of capital without fully proving its business model, and by 2006 is in need of yet more funding. Pushes students to dissect the business model and current operations -- and their financial performance -- and figure out what went wrong initially, if the business model and operations are now on solid footing, and, assuming capital can be raised, whether it is better to take the "bird in the hand" of significant capital at an admittedly disappointing valuation, or wait for a strategic investor who would pay a higher price but will need significantly more time to complete due diligence.
Roberts, Michael J., William A. Sahlman, and Todd Krasnow. "Zoots - Financing Growth (A)." Harvard Business School Case 807-139, June 2007. (Revised March 2008.)
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Describes a prospective "venture debt" loan to a new venture from the perspective of Patrick Lee, a principal at Pinnacle Ventures. Forces students to grapple with the nature of financial risk in the start-up firm and assess the prospective risks and returns to a lender to such a firm. To reach a perspective on these issues, students need to assess the existing pro forma cash flows of the venture backed firm, overlay the cash flow implications of a venture debt loan, and assess how much additional "runway" (months till cash runs out) the venture debt will provide. Students must also look at the prospective returns to the venture debt firm from the warrants and the option to invest in follow-on financings that is provided to Pinnacle as part of the loan. Thus, they must look at risk and return from the prospective of both parties. Also provides information on the returns to venture capital, venture debt, and other forms of private equity, and asks students to address the issue of what the risk and return in these various private equity asset classes has been and is likely to be.
Roberts, Michael J., William A. Sahlman, and Elizabeth Kind. "Pinnacle Ventures." Harvard Business School Case 808-048, August 2007. (Revised February 2008.)
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Scott Eckert, the co-founder and CEO of Motion Computing, must decide whether to raise additional capital to support growth. Motion manufactures and distributes Tablet PCs. If the company opts to raise money, it must decide on the source and terms of the financing.
Sahlman, William A., and Caroline Perkins. "Motion Computing, Inc. -- 2004." Harvard Business School Case 806-068, November 2005. (Revised December 2007.)
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Roberts, Michael J., and William A. Sahlman. "Innocent Drinks (TN)." Harvard Business School Background Note 806-196, May 2006. (Revised February 2007.)
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Describes a set of decisions confronting the management team of a rapidly growing online psychological testing and social networking company. They can either sell the company to a large public company, raise another round of capital from a preeminent venture capital fund, or continue to grow using existing positive cash flow.
Describes a set of decisions confronting the founders of a company developing a new device for taking three-dimensional pictures of teeth in order to improve dental outcomes. The company needs more money and must choose between raising new equity capital from a venture capital firm, raising money from a strategic investor, or taking advantage of venture debt.
Describes a set of decisions confronting the senior management of Earthbound Farm, the largest organic produce company in the world. Focuses on what to do with an East Coast distribution center that is losing money but may be useful strategically.
Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman, Vincent Dessain, Monika Stachowiak and Anders Sjoman
Describes the financing, strategy, and growth decisions facing fortu, a young German battery company. The company is contemplating a facility in East Germany, where state subsidies make the finances appealing. A sudden offer to license fortu technology for application in a very promising segment and the ensuing potential cash influx makes fortu examine alternative ways to build its first production plant.
Roberts, Michael J., William A. Sahlman, Vincent Dessain, Monika Stachowiak, and Anders Sjoman. "fortu PowerCell GmbH." Harvard Business School Case 805-159, June 2005. (Revised July 2006.)
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Sahlman, William A., and Victoria Winston. "Cutter & Buck (C)." Harvard Business School Supplement 806-030, November 2005. (Revised July 2006.)
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Sahlman, William A., and Victoria Winston. "Cutter & Buck (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 806-029, November 2005. (Revised July 2006.)
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William A. Sahlman, Geremy Connor, Brian Doherty, Andrew Murphy and Taylor Smith
Describes a set of issues confronting the owners of Chris-Craft, a manufacturer of high-end boats. The company can invest in new monobrand stores, new boat designs, and brand extensions (e.g., apparel). The owners have also recently purchased Indian Head Motorcycle out of liquidation and must determine what to do with the asset.
Sahlman, William A., Geremy Connor, Brian Doherty, Andrew Murphy, and Taylor Smith. "The Turnaround of Chris-Craft." Harvard Business School Case 806-071, October 2005. (Revised June 2006.)
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Describes the internal reporting package for a rapidly growing company in the e-learning industry. Management must analyze the data in the package and decide what actions to take. They must also decide what to communicate to the board of directors. Contains a description of the company and a copy of the reporting package.
Roberts, Michael J., and William A. Sahlman. "RightNow Technologies (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 806-189, May 2006. (Revised June 2006.)
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Roberts, Michael J., and William A. Sahlman. "Valhalla Partners Due Diligence (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 806-194, May 2006.
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The Beta Group is a technology incubator in Menlo Park, CA that has successfully built a portfolio of businesses in the medical, consumer products, and industrial technology sectors by systematically matching proprietary technologies to unmet market needs. Beta has developed a new golf club technology that allows golfers to reduce the dispersion of miss-hit golf balls. The case addresses questions of strategy and finance as Beta considers its options to commercialize the technology. Also presents an opportunity to discuss Beta's unique investment approach.
Sahlman, William A., Michael J. Roberts, and Laurence E. Katz. "Beta Golf." Harvard Business School Case 898-162, March 1998. (Revised December 2005.)
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The management team at Athleta is attempting to raise equity capital for the company in March 2002. Athleta is a catalog and online retailer of women's athletic clothing. The company has made substantial progress, with anticipated 2002 sales over $20 million, but has been undercapitalized. Given the decline in values in the capital market in early 2002, the company has limited prospects for raising capital on attractive terms.
Describes the progress of a nonprofit organization, Endeavor, focused on nurturing entrepreneurship in emerging markets. At the time of the case, it has successfully expanded to five Latin American countries and is contemplating the next phase in its growth. Specifically, it must decide how quickly and to which countries/regions to expand. In addition, the organization has been successful in raising money at the local level to support its country affiliates, but has had more issues related to raising the funding for its operations in New York. Thus, a key question is which funding model to use to support these headquarters operations. Includes a good deal of information regarding the prevalence of entrepreneurship in various countries, as well as economic data on a great variety of countries. A rewritten version of an earlier case.
Compares and contrasts three different venture capital funds from the perspective of a potential investor. The first fund has a technology-enabled services preference, the second a Mid-Atlantic region preference, and the third a seed round preference. Students are asked to decide which fund (or combination of funds) would be the best investment and which fund would be the most attractive investor for entrepreneurs.
Larry Baer, executive vice-president and COO, was eager to improve profitability for the San Francisco Giants baseball team. Over the last few years, the Giants have had a number of successes. They successfully built the first privately financed ball park in over 30 years. They set all-time records in season ticket holders, attendance, and sponsorship advertising. At the same time, the team was highly competitive in the field, ranking first or second in the league and making it to the World Series in 2002. However, they were expected to incur significant operating losses. Baer wondered what he should do.
Sahlman, William A., and Elizabeth Kind. "San Francisco Giants." Harvard Business School Case 804-092, November 2003. (Revised January 2005.)
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The three founders of a London-based, start-up smoothie company must decide between three growth options: expansion of the existing product line into Europe, extension of the brand into other product categories, or continued organic growth within the United Kingdom.
Describes a set of decisions confronting the founder of a company with a revolutionary new wound-closure product. He must decide how to finance and exploit his venture.
Sahlman, William A., and Ryland Matthew Willis. "ClozeX Medical (A): The New Standard of Wound Closure." Harvard Business School Case 805-073, November 2004.
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Describes a discussion involving Barry Diller and the top management team at IAC/InteractiveCorp. about whether to buy LendingTree.com. If so, at what price and on what terms?
Sahlman, William A., and Ryland Matthew Willis. "Barry Diller and IAC/InterActiveCorp." Harvard Business School Case 805-072, November 2004.
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The Valhalla Partners venture capitial firm introduced a new approach to the due-diligence process. An internal due-diligence report analyzes Telco Exchange, a startup company in the IT software space. An extended excerpt examines the trade-offs involved in the new due-diligence process and whether Valhalla should invest in Telco Exchange.
Describes the transition to a new CEO at Intuit, a successful software and financial services firm in California. The new CEO must decide what to change and how fast. He must also navigate within a culture everyone believes to be successful but he envisions can be improved.
Describes a situation confronting the management of a highly successful venture capital firm in April 2002. The industry has changed materially since it raised a $1.2 billion dollar fund, and the partners must decide whether to scale back the size of the fund.
Describes a set of decisions confronting the management team of an early-stage software company. The company has made considerable progress in developing its software but will need additional capital to move forward. Unfortunately, conditions in the capital market are very difficult, and management must decide to address its financial needs. Provides a detailed history of Marv Tseu, the CEO, who had a broad range of interesting experiences in the world of technology.
Describes a set of decisions confronting some managers in the oral care division of Procter & Gamble. They must decide whether to buy a company that has developed an inexpensive, battery-operated toothbrush. The company's product has done well in one market, but determining an appropriate value and structure is challenging.
Describes a newly formed manufacturer of insulation materials. The company has developed and patented a new insulation material that can be used in a wide range of markets. Capital must be raised to finance building a manufacturing facility and fund early market penetration.
Describes a set of decisions confronting the senior management of a company that has established a loyalty rewards program allocating cash to tax-advantaged college savings accounts for participants. The company has recruited a new CEO and needs to raise additional capital in the post-Internet bubble period.
Describes a set of decisions confronting an entrepreneurial team that is considering taking managerial control of Allscripts, a health care venture. The company has gone through nine rounds of external financing and has changed its business model several times.
Describes a set of decisions confronting the management of a software company that sells portal management tools to large companies. Management must raise additional funds under difficult circumstances.
Stig Leschly, Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Todd H Thedinga
Describes the evolution of Amazon.com and its business model since its founding. Specifically, discusses Amazon's transformation from an e-Tailer to a commerce platform and its marketplace initiative, which has driven this. Also describes the economics of various commerce models that Amazon employs and discusses a decision confronting Jeff Bezos regarding how the company should participate in the apparel segment.
Leschly, Stig, Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman, and Todd H Thedinga. "Amazon.com-2002." Harvard Business School Case 803-098, November 2002. (Revised February 2003.)
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Anasazi, a hair-care products start-up based in the Midwest, is having growing pains as it tries to develop a new distribution model for the professional hair salon industry. The company has completed several rounds of venture financing but, to continue, needs to raise more capital earlier than expected. It goes through a process of refining and refocusing its strategy to raise the new funds.
Contains a detailed analysis of Microsoft's financial performance from 1985 to 2001. During this time, Microsoft improved its profitability and cash flow generation--changes that led to a dramatic rise in valuation. Also addresses the issue of determining how much excess profit the company might have earned as a result of its illegal activities, as alleged and proved by the U.S. government.
Preview Travel was a leader in the online travel industry, having generated $80 million in bookings in 1997 and growing at a 34% compound annual growth rate per quarter. This case describes the evolution of Preview Travel's business plan and financing strategy and highlights a financial turning point that the company faced in August 1997. In August 1997, the company was in need of an additional cash infusion and had received strong indications of interest from a major U.S. media company. However, Preview Travel was disappointed with the offer the media company eventually made--$4.50 a share--since it was significantly less than the Series E round a year earlier ($9.00 a share). An investment bank advising Preview Travel believed that Preview Travel could garner a higher valuation in the public market and recommended that the company consider an IPO as an alternative means of raising capital. However, there were risks to this strategy. Closes with the question of whether Preview Travel should accept the "sure" but low offer from the media company or pursue an accelerated and potentially risky IPO.
Sahlman, William A., Nicole Tempest, Daniel H Case III, and Robert Keller. "Preview Travel (A)." Harvard Business School Case 899-085, October 1998. (Revised May 2001.)
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Rayport, Jeffrey F., Goutam Challagalla, and William A. Sahlman. "Barnesandnoble.com (A), (B), and (C) TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-026, April 2001.
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Rayport, Jeffrey F., Steven Silverman, and William A. Sahlman. "Microsoft Carpoint." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-028, April 2001.
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Rayport, Jeffrey F., Elliot N. Maltz, and William A. Sahlman. "Egghead.com TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-029, April 2001.
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Teaching Note for (9-396-264). For book only - not listed on case.
Citation:
Rayport, Jeffrey F., Elliot N. Maltz, and William A. Sahlman. "Virtual Vineyards TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-030, April 2001.
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Rayport, Jeffrey F., Goutam Challagalla, and William A. Sahlman. "Weather Services Corporation TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-031, April 2001.
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Rayport, Jeffrey F., Rafi Mohammed, and William A. Sahlman. "Streamline (A) and (B) TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-032, April 2001.
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Rayport, Jeffrey F., Michelle Toth, and William A. Sahlman. "first direct (A) TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-033, April 2001.
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Rayport, Jeffrey F., Leo Griffin, Yannis Dosios, and William A. Sahlman. "Frontgate Catalog TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-035, April 2001.
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Rayport, Jeffrey F., Goutam Challagalla, and William A. Sahlman. "iQVC (A) and (B) TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-037, April 2001.
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Rayport, Jeffrey F., Elliot N. Maltz, and William A. Sahlman. "Marshall Industries TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-038, April 2001.
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Rayport, Jeffrey F., Steven Silverman, and William A. Sahlman. "MindSpring TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-039, April 2001.
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Rayport, Jeffrey F., Elliot N. Maltz, and William A. Sahlman. "The New York Times Electronic Media Company (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-040, April 2001.
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Rayport, Jeffrey F., Elliot N. Maltz, and William A. Sahlman. "CBS Evening News TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-041, April 2001.
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Rayport, Jeffrey F., Dickson Louie, and William A. Sahlman. "CBS MarketWatch TN." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 901-042, April 2001.
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Describes some strategic and financial issues confronting the founder and executive director of a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving awareness of and interest in science and technology among elementary and high school students. The organization sponsors national robotics competitions.
At the end of 1998, Jonathan Bulkeley, the newly-named CEO of barnesandnoble.com, is faced with a challenge. As the second leading online bookseller behind Amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com must build its market share. With Forrester Research predicting that the online bookselling market would grow to $3 billion in 2003, how could barnesandnoble.com attract more of the "newbies" coming onto the web to its site and become the leading online bookseller--as it was in the bricks-and-mortar world--over the long run?
Rayport, Jeffrey F., Dickson Louie, and William A. Sahlman. "BarnesandNoble.com (B)." Harvard Business School Case 901-023, February 2001.
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At the end of 1999, Steve Riggio, the vice chairman and acting CEO of barnesandnoble.com, wonders what his company should do next against Amazon.com, the online retailer who is the leading online book seller in the United States. While barnesandnoble.com has been careful to expand into new categories related to media--such as magazines, CDs, and posters--Amazon.com has expanded into a variety of seemingly unrelated categories--such as Z-shops, auctions, and power tools. While some see this expansion as a weakness in Amazon.com's branding strategy, how could Riggio and barnesandnoble.com best exploit this so that they become the leading online bookseller over the long run in terms of market share and mind share?
Rayport, Jeffrey F., Dickson Louie, and William A. Sahlman. "BarnesandNoble.com (C)." Harvard Business School Case 901-024, February 2001.
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The founders of Nantucket Nectars are trying to decide whether to sell their company. The case describes how the founders started the company and grew the Nantucket Nectars brand name.
Lassiter, Joseph B., III, William A. Sahlman, and Jon Biotti. "Nantucket Nectars." Harvard Business School Case 898-171, February 1998. (Revised December 2000.)
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Describes a decision confronting the cofounders of a B2B Internet firm that focuses on the purchasing process for manufactured direct materials. The company has raised one round of capital from two prominent venture capital firms and must decide if it makes sense to raise more capital sooner than had been originally anticipated. Their experiment appears to be successful and they must design the logical next experiment. The company eventually raises money from LBO firms, whose portfolio companies become customers.
Describes the development of UPromise, a company that has developed a loyalty program through which corporate partners can contribute to funds that finance the education of consumers' children. Presents the accomplishments prior to the company's second round of financing and asks students to consider how the recent NASDAQ drop could or should affect the company's ability to raise money.
Describes the evolution of FireDrop, a new venture-backed company that has developed a new platform for e-mail communication. The FireDrop application--called a Zaplet--allows for e-mails to be continually updated so they are current when read (rather than when sent). The company has received several rounds of venture capital financing, and now it must raise another large round, simultaneously deciding which of six alternative business models to pursue.
The efforts of two recent Harvard Business School graduates to start a venture capital/consulting firm focused on opportunities related to the Internet are recounted. Raises the question of what the nature of this opportunity is, how well-positioned the protagonists are to pursue it, and what the deal structure should be.
Sahlman, William A., Michael J. Roberts, and Christina L. Darwall. "Interactive Minds (A)." Harvard Business School Case 898-072, November 1997. (Revised October 2000.)
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Describes the evolution of FairMarket, a provider of turnkey auction services to community and merchant Web sites. Describes several deals that the CEO must negotiate, requiring a view of the company's valuation.
Describes Patagon.com, a company trying to build a financial portal in Latin America. The company's founders, Wenceslao Casares and Constancio Larguia, must deal with complex financial and strategic challenges as they guide the company in a difficult context.
Janet Kraus and Kathy Sherbrooke started a resource and referral company specializing in helping busy people get things done. Issues include financing and product and marketing strategy.
Sahlman, William A., Michael J. Roberts, and Matthew C. Lieb. "Knot, The." Harvard Business School Case 899-116, December 1998. (Revised March 2000.)
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A set of financial and strategic decisions confront the management of a company trying to develop a technology for creating "electronic ink." If successful, the company will be able to create "radio paper," essentially turning a piece of paper into a computer monitor that has all the characteristics of paper but is digitally controlled.
Amazon.com, an early pioneer in electronic commerce, prepares its initial public offering in the face of turbulent market conditions. Joy Covey, Amazon.com's CFO and the case protagonist, discusses the risks and opportunities of going public and the nature of electronic commerce business models in comparison to traditional land-based retail models. This case presents an opportunity to discuss the public offering process and the inter-relationship between a young company's financing strategy and business strategy.
Sahlman, William A., and Laurence E. Katz. "Amazon.com--Going Public." Harvard Business School Case 899-003, October 1998. (Revised August 1999.)
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An Internet start-up company is developing an online marketplace for specialty chemicals and reagents. David Perry has been named a runner-up in the 1st annual HBS Business Plan contest and now faces seed-stage financing questions--how much money to raise, at what valuation, in how many stages, and from whom.
Sahlman, William A., Michael J. Roberts, and Laurence E. Katz. "Chemdex.com." Harvard Business School Case 898-076, January 1998. (Revised June 1999.)
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Describes a recent Berkeley MBA's attempts to start a business aimed at corporate training via the Internet. Describes the very early efforts at finding an attorney, accountant, and financing, and the interrelationships among these choices.
Sahlman, William A., Michael J. Roberts, and Christina L. Darwall. "DigitalThink: Startup." Harvard Business School Case 898-186, February 1998. (Revised June 1999.)
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A number of issues confront an associate in a venture capital firm. She has just learned that her senior partners are not yet willing to make her a general partner of the firm. She has several options and must decide what to do.
Sahlman, William A., and Michael J. Roberts. "Launching a High-Risk Business CD." Simulation and Teaching Note. Harvard Business School Publishing, 1999. Electronic. (This is an interactive simulation (Windows only) that gives users hands-on experience in the essential activities of launching a business.)
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Focuses attention on a phenomenon we call capital market myopia, a situation in which participants in the capital markets ignore the logical implications of their individual investment decisions. Viewed in isolation, each decision seems to make sense. When taken together, however, they are a prescription for disaster. Capital market myopia leads to over-funding of industries and unsustainable levels of valuation in the stock market. Uses the Winchester Disk industry to elucidate the phenomenon. Argues that capital market participants should have seen the problem coming. They should have known that valuation levels were absurd, based in large part on the greater fool theory. The data necessary to anticipate the problem were readily available before the industry shakeout began and stock prices collapsed. Offers some simple lessons to help investors and entrepreneurs avoid charter membership in the greater fool club.
Sahlman, William A., and Howard H. Stevenson. "Capital Market Myopia." Harvard Business School Background Note 288-005, August 1987. (Revised December 1998.)
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Himscorp is an industry consolidation of records storage companies providing management and retrieval services of active medical records to healthcare institutions. Kent Dauten, a former general partner at Madison Dearborn Partners with 15 years of venture capital and buyout experience, has personally sponsored the industry consolidation and is considering whether to invest in growth, sell to a strategic buyer, or pursue an initial public offering. This case presents an opportunity to discuss the process of a roll-up and the sources of value creation.
Kent Dauten, a former general partner at the Chicago private equity firm of Madison Dearborn Partners, has engaged in a search to personally sponsor a buyout in which he can play an active management role. He has received a selling memorandum for Record Masters, a records storage company providing management and retrieval services for active medical records to health care institutions. The case presents excerpts from the selling memorandum and asks students to assess the attractiveness of the opportunity, key risks, valuation, and deal structuring.
Bob Hellman, a partner in a West Coast middle-market buyout firm, is attempting to simultaneously acquire and merge three disparate firms in the rapidly consolidating telemarketing services industry. Hellman must value the individual companies as well as the combined entity, structure a deal that is attractive to each party, and evaluate the prospects for the combined entity while developing a plan of action to more fully develop the deal.
Sahlman, William A., and Andrew S. Janower. Project "Dial-Tone". Harvard Business School Case 897-003, November 1996. (Revised August 1997.)
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Designed to introduce students in Entrepreneurial Finance to the subject matter and modus operandi of the course. Also included is an annotated bibliography.
Contains a description of a situation confronting the co-founder of a company planning to produce software for microcomputers. The company has just completed raising money from some wealthy investors by forming an R&D Limited Partnership. Development of the program (an integrated business productivity tool) can now begin. The focus is on the structure of the deal and the process of venture formation. Among the issues to be discussed are: Should the company have raised money from these investors under these terms? What can go wrong? What can go right?
Contains a description of the history and venture capital financing of Lotus Development. Focuses on issues related to the possible terms of investment in Lotus by a major venture capital firm. The pedagogic objectives in the case are: to explore the elements of the people/opportunity/deal analytical framework; to expose students to issues in venture capital financing of high potential ventures; to explore the causes of success; and to explore the distinctions between creativity, innovation, implementation, and entrepreneurship.
Students are asked to determine the fair market value of Carlton Polish Co. and decide if Mr. Carlton should buy out his partner's half for $25 million. Carlton's alternative is to sell his half for $25 million. Students must also evaluate a financing plan.
Eight months has passed since Barker first invested in Beechwood Spouts, and the company's situation has deteriorated. The problems appear to be resolved. Barker must now decide whether to participate in a crucial bridge financing round, without which the company will go bankrupt.
Sahlman, William A., and Andrew S. Janower. "Beechwood Spouts (B)." Harvard Business School Case 396-041, October 1995. (Revised December 1996.)
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A framework for assessing new business opportunities and the business plans used to describe them is developed. Useful for aspiring entrepreneurs in MBA programs.
John Hansen, CEO of ThermoLase, must develop a plan of action to exploit the company's new development-stage revolutionary hair removal technology with negligible revenues and a $500 million market capitalization. This nascent public Thermo Electron spin out company has the opportunity to change the U.S. beauty industry if Hansen can develop and execute an effective rollout strategy. Teaching Purpose: To introduce students to the Thermo Electron development strategy in the context of a high-potential, development-stage, retail/consumer-oriented business.
Two former consultants have raised a search fund and are looking for a company to buy and run. After eight months of looking at deals, they have just signed a letter of intent to buy the second largest book retail chain in Canada in a turnaround situation. They must now decide whether to go through with the deal and, if so, how to raise the necessary financing.
Brian Henley founded InterZine Productions to develop interactive multimedia content for America Online (AOL) and the Internet. With funding and support from AOL's Greenhouse program, Henley has launched Golf, a unique interactive golf service. While he has operated on a bootstrap budget to date, Henley is running out of cash and must now decide how best to raise the capital to finance continued growth.
Contains a description of the events surrounding the financing of Centex Telemanagement, Inc. by Sierra Ventures, a venture capital fund. The case is written from the perspective of the venture capitalists and is designed to teach students about the process of venture capital funding. A rewritten version of Centex Telemanagement, Inc., this series separates two decisions.
Contains a description of the events surrounding the financing of Centex Telemanagement, Inc. by Sierra Ventures, a venture capital fund. The case is written from the perspective of the venture capitalists and is designed to teach students about the process of venture capital funding.
Richard Yan and Suzanne Foels raise a $52.5 million fund to invest in Chinese companies in concert with major multinational companies. They face all the challenges of starting a business from scratch in addition to the challenges of operating in a cross-cultural environment with poor infrastructure and a strict regulatory environment. At issue is how to expand successfully beyond their initial investments.
Addresses the challenges faced by Ben Rosen and the company board of directors as continuing problems force it to make a decision about the ongoing governance of the firm. The issues are complicated by the current CEO and founder, Rod Canion, who has had, until recently, a very successful track record and is very highly regarded within the company and the industry.
Facing increasing competition from much larger industry players, Jim Dalton, CEO of Quorum, and Russ Carson, Managing Partner of Welch, Carson, Anderson & Stowe attempt to set the future direction for Quorum. The company was successfully spun-off from HCA in a management buyout and subsequently started acquiring hospitals to add to its management control service operation.
VideoGuide is emerging from a development stage start-up and requires a significant capital infusion to commercialize its product. Various financing options are considered including going public, venture capital, private placement, or a strategic partner. Given the "heated" IPO market, VideoGuide is leaning toward going public.
Describes Bill Antle's proposed restructuring plans for Oak Industries, a company composed of nine divisions which seem to be experiencing operating difficulties. During the last ten years the company has been involved in a number of acquisitions and divestitures, as well as financing initiatives which the stock market has viewed unfavorably. Antle is a former management consultant who was asked to lead Oak after a recent proxy contest.
Sahlman, William A., and Burton C. Hurlock. "Oak Industries Inc." Harvard Business School Case 292-086, November 1991. (Revised September 1993.)
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Presents data relevant to a major capital expenditure--the construction of a shrimp plant. Designed to test student's ability to identify relevant cash flows, to estimate the cost of capital, and to decide whether or not to invest.
Fruhan, William E., Jr., and William A. Sahlman. "Harris Seafoods, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 281-054, February 1981. (Revised June 1993.)
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Contains a description of the events surrounding the financing of Centex Telemanagement, Inc. by Sierra Ventures, a venture capital fund. The case is written from the perspective of the venture capitalists and is designed to teach students about the process of venture capital funding.
First case in a series of six cases that follow the experience of a cable television company as it adjusts to the rapid rise and precipitous decline of the stock market in the late 1980s. In this case Don Jones, the company's founder and owner, sees the rise in public cable television company values as an opportunity to consolidate a degree of personal wealth. Concludes with Jones considering a range of harvesting strategies.
Describes the proposed purchase of a lampshade manufacturer by Steven and Michele Rogers, recent graduates of the Harvard Business School. Focuses on their plans to raise the capital necessary to buy the company. Among the issues raised are how to structure the deal and whether or not to buy the company.
Describes a set of decisions confronting Robin Wolaner, who is negotiating with representatives of Time Inc. about investing in a project to launch a new magazine called Parenting. The negotiations have reached an impasse. Among the issues to be considered are the following: 1) How do you assess the opportunity that Wolaner has identified? 2) How much money does Wolaner need? From whom should the capital be raised? 3) Is the proposed deal with Time Inc. reasonable? From whose perspective? What changes, if any, should be made to the deal? 4) What should Wolaner do?
Describes the issues involved in designing and evaluating financial contracts between users and suppliers of capital and between companies and employees. A simple conceptual framework is introduced and some critical issues addressed: 1) How is cash allocated? 2) How is risk allocated? and 3) What are the incentives for all parties in the deal? The emphasis in the note is on providing the reader with a set of questions that must be addressed when designing and evaluating any deals. Created for use in Entrepreneurial Finance. Can be used to provide general background reading or as an assignment for a day devoted to the discussion of deals.
Sahlman, William A., and Howard H. Stevenson. "Orbital Sciences Corp. (A)." Harvard Business School Case 386-175, April 1986. (Revised February 1989.)
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Contains a description of a decision confronting two entrepreneurs in mid-1981. They are considering purchasing a small manufacturer of precision electromechanical parts. Among the issues in the case are the following: 1) Should Taylor and Grayson buy Precision Parts, Inc.? 2) Should Shawmut Bank provide the loan? 3) Should the venture capital firms invest? 4) What should Taylor and Grayson do? The case is designed to expose students to a different kind of opportunity. Also, students will have to ask and answer the questions: What can go wrong and what can go right? They must develop a plan for managing the risk-reward ratio in their favor.
Describes set of issues confronting Alison Lassiter, who is trying to help Charlie Harris arrange a leveraged buyout of the shrimp company he runs, a division of a publicly traded company, Katy Industries. Lassiter has prepared a memorandum discussing and analyzing the company in detail and performed some preliminary analyses on the economics of the transaction. Many issues remain, including: 1) What is the maximum price Harris should pay? 2) How and when should he approach Katy with a proposal? 3) What should the elements of the proposal be? 4) From whom should the equity funds be raised and how much should be raised? 5) What lenders should be approached and how? 6) How should the pie be sliced? (i.e., What proportion should management get? The equity investors? The lenders?) 7) Assuming the deal can be pulled off, what will the critical success factors be? Presents an opportunity to hone analytical skills and, more important, to discuss how to manage the process so that a deal acceptable to all parties can be structured. Students may be asked to take different perspectives--management, lenders--and be prepared to discuss them.
Describes a decision confronting the president of a small company about selling some or all of the shares in his company to another firm. Technical Data Corp. provides analytical services to professional bond market traders over a system of computer terminals operated by Telerate. The company began operation in 1980 and has been very successful. The key issues in the case are: how the value of the company should be estimated and what a reasonable negotiating strategy for the potential sale of the company is.
Contains materials extracted from a business plan developed by the company in 1980. The purpose of the business plan was to raise $100,000 to finance the commencement of operations. The firm intended to provide analytical services to bond market traders. The product would be distributed to traders over a system of computer terminals operated by Telerate. Intended to act as a vehicle for discussing business plans per se, and how one decides to invest in new ventures more generally.
Presents the results derived from 49 responses to a questionnaire mailed to 100 venture capitalists in late 1984. The purpose of the survey was to shed light on the relationship between venture capitalists and their portfolio companies. The survey revealed that the venture capitalists who responded spend about half their time monitoring nine portfolio investments of which five are companies on whose boards they sit. For the latter group of companies, a venture capitalist typically devotes 80 hours of on-site time and 30 hours of phone time to each company in a year. The most frequently performed service for portfolio companies is to help raise additional funds, with strategic analysis and management recruiting also mentioned as important roles. Finally, the venture capitalists in the survey had replaced an average of three CEOs during their careers, and considered weak senior management to be the dominant cause of venture failure.
Contains a description of a major financing decision confronting the management and advisors of Smartfood, Inc., a company which hopes to market a cheese flavored popcorn product. The primary pedagogic objective is to teach students about matching the financing plan with the nature of the opportunity.
Contains a description of some issues confronting management of CML Group as the company progresses toward making an initial public offering. Among the issues and topics addressed in the case are: considerations in choosing an underwriting team, the initial public offering market; IPOs as a mechanism for private investors to harvest their investment; and short-term management reactions to changing conditions in the stock market.
Describes a series of decisions confronting Charles Leighton, co-founder and chairman of the CML Group. CML is a successful participant in the leisure time industry with two lines of business: specialty retailing and recreational consumer products. The key issues in the case are: 1) Should CML Group go public? and 2) How should management select an investment banking team? In order to address these issues, the students will have to understand the strategy and performance of CML, and assess the costs and benefits of going public in that context. Then, they will have to develop a strategy for selecting an underwriting team consistent with their analysis of the first issue.
Contains a description of a decision confronting an employee of IBM in late 1981. Should he leave IBM to become head of a new venture capital fund which will specialize in technology investments? The case is designed to expose students to the nature of the opportunity confronting venture capitalists. The students will have to assess the fit between Peter Wendell, the particular opportunity, and the terms being offered.
Contains a history of the microcomputer software industry from the mid-1970s through early 1982. During that period growth was explosive. Many new companies were formed. However, the eventual structure of the industry was not yet clear. No truly dominant firms had appeared. The note is intended to provide background information on Lotus Development Corp. That case contains a description of the strategy and financing of a producer of software. The note could also be used as a basis for discussion of the evolution of industries per se.
Contains a description of some issues confronting management of CML Group. They have decided to go public, have selected an underwriting team, and must make final decisions about the size, composition and pricing of the issue. Because stock prices have fallen since the decision to go public was made, the company is faced with the prospect of lowering the number of shares to be sold, lowering the offering price, or withdrawing the issue altogether. Can be handed out at the end of class discussion of CML Group, Inc.: Going Public (B).
Contains a description of a set of related decisions confronting the management and directors of Business Research Corp. (BRC) in April of 1984. BRC needs more capital to finance continued development of the market for a full-text database comprised of Wall Street research and to finance a new business opportunity entailing electronic delivery of Wall Street research to institutional investors. However, in order to attract new money, the capital structure of the company must be changed. The pedagogic objectives in the case include: exposing students to the consequences of certain early stage financing decisions; raising the issue of conflict of interest among various stakeholders; and exposing students to the necessity for convergent iteration and flexibility in business plans.
Contains a description of a decision confronting an entrepreneur: which of two investment proposals should he accept to fund the creation and marketing of a database that comprises the full text of research reports produced by Wall Street investment banking firms? The teaching objectives are: to expose students to the people/opportunity/deal analytical framework; to focus on understanding the financial and other implications of deal terms; and to force the students to make a decision based on their analysis.
Designed to serve two roles: first, it provides a reasonably comprehensive description of an ongoing capital budgeting system for the international operations of a large American company. Second, it allows the student to focus upon and critically analyze a series of specific complaints about the system which have been voiced by the management of two of the firm's foreign subsidiaries.
Deals with a transfer pricing problem in a complex, international situation. A broad range of issues are present in the case, or are needed for a thorough case analysis. Such issues include: relevant costs; the appropriateness of profit centers; the appropriateness of decentralization; international funds transfers; and the measurement of integrated profit.
Serves two roles: first, provides a reasonably comprehensive description of an ongoing budgeting and reporting system for the international operations of a large American company. Second, allows the student to focus on and critically analyze a series of specific complaints about the system which have been voiced by the management of two of the firm's foreign subsidiaries.
