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    • All HBS Web  (220)
      • Faculty Publications  (21)

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      • December 2021
      • Supplement

      Troverie (B)

      By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Lindsay N. Hyde and Olivia Graham
      Resolves the questions raised in Troverie (A); recounts pivots and efforts to raise capital from strategic investors and sell Troverie; and shares the founder's post-mortem reflections on what went wrong and what he might have done differently.  View Details
      Keywords: Startup; Failed Startup; Luxury Goods; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Failure; Luxury; Fashion Industry; United States
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      Eisenmann, Thomas R., Lindsay N. Hyde, and Olivia Graham. "Troverie (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 822-069, December 2021.
      • July 2021
      • Case

      Fynd

      By: Ranjay Gulati, Kairavi Dey and Rachna Tahilyani
      Fynd is a fast-growing venture that in 7 years since its founding has become India's largest omnichannel retail company with real-time access to over 9,000 stores' offline inventory. It started as a B2B business supporting retailers who didn’t have an online business,...  View Details
      Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Business Model; Acquisition; Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Growth and Development Strategy; Web Services Industry; Technology Industry; Communications Industry; India; Mumbai
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      Gulati, Ranjay, Kairavi Dey, and Rachna Tahilyani. "Fynd." Harvard Business School Case 822-006, July 2021.
      • 2021
      • Book

      Why Startups Fail: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success

      By: Thomas R. Eisenmann
      Why Startups Fail explores entrepreneurial failure, examining its predictable patterns, how to avoid them, and how to cope when failure does occur. Part I looks at three common failure patterns for early-stage startups, illustrating each with an anchor case...  View Details
      Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Failure; Success; Framework
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      Eisenmann, Thomas R. Why Startups Fail: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success. New York: Currency, 2021.
      • May–June 2021
      • Article

      Why Start-ups Fail

      By: Thomas R. Eisenmann
      If you’re launching a business, the odds are against you: Two-thirds of start-ups never show a positive return. Unnerved by that statistic, a professor of entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School set out to discover why. Based on interviews and surveys with hundreds...  View Details
      Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Problems and Challenges; Failure
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      Eisenmann, Thomas R. "Why Start-ups Fail." Harvard Business Review 99, no. 3 (May–June 2021): 76–85.
      • January 2021 (Revised December 2021)
      • Case

      Biobot Analytics

      By: Raymond Kluender, Joshua Krieger and Mitchell Weiss
      In 2017, Newsha Ghaeli and Mariana Matus were deciding whether to leave their labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, put other job opportunities aside, and dive full-time into founding a wastewater analysis start-up, Biobot. Ghaeli, an architect, and Matus,...  View Details
      Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; City; Analytics and Data Science; Personal Development and Career; Technology Industry; Utilities Industry; Health Industry; Information Technology Industry; Information Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States; Kuwait; Korean Peninsula
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      Kluender, Raymond, Joshua Krieger, and Mitchell Weiss. "Biobot Analytics." Harvard Business School Case 821-045, January 2021. (Revised December 2021.)
      • September 2020 (Revised December 2021)
      • Case

      Building India's 2.0: PayNearby

      By: Lauren Cohen and Spencer C. N. Hagist
      Headquartered in Mumbai, India, FinTech startup Nearby Technologies has seen its flagship brand, PayNearby, rapidly flourish across most of its target market within just four years. The unprecedented success of its payment app, which allows users to access banking...  View Details
      Keywords: Fintech; Developing Markets; Payments; Financial Inclusion; Finance; Entrepreneurship; Emerging Markets; Competitive Strategy; Banking Industry; India
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      Cohen, Lauren, and Spencer C. N. Hagist. "Building India's 2.0: PayNearby." Harvard Business School Case 221-027, September 2020. (Revised December 2021.)
      • May 2020 (Revised September 2020)
      • Case

      Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?

      By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Amy Klopfenstein and Amram Migdal
      In November 2019, Sandra Richter, co-founder and CEO of Soofa, a network of advertising-supported digital bulletin boards, must decide between two different fundraising and expansion plans for her company. One plan entails raising $15 million in a Series A round and...  View Details
      Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Model; Business Plan; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Decisions; Ethics; Geography; Geopolitical Units; Finance; Investment; Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Demand and Consumers; Network Effects; Media; Society; Urban Development; Sustainable Cities; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Digital Platforms; Strategy; Business Strategy; Expansion; Relationships; Partners and Partnerships; Capital; Venture Capital; Advertising Industry; Technology Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; North and Central America; United States; Massachusetts; Cambridge
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      Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Amy Klopfenstein, and Amram Migdal. "Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?" Harvard Business School Case 820-098, May 2020. (Revised September 2020.)
      • August 2019
      • Case

      Rand Fishkin at Moz (A)

      By: Thomas R. Eisenmann
      In 2016, senior management at Moz, a venture capital–backed startup providing software tools for digital marketing professionals, must decide how to address a looming cash flow crisis precipitated by failed efforts to broaden its product line. Seattle-based Moz had...  View Details
      Keywords: Startups; Scaling; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Startups; Diversification; Growth Management; Technology Industry
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      Eisenmann, Thomas R. "Rand Fishkin at Moz (A)." Harvard Business School Case 820-002, August 2019.
      • March 2019
      • Article

      When Does Advice Impact Startup Performance?

      By: Aaron Chatterji, Solène Delecourt, Sharique Hasan and Rembrand Koning
      Why do some entrepreneurs thrive while others fail? We explore whether the advice entrepreneurs receive about managing their employees influences their startup's performance. We conducted a randomized field experiment in India with 100 high-growth technology firms...  View Details
      Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Field Experiment; Peer Effects; Entrepreneurial Ecosystems; Advice; Management Style; Management Practices and Processes; Knowledge Dissemination; Entrepreneurship; Performance; India
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      Chatterji, Aaron, Solène Delecourt, Sharique Hasan, and Rembrand Koning. "When Does Advice Impact Startup Performance?" Strategic Management Journal 40, no. 3 (March 2019): 331–356.
      • Article

      How a Fast-Growing Startup Built Its Sales Team for Long-Term Success

      By: Frank V. Cespedes and David Mattson
      It’s common for leaders of sales teams to focus almost exclusively on short-term tactics and current operations while failing to think and act in a way that supports the longer-term needs of their businesses—and it’s hard to fault them. The biggest problem with a...  View Details
      Keywords: Business Startups; Salesforce Management; Management Practices and Processes
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      Cespedes, Frank V., and David Mattson. "How a Fast-Growing Startup Built Its Sales Team for Long-Term Success." Harvard Business Review (website) (December 4, 2017).
      • February 2016 (Revised February 2017)
      • Case

      Mattermark

      By: Jeffrey Bussgang and Annelena Lobb
      Mattermark, a software-as-a-service company that sold software allowing companies to access financial information about privately-held companies and startups, was at a turning point. CEO Danielle Morrill had to allocate investment funding from a Series A round. She...  View Details
      Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Business Startups; Marketing; Strategy; Technology Industry; United States
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      Bussgang, Jeffrey, and Annelena Lobb. "Mattermark." Harvard Business School Case 816-073, February 2016. (Revised February 2017.)
      • September–October 2015
      • Article

      Crash and Burn: Why Silicon Valley's Notion That Failure Leads to Success Won't Work for the Rest of the World

      By: Debora L. Spar
      In the frenzied hills of Silicon Valley, going bust is common. Research attests that close to half of start-ups supported by venture capital chew through most or all of their backers' money and that the majority never achieve their projected returns on investment. But...  View Details
      Keywords: Business Startups; Failure; Learning; Situation or Environment
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      Spar, Debora L. "Crash and Burn: Why Silicon Valley's Notion That Failure Leads to Success Won't Work for the Rest of the World." Foreign Policy 214 (September–October 2015).
      • February 2015 (Revised April 2016)
      • Supplement

      Quincy Apparel (B)

      By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lisa C. Mazzanti
      The (B) case provides post-mortem analysis from Quincy's cofounders on why their startup failed and what they could have done differently. Explanations for failure focus on Quincy's ambitious value proposition and resulting operational challenges; cofounder conflict;...  View Details
      Keywords: E-commerce; Retail; Online Retail; Women's Apparel; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Startups; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry
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      Eisenmann, Thomas R., and Lisa C. Mazzanti. "Quincy Apparel (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 815-095, February 2015. (Revised April 2016.)
      • April 2014 (Revised January 2015)
      • Background Note

      Note on Mobile Healthcare

      By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez
      Delivering health care to the global population was a challenge. Health care costs accounted for ten percent of world GDP by 2013. In the U.S., health care costs were expected to top $3.1 trillion in 2014. New technologies, shortages of trained personnel and...  View Details
      Keywords: Health Care; Mobile; Mobile App; Public Health; Startups; Hardware; Software; Telemedicine; Global; Medical Devices; Medical Services; Medical Solutions; Entrepreneurs; Government And Business; Technological Change; Health Care and Treatment; Entrepreneurship; Government and Politics; Technological Innovation; Health Industry; Technology Industry
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      Quelch, John A., and Margaret L. Rodriguez. "Note on Mobile Healthcare." Harvard Business School Background Note 514-122, April 2014. (Revised January 2015.)
      • April 2012
      • Case

      People Express Airlines

      By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lauren Barley
      Recounts the history of People Express Airlines, which grew rapidly after its inception in 1980 then failed spectacularly in 1986. Profiles People's aggressive strategy and its distinctive approach to human resource management, which emphasized job rotation and minimal...  View Details
      Keywords: Strategy; Air Transportation; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Human Resources; Business Startups; Air Transportation Industry
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      Eisenmann, Thomas R., and Lauren Barley. "People Express Airlines." Harvard Business School Case 812-134, April 2012.
      • 2011
      • Working Paper

      Entrepreneurship and the Discipline of External Finance

      By: Ramana Nanda
      I confirm the finding that the propensity to start a new firm rises sharply among those in the top five percentiles of personal wealth. This pattern is more pronounced for entrants in less capital intensive sectors. Prior to entry, founders in this group earn about 6%...  View Details
      Keywords: Business Startups; Competency and Skills; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Personal Finance; Wealth
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      Nanda, Ramana. "Entrepreneurship and the Discipline of External Finance." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 11-098, March 2011.
      • September 2009
      • Case

      Intel NBI: Image Components Organization

      By: Willy C. Shih and Thomas Thurston
      The Image Components Organization (ICO) was an internal venture that was part of Intel's New Business Initiatives. It sought to initially develop and sell a high performance integrated CMOS image sensor module for cellular phones. ICO's opening assumptions were that it...  View Details
      Keywords: Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Product Development; Production; Failure; Diversification; Semiconductor Industry
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      Shih, Willy C., and Thomas Thurston. "Intel NBI: Image Components Organization." Harvard Business School Case 610-028, September 2009.
      • August 2009 (Revised August 2009)
      • Case

      Intel NBI: Radio-Frequency Identification

      By: Willy C. Shih and Thomas Thurston
      The Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) group was a start-up that was part of Intel's New Business Initiatives. It sought initially to develop and sell a high performance Rf fast read rate module targeted at fixed position readers that might be found in loading docks...  View Details
      Keywords: Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Organizational Structure; Failure; Diversification; Integration; Semiconductor Industry
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      Shih, Willy C., and Thomas Thurston. "Intel NBI: Radio-Frequency Identification." Harvard Business School Case 610-027, August 2009. (Revised August 2009.)
      • August 2009
      • Case

      Intel NBI: Vivonic

      By: Willy C. Shih and Thomas Thurston
      Vivonic was a start-up that was part of Intel's New Business Initiatives that sought to develop and sell personal health monitoring hardware and software. When it was first funded, Intel was in the midst of record growth and was seeking diversification. But the company...  View Details
      Keywords: Business Startups; Experience and Expertise; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Product Development; Failure; Diversification; Semiconductor Industry
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      Shih, Willy C., and Thomas Thurston. "Intel NBI: Vivonic." Harvard Business School Case 610-025, August 2009.
      • Forthcoming
      • Article

      Experimentation and Startup Performance: Evidence from A/B Testing

      By: Rembrand Koning, Sharique Hasan and Aaron Chatterji
      Recent scholarship has argued that experimentation should be the organizing principle for entrepreneurial strategy. Experimentation leads to organizational learning, which drives improvements in firm performance. We investigate this proposition by exploiting the...  View Details
      Keywords: Experimentation; A/B Testing; Data-driven Decision-making; Organizational Learning; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Business Startups; Learning; Performance; Decision Making
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      Koning, Rembrand, Sharique Hasan, and Aaron Chatterji. "Experimentation and Startup Performance: Evidence from A/B Testing." Management Science (forthcoming).
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