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- March 2021
- Supplement
CashDrop (B2)
By: Rembrand Koning, Paul A. Gompers and Sarah Gulick
After the events in CashDrop A, Jarrid Tingle and Henri Pierre-Jacques, the founders of Harlem Capital partners, worried that Ruben Flores-Martinez, CashDrop’s founder, would take another offer while he waited for them to officially make an offer. HCP traditionally...
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- March 2021
- Case
Scale and Scope at Drake Real Estate Partners
By: Christina R. Wing and David Lane
Realizing in early 2021 that their pending real estate investment fund would likely be oversubscribed, Drake Real Estate Partners co-founders Nicolás Ibáñez and David Cotterman were considering how best to continue to diversify their investor base and how to optimize...
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- March 2021 (Revised April 2021)
- Case
DigiPlex: Ante-Up or Cash Out
By: Josh Lerner and James Mason
In November 2020, the co-founders of DigiPlex study the future growth trajectory of their Nordic data center venture. A critical question was on the agenda: was now finally the right time to sell DigiPlex? Originally a $2.75 million investment in one small data center...
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- March 2021
- Case
Proteak: Valuing Forestry Assets
By: Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Carla Larangeira
In early 2020, 414 Capital was hired by Proteak, Mexico´s largest forestry platform, to perform a valuation of its teak business, a high-grade hardwood commonly used to build boat decks, outdoor walls, furniture, doors and small objects. Teak plantations typically...
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Keywords:
Forestry;
Assets;
Valuation;
Forest Products Industry;
Financial Services Industry;
Mexico
- March 2021
- Teaching Plan
The Black New Venture Competition
Black entrepreneurs encounter many unique obstacles when raising capital to start and grow a business, some stemming from deep systemic discrimination. During their second year at Harvard Business School (HBS), MBA students Kimberly Foster and Tyler Simpson decided to...
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Keywords:
Analytics;
Startup;
Start-up;
Startup Financing;
Financing;
Startups;
Start-ups;
Business And Community;
Business And Society;
Business Growth;
Discrimination;
Women;
Women-owned Businesses;
African Americans;
African-american Entrepreneurs;
African-american Investors;
African-american Protagonist;
African-american Women;
Diversity;
Venture Capital;
Early Stage Funding;
Early Stage;
Technology;
Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship;
Innovation Competitions;
Entrepreneurship;
Entrepreneurial Financing;
Business Plan
- March 2021
- Case
Bill Wilson: Changing the World
By: Robert L. Simons and Max Saffer
This case describes the life choices of Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. A young man with tremendous potential, Wilson hit rock bottom as a drunk. An epiphany, coupled with his personal drive, led him to build a worldwide organization that has helped...
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- March 2021
- Case
VideaHealth: Building the AI Factory
By: Karim R. Lakhani and Amy Klopfenstein
Florian Hillen, co-founder and CEO of VideaHealth, a startup that used artificial intelligence (AI) to detect dental conditions on x-rays, spent the early years of his company laying the groundwork for an AI factory. A process for quickly building and iterating on new...
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- March 2021
- Case
Cedar Environmental: Innovation vs. Corruption in Lebanon?
By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Youssef Abdel Aal
The case follows Ziad Abi Chaker, founder and CEO of Cedar Environmental, an environmental engineering company in Lebanon, as he weighs his options for how to grow the company despite facing barriers to growth, most notably the prevalent public corruption in his...
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Keywords:
Waste Management;
Recycling;
Sustainability;
Corruption;
Leadership & Corporate Accountability;
Business And Government;
Social Entrepreneurship;
Environmental Sustainability;
Green Technology;
Pollution;
Entrepreneurship;
Business and Government Relations;
Crime and Corruption;
Technological Innovation;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Business Strategy;
Expansion;
Green Technology Industry;
Middle East;
Lebanon
- March 2021
- Case
Mary Kay Ash: Changing the World
By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun
This case describes the rise of Mary Kay, the founder of the worldwide cosmetics company. As a young single mother, Mary Kay had to overcome many obstacles to start her business and guide it to success. Today, there are more than 3.5 million Mary Kay beauty consultants...
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- March 2021
- Supplement
Snapp: Scaling Under Sanctions in Iran (B)
By: Meg Rithmire and Gamze Yucaoglu
The case opens in November 2020 as Eyad Alkassar and Mahmoud Fouz, co-founders of Iran’s first and leading ride-hailing platform, Snapp, eagerly await the results of the U.S. presidential elections.
The case takes us through the challenging times between November... View Details
The case takes us through the challenging times between November... View Details
Keywords:
Sanctions;
Change Management;
Disruption;
Volatility;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;
Government and Politics;
International Relations;
National Security;
Crisis Management;
Risk Management;
Health Pandemics;
Transportation Industry;
Middle East;
Iran
- March 2021
- Case
Founders Factory
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and James Barnett
In January 2020, Brent Hoberman and Henry Lane Fox, co-founders of Founders Factory, a venture capital fund with an accelerator and incubator program funded by investment from corporate partners, consider international expansion strategies.
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- 2021
- Chapter
Renewing the Relevance of IB: Can Some History Help?
By: Geoffrey Jones
International business (IB) as a discipline has given limited attention to contemporary grand challenges of inequality, global warming, aging populations, endemic health crises, and de-globalization, in all of which multinationals are either central to the problem or...
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- March–April 2021
- Article
How Venture Capitalists Make Decisions
By: Paul A. Gompers, Will Gornall, Steven Kaplan and Ilya Strebulaev
For decades now, venture capitalists have played a crucial role in the economy by financing high-growth start-ups. While the companies they’ve backed—Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and more—are constantly in the headlines, very little is known about what VCs actually...
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- February 2021
- Case
Barbarians at the Gate or Turnaround Gurus? Private Equity and the Rise of the LBO
By: Tom Nicholas and John Masko
During the 1980s, leveraged buyouts (LBOs) and the private equity (PE) firms responsible for carrying them out revolutionized both investment and management in the U.S. Between 1980 and 1989, buyout activity in the U.S. surged from $1 billion per year to $60 billion....
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Keywords:
Leveraged Buyouts;
Mergers and Acquisitions;
Business Conglomerates;
Restructuring;
Borrowing and Debt;
Private Equity;
Bonds;
Investment Return;
Institutional Investing;
Profit Sharing;
Business History;
Management Style;
Private Ownership;
Performance Effectiveness;
Value Creation;
Financial Services Industry;
United States
- February 2021
- Teaching Plan
Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Amy Klopfenstein
This teaching plan serves as a supplement to the case “Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?” HBS 820-098. The case explores the tension between two different financing and expansion plans for a startup, and explores issues related to business model pivots and industry...
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Keywords:
Business Ventures;
Business Model;
Business Plan;
Business Startups;
Entrepreneurship;
Decision Making;
Decisions;
Judgments;
Ethics;
Geography;
Geopolitical Units;
Finance;
Investment;
Markets;
Market Entry and Exit;
Demand and Consumers;
Media;
Society;
Urban Development;
Sustainable Cities;
Technology;
Hardware;
Technology Platform;
Strategy;
Business Strategy;
Expansion;
Relationships;
Capital;
Venture Capital;
Advertising Industry;
Technology Industry;
Media and Broadcasting Industry;
North and Central America;
United States;
Massachusetts;
Cambridge
- February 2021
- Case
Walt Disney: Changing the World
By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun
This case describes the rise of Walt Disney, founder of the worldwide entertainment company. The case describes how Disney, as a young artist, created memorable figures such as Mickey Mouse and went on to produce Academy-award-winning films and build the world’s most...
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- February 2021 (Revised March 2021)
- Case
AptDeco: Circular Economy Furniture Marketplace
By: Ayelet Israeli and Jamie Merkrebs
AptDeco, a used furniture marketplace, was growing rapidly in the tri-state area. The co-founders were confident that the business model, financial position, and unit economics positioned AptDeco for scaling in the massive $120 billion furniture market, despite its...
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Keywords:
E-commerce;
E-commerce Strategy;
Mobile;
Digital Marketing;
Word-of-mouth;
Word-of-mouth Marketing;
Word Of Mouth;
Internet Marketing;
Growth Strategy;
Platform;
Platforms;
Two Sided Markets;
Two-sided Market;
Two-sided Marketplace;
Two-sided Markets;
Two-sided Network;
Black Entrepreneurs;
Black Leadership;
African Americans;
Circular;
Peer-to-peer Markets;
Furniture Industry;
Furniture;
Growth Hacking;
Monetization Strategy;
Growth Management;
Marketing Strategy;
Entrepreneurship;
Market Platforms;
Marketing Channels;
Online Advertising;
Consumer Behavior;
Acquisition;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Two-Sided Platforms;
Customer Focus and Relationships;
Retail Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Technology Industry;
Web Services Industry;
United States;
North America;
New York (city, NY);
New York (state, US)
- February 2021
- Case
Yellow Digital Retailers, Ltd.: Providing Solar Electricity to Transform Rural Africa
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Frank V. Cespedes and Michael Norris
In 2020, Mike Heyink and Maya Stewart, co-founders of the Pay-as-you-Go Solar company Yellow were considering how to grow their startup. They had achieved some success in their first market, Malawi, and had recently entered Uganda, where business was slower. What did...
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- January 2021
- Case
Brigad: The Future of Work
By: Nien-he Hsieh, Elena Corsi and Daniela Beyersdorfer
In 2019 Florent Malbranche, CEO and co-founder of the French tech startup Brigad, pondered the next growth steps. Founded in 2015, Brigad’s objective was two-fold: to help restaurants and bars find qualified staff for punctual shifts, and to make it easier for...
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- January 2021
- Case
Snapp: Scaling Under Sanctions in Iran (A)
By: Meg Rithmire and Gamze Yucaoglu
"The case opens in November 2019 as Eyad Alkassar and Mahmoud Fouz, co-founders of Iran’s first and leading ride-hailing platform, Snapp, find out about Apple’s and Google’s decision to remove all Iranian apps from their respective application stores.
The case... View Details
The case... View Details