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- April 2025
- Background Note
Customer Acquisition and the Cash Flow Trap
By: E. Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller
Startups as well as existing firms recognize the need to invest in order to acquire customers for their new ventures. And as each customer is expected at some point to have generated sufficient gross margins to cover their CAC, management expects that, soon enough, the... View Details
- March 2025 (Revised April 2025)
- Case
Perplexity: Redefining Search
By: Suraj Srinivasan, Michelle Hu, Sriraghav Srinivasan and Radhika Kak
By early 2025, Perplexity had rapidly evolved from a modest startup into a popular "answer engine" valued at $9 billion. The company had boldly positioned itself as the disruptor to Google aiming to redefine search for the AI age. Through novel AI... View Details
Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Venture Capital; Innovation Leadership; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Business Startups; Competitive Strategy; Technology Industry; United States
Srinivasan, Suraj, Michelle Hu, Sriraghav Srinivasan, and Radhika Kak. "Perplexity: Redefining Search." Harvard Business School Case 125-093, March 2025. (Revised April 2025.)
- March 2025 (Revised March 2025)
- Case
WallStreetBets: Democratizing Retail Investing
By: Joseph Pacelli and Alexis Lefort
In summer 2024, Jaime Rogozinski anticipated the launch of a day-trading eSports event, a vision he had nurtured for years. Rogozinski, the founder of the influential subreddit WallStreetBets (WSB), created the forum in 2012 as a space for retail traders to explore... View Details
- 2025
- Working Paper
Tax Planning, Illiquidity, and Credit Risks: Evidence from DeFi Lending
By: Lisa De Simone, Peiyi Jin and Daniel Rabetti
This study establishes a plausible causal link between tax-planning-induced illiquidity and credit risks in lending markets. Exploiting an exogenous tax shock imposed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on cryptocurrency gains, along with millions of transactions in... View Details
Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Taxation; Financial Liquidity; Credit; Financing and Loans; Financial Markets
De Simone, Lisa, Peiyi Jin, and Daniel Rabetti. "Tax Planning, Illiquidity, and Credit Risks: Evidence from DeFi Lending." Working Paper, February 2025.
- January 8, 2025
- Article
Why Retailers Are Turning to Third-Party Marketplaces
By: Antonio Moreno
Some traditional retailers—including Walmart, Target, and Best Buy—are adopting third-party marketplaces, which connect customers with external sellers and thereby offer customers a much broader selection. Many other traditional retailers are considering whether to... View Details
Keywords: Marketplace Matching; Distribution Channels; Customer Focus and Relationships; Cost vs Benefits; Retail Industry
Moreno, Antonio. "Why Retailers Are Turning to Third-Party Marketplaces." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (January 8, 2025).
- October 2024
- Case
Monetizing Duolingo: The Multi-Million Dollar Question
- September 2024
- Case
Eat App: Building and Monetizing an End-to-End Dining Experience Solution
By: Elie Ofek and Ahmed Dahawy
Founded in 2015 in Bahrain, Eat App was an up-and-coming player in the global restaurant management software business. In early 2024, having shifted to a product-led growth strategy, the company’s co-founders faced a host of decisions that could greatly impact their... View Details
Keywords: Price; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Marketing; Negotiation Deal; Internet and the Web; Value Creation; Profit; Revenue; Applications and Software; Product; Food and Beverage Industry; Technology Industry; Bahrain; United Arab Emirates; Abu Dhabi; Dubai
Ofek, Elie, and Ahmed Dahawy. "Eat App: Building and Monetizing an End-to-End Dining Experience Solution." Harvard Business School Case 525-019, September 2024.
- 2024
- Working Paper
The Value of Silence: The Effect of UMG’s Licensing Dispute with TikTok on Music Demand
By: Mengjie (Magie) Cheng, Elie Ofek and Hema Yoganarasimhan
Social media platforms like TikTok have transformed how music is discovered, consumed, and
monetized. This study examines the implications of the dispute between TikTok and Universal Music
Group (UMG), which resulted in UMG excluding its music from TikTok from... View Details
Keywords: Demand And Consumers; Monetization; Social Media; Revenue; Conflict and Resolution; Music Industry
Cheng, Mengjie (Magie), Elie Ofek, and Hema Yoganarasimhan. "The Value of Silence: The Effect of UMG’s Licensing Dispute with TikTok on Music Demand." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 25-014, July 2024. (Revised October 2024.)
- June 2024
- Teaching Note
Numenta in 2020: The Future of AI
By: David B. Yoffie
In 2020, Numenta’s co-founder, Jeff Hawkins, completed his pathbreaking research on artificial intelligence. His co-founder and CEO, Donna Dubinsky, had to find a business model to monetize the technology. This teaching note explores the challenges of building a... View Details
- May 2024
- Background Note
Net Revenue Retention: Unpacking the Dynamics of Customer Monetization
By: Elie Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller
Firms and investors alike are beginning to recognize the importance of tracking how revenues from existing customers are evolving over time and to appreciate the value in understanding what might explain changes in these revenues. Consequently, in addition to looking... View Details
Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Revenue; Measurement and Metrics; Customer Value and Value Chain
Ofek, Elie, Barak Libai, and Eitan Muller. "Net Revenue Retention: Unpacking the Dynamics of Customer Monetization." Harvard Business School Background Note 524-092, May 2024.
- March 2024 (Revised May 2024)
- Case
Amperity: First-Party Data at a Crossroads
By: Elie Ofek, Hema Yoganarasimhan and Alexis Lefort
In the summer of 2023, Amperity management was facing a critical decision on its future direction. Given the dramatic changes occurring within the digital advertising ecosystem, as concerns over consumer privacy placed limits on the ability to engage in third-party... View Details
Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Technology Adoption; Business Strategy; Digital Marketing; Price; Product; Business or Company Management; Advertising Industry
Ofek, Elie, Hema Yoganarasimhan, and Alexis Lefort. "Amperity: First-Party Data at a Crossroads." Harvard Business School Case 524-017, March 2024. (Revised May 2024.)
- March 2024 (Revised April 2024)
- Case
Out of Hand Theater: Monetizing Creativity
Ariel Fristoe co-founded the Out of Hand Theater ensemble (OOH) in Atlanta in 2001. OOH began as a traditional theater nonprofit, which Ariel and her colleagues ran on a shoestring budget. But over the years, the group transformed: First, around 2010, OOH pivoted to... View Details
Keywords: Business Transformation; Theatre-company; Arts Marketing; Transformation; Theater Entertainment; Social Marketing; Business Model; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Atlanta
Wallace, Christina, Henry McGee, Rohit Deshpandé, and Max Hancock. "Out of Hand Theater: Monetizing Creativity." Harvard Business School Case 824-150, March 2024. (Revised April 2024.)
- February 2024
- Teaching Note
Replika AI: Monetizing a Chatbot
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 523-016. View Details
- February 2024
- Case
Tabby: Winning Consumers' Digital Wallets
By: Eva Ascarza and Fares Khrais
Hosam Arab (MBA 2009), cofounder and CEO of Tabby, a Saudi-based fintech startup, raised its Series D funding round in October 2023, four years after its inception, valuing it as a regional unicorn. Tabby's core product, a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) service, allowed... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Risk Management; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; Saudi Arabia
Ascarza, Eva, and Fares Khrais. "Tabby: Winning Consumers' Digital Wallets." Harvard Business School Case 524-056, February 2024.
- June 2023 (Revised August 2023)
- Background Note
Subscription Models: Recurring Revenues for Lasting Growth
By: Elie Ofek and Amy Konary
This note offers a comprehensive exposition to subscription revenue models and aims to explain their recent rise. It covers the advantages to firms of employing a subscription-based approach to monetization (as opposed to “one-off” upfront payment), as well as the... View Details
Ofek, Elie, and Amy Konary. "Subscription Models: Recurring Revenues for Lasting Growth." Harvard Business School Background Note 523-113, June 2023. (Revised August 2023.)
- March 2023
- Case
Mirakl: Growing The Marketplace Economy
By: Antonio Moreno, Santiago Gallino and Emilie Billaud
Mirakl provided the technology and seller network required for companies like Macy's, Best Buy, Walmart, Siemens, or Carrefour to simply design, launch, and administer a marketplace that included products from third-party sellers. What began as a basic business idea in... View Details
Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Transformation; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Sales; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Web Services Industry; Europe; France; Paris; United States
Moreno, Antonio, Santiago Gallino, and Emilie Billaud. "Mirakl: Growing The Marketplace Economy." Harvard Business School Case 623-054, March 2023.
- January 2023 (Revised December 2023)
- Case
OhmConnect: Energizing the Future
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Jennifer Fonstad and Nicole Tempest Keller
Founded in 2013, OhmConnect was a free consumer web app that alerted customers about peak hours of electricity demand, and paid them to lower their energy use at home during these periods. The company sold the aggregated reductions generated by thousands of households... View Details
Keywords: App Development; Renewable Energy; Electricity Usage; Regulations; VC; Technology; Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC); Scalability; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business Model; Venture Capital; Energy Industry; United States; California; Texas; Europe
Rayport, Jeffrey F., Jennifer Fonstad, and Nicole Tempest Keller. "OhmConnect: Energizing the Future." Harvard Business School Case 823-065, January 2023. (Revised December 2023.)
- January–February 2023
- Article
The Overlooked Key to a Successful Scale-Up
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Davide Sola and Martin Kupp
Many start-ups experience enormous popularity and runaway growth, but only a few go on to become stable giants. What separates them from the pack? They all go through a developmental stage called extrapolation, say three business school professors.
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Keywords: Entrepreneurship And Strategy; Scalability; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship
Rayport, Jeffrey F., Davide Sola, and Martin Kupp. "The Overlooked Key to a Successful Scale-Up." Harvard Business Review (January–February 2023): 56–65.
- November 2022 (Revised March 2024)
- Case
Replika AI: Monetizing a Chatbot
By: Julian De Freitas and Nicole Tempest Keller
In early 2018, Eugenia Kuyda, co-founder and CEO of San Francisco-based chatbot Replika AI, was deciding how to monetize the app she had built. Launched in 2017, Replika was a consumer AI “companion app” developed by a team of AI software engineers originally based in... View Details
Keywords: Mental Health; Subscriber Models; TAM; Monetization Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Product Positioning; Health Disorders; Technology Industry
De Freitas, Julian, and Nicole Tempest Keller. "Replika AI: Monetizing a Chatbot." Harvard Business School Case 523-016, November 2022. (Revised March 2024.)
- July 2022 (Revised February 2023)
- Case
Duolingo: Teaching Languages to the Masses
By: Youngme Moon
In early 2022, the CEO of Duolingo—the world's most popular language learning app—is faced with a number of questions involving the company's monetization and growth strategy. View Details
Moon, Youngme. "Duolingo: Teaching Languages to the Masses." Harvard Business School Case 323-016, July 2022. (Revised February 2023.)