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- May 2025
- Case
Windsurf and the AI Code Assistant Market
By: Suraj Srinivasan, Sudhanshu Nath Mishra and Radhika Kak
In April 2025, the founding team of Windsurf, an AI start-up specializing in code generation gathered in Mountain View, California, to assess its remarkable year of growth. The company had scaled from a niche GitHub Copilot alternative to a breakout player with over... View Details
- January 2025
- Case
Intuition Robotics: An AI Companion for Older Adults
By: Amit Goldenberg, Elie Ofek and Orna Dan
Intuition Robotics, a startup that makes an AI companion robot to alleviate older adults’ loneliness, debates whether to pursue a B2C model or B2G route. If it opts for the government vertical, it must determine how to negotiate a favorable deal. Two weeks after... View Details
- 10 Dec 2024
- Interview
A New Model for Funding Healthcare Innovation
By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Duke Rohlen
Ajax Health founder Duke Rohlen (HBS MBA 2001) and HBS Professor Regina Herzlinger join host Brian Kenny to discuss the key success factors for both start-up and established medical technology firms. The case “Ajax Health: A New Model for Medical Technology Innovation”... View Details
- December 2024
- Article
Proximate (Co-)Working: Knowledge Spillovers and Social Interactions
By: Maria P. Roche, Alexander Oettl and Christian Catalini
We examine the influence of physical proximity on between-start-up knowledge spillovers at one of the largest technology coworking hubs in the United States. Relying on the exogenous assignment of office space to the hub’s 251 start-ups, we find that proximity... View Details
- November 2024
- Case
Ather Energy: The Future of Mobility
By: Shunyuan Zhang, Kannan Srinivasan and Malini Sen
Ather Energy, India’s third-largest electric scooter maker by volume, was founded in 2013. Five years later, the start-up launched its first electric scooter, Ather 450, which was powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT), to navigate... View Details
Keywords: Energy Policy; Climate Change; Alternative Energy; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Transportation; Transformation; Green Technology; Technology Adoption; Communication Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Business Strategy; Segmentation; Asia; India
- May 2024
- Teaching Note
AI21 Labs in 2023: Strategy for Generative AI
By: David Yoffie
Teaching Note for HBS Case 724-383. The case has 3 important teaching purposes: First, what are the advantages and disadvantages of imitation? (e.g., Should AI21 imitate OpenAI with a chatbot?) Second, what are the advantages and disadvantages of keeping new technology... View Details
- March 2024
- Case
Funderbeam: Teaming Up or Going Alone?
By: Paul A. Gompers, Elena Corsi and Orna Dan
Funderbeam, a global platform founded in Estonia to enable start-ups to run private syndications and secondaries while offering liquidity for private equity investors, was at a crossroads. Over its ten-year run, the company had expanded its services and areas of... View Details
Keywords: Decision Making; Business Exit or Shutdown; Transition; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Law; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financing and Loans; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Ownership Stake; Expansion; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; Estonia; Republic of Ireland; United Kingdom; Singapore
- February 2024
- Case
Oak Street Health: From Start-up to Strategic Acquisition
By: Leemore S. Dafny and Thomas H. Lee
Oak Street Health opened its first primary care center for seniors in underserved communities in 2013. By 2022 the company had 169 centers and a market valuation exceeding $10 billion. Oak Street created value by accepting risk-adjusted, capitated payments for Medicare... View Details
- February 2024
- Case
ReSpo.Vision: The Kickstart of an AI Sports Revolution
By: Paul A. Gompers, Elena Corsi and Nikolina Jonsson
This case study explores the growth journey of Polish computer vision sports start-up ReSpo.Vision in an emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem. By providing 3D data and analysis to soccer clubs, ReSpo.Vision achieved significant milestones with a €1 million seed round, an... View Details
Keywords: Business Startups; Business Plan; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Decisions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Forecasting and Prediction; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; AI and Machine Learning; Analytics and Data Science; Applications and Software; Business Strategy; Sports Industry; Technology Industry; Poland; Europe
- February 2024
- Background Note
CHIPS for America: A $39 Billion Government Start-Up
By: Gerald Chertavian and Courtney Han
- February 2024
- Case
Adventures Inc: 21st Century Brand Building
By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott
Founded in 2020, Adventures worked with celebrities in Brazil to create and launch digitally native brands. The idea was to match the celebrity’s skill in creating content and entertaining fans with Adventures’ skill in consumer packaged goods marketing and operations.... View Details
Keywords: Digital Brand; Influencer Marketing; Growth And Scaling; Capital Constraints; Brand Portfolio Strategy; CPG; Start-up; Celebrity Endorsement; Digital Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Social Media; Business Startups; Joint Ventures; Brands and Branding; Brazil
- 2024
- Working Paper
The Wandering Scholars: Understanding the Heterogeneity of University Commercialization
By: Josh Lerner, Henry Manley, Carolyn Stein and Heidi Williams
University-based scientific research has long been argued to be a central source of
commercial innovation and economic growth. Yet at the same time, there have been
long-held concerns that many university-based discoveries never realize their potential
social... View Details
- September 2023
- Case
DocSend: A Path off the Plateau?
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Jeffrey Huizinga
Recounts how the leaders of DocSend, an early-stage startup that offered tools for sharing files online, searched for a viable business model and weighed tradeoffs in transitioning from a sales-led to a product-led "go-to-market" approach. View Details
- August 2023
- Case
WayCool: Reimagining the Food Supply Chain
By: Paul Gompers and Kairavi Dey
Founded in 2015, WayCool, is an Indian agri-tech start-up that built a B2B operation acquiring fruits and vegetables from product-specific agriculture companies and small-holding farmers. It sold them to business customers, such as local retail stores, restaurants, and... View Details
- July 2023 (Revised May 2024)
- Case
India Stack: Digital Public Infrastructure for All
By: Tarun Khanna, Anjali Raina and Rachna Chawla
Amitabh Kant, India Sherpa in the year of India's G20 Presidency, and Nandan Nilekani iconic tech entrepreneur wondered how to share India's model of digital public infrastructure to build social and economic inclusion. 'India Stack', the umbrella term for India's DPI... View Details
- July 2023 (Revised May 2024)
- Case
Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service
By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel, Lena Duchene and Daniela Beyersdorfer
The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of millions of single-use take-out food... View Details
Keywords: Climate Risk; Digital; Platform Strategies; Data; Packaging; Sustainability; Start-up; Startup; Entrepreneur; Impact; Circular; Growth Strategy; Innovation; Environmental Sustainability; Innovation and Invention; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Startups; Resource Allocation; Risk Management; Adoption; Strategy; Performance Productivity; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Supply Chain; Distribution; Entrepreneurship; Climate Change; Green Technology Industry; Service Industry; Retail Industry; Germany; Europe
- 18 Jul 2023
- Interview
Jeffrey Rayport on Product Market Fit, Profit Market Fit and Whiplash, and More
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Doug Levin
This episode of "Lessons from Startup Life" podcast features Jeffrey Rayport, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Jeffrey specializes in teaching and researching growth-stage technology ventures and their scalability. Prior to... View Details
- July–August 2023
- Article
Case Study: How Should a Start-Up Cut Its Burn Rate?
By: Nitin Nohria, Katie Josephson, Sophia Wronsky and Elizabeth Rha
Tyler Smith, the founder and CEO of the enterprise software firm Puck.io, is facing a hard decision. Just three months earlier the company laid off 20% of its employees to reduce its burn rate amid growing economic uncertainty and a suddenly unattractive funding... View Details
- May–June 2023
- Article
Should Your Start-up Be For-profit or Nonprofit?: A Guide for Social Entrepreneurs
By: Cait Brumme and Brian Trelstad
Years ago the line between nonprofit and for-profit enterprises was clear, but that has changed. Nonprofits now offer products that compete with those of the best for-profits, and for-profits can deliver as much social value as charities. Despite the blurred... View Details
- March 2023
- Background Note
A Primer on OKRs
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan (Jason) Ni
The OKR framework is a popular goal-setting and strategy execution tool that uses goal setting through “Objectives” and measuring performance using “Key Results” on a periodic basis to measure and drive performance. The OKR framework has been adopted and practiced at... View Details
Keywords: Business Organization; Talent and Talent Management; Framework; Corporate Governance; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Practices and Processes; Management Skills; Management Systems; Measurement and Metrics; Outcome or Result; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Evaluation; Performance Expectations; Performance Productivity; Performance Efficiency