Entrepreneurial Management

- September 2023
- Case
Atomwise: Strategic Opportunities in AI for Pharma

By: Satish Tadikonda
- September 2023
- Case
Atomwise: Strategic Opportunities in AI for Pharma

By: Satish Tadikonda
- September 2023
- Case
RightHand Robotics: Choosing the First Market

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Stacy Straaberg

In early 2015, RightHand Robotics’s (RHR) leadership faced several decisions in commercializing the startup’s robotic picking solution. RHR’s central product was the RightPick integrated robotic picking system which featured a robotic arm, a three-fingered robotic hand (also called a gripper), a camera-based vision system, and artificial intelligence (AI) software. Unlike competitors, the gripper could pick up items of different sizes, shapes, and weights without pre-programming. Recent participation in the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program had exposed the RHR team to various markets they could pursue: produce harvesting, subscription box services, e-commerce warehouse automation, assembly manufacturing, recycling, bomb disposal, and prosthetics. A related choice was the scope of the RHR product offering, ranging from selling the entire integrated robotic system to selling one component such as grippers or software. Finally, RHR was contemplating whether to contract exclusively with a system integrator, the party that would manage RHR’s product installation for customers. The RHR team considered which set of decisions would ensure a successful go-to-market strategy.
- September 2023
- Case
RightHand Robotics: Choosing the First Market

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Stacy Straaberg

In early 2015, RightHand Robotics’s (RHR) leadership faced several decisions in commercializing the startup’s robotic picking solution. RHR’s central product was the RightPick integrated robotic picking system which featured a robotic arm, a three-fingered robotic hand (also called a gripper), a camera-based vision system, and artificial...
- August 2023
- Case
Tenkara Outfitters

By: Christina Wallace, Jo Tango and Johnson Elugbadebo

After taking over from their parents, Sebastian Maxwell and Alexandra Ito, CEO and COO of Minnesota-based outdoor adventure brand Tenkara, must decide how they want to resource and grow this formerly family-run business. After outdoor activities exploded during the COVID pandemic, Tenkara boasted a growth curve that could put them on a VC-backed path. But is that the right choice for these founders and this business? And if so, which of two Series A term sheets should they accept?
- August 2023
- Case
Tenkara Outfitters

By: Christina Wallace, Jo Tango and Johnson Elugbadebo

After taking over from their parents, Sebastian Maxwell and Alexandra Ito, CEO and COO of Minnesota-based outdoor adventure brand Tenkara, must decide how they want to resource and grow this formerly family-run business. After outdoor activities exploded during the COVID pandemic, Tenkara boasted a growth curve that could put them on a VC-backed...

About the Unit

The Entrepreneurial Management Unit strives to raise the level of academic work in the field of entrepreneurship, in methodological rigor, conceptual depth, and managerial applicability. We also strive to improve the odds of entrepreneurial success for our students and for practitioners worldwide.

Because it is such a complex phenomenon, entrepreneurship must be studied through multiple lenses. We use three.

The process of entrepreneurship - We seek to understand the processes of entrepreneurial activity in start-ups and established firms by examining the antecedents and consequences of various forms of entrepreneurial opportunity identification and opportunity pursuit for individuals, organizations, and industries. We see experimentation and innovation in products, services, processes, and business models as central to entrepreneurial activity.
The finance of entrepreneurship - We seek to understand the financing of entrepreneurial ventures by studying the antecedents and consequences of entrepreneurial funding decisions both domestically and internationally.
The context of entrepreneurship - We seek to understand the ways in which entrepreneurs both respond to and shape the context in which they operate, by examining the history of entrepreneurship across time and national borders and by analyzing the legal and cultural contexts for managerial action.

Please also visit the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship.

Recent Publications

Atomwise: Strategic Opportunities in AI for Pharma

By: Satish Tadikonda

September 2023 |
Case |
Faculty Research

Citation

Educators

RightHand Robotics: Choosing the First Market

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Stacy Straaberg

September 2023 |
Case |
Faculty Research

In early 2015, RightHand Robotics’s (RHR) leadership faced several decisions in commercializing the startup’s robotic picking solution. RHR’s central product was the RightPick integrated robotic picking system which featured a robotic arm, a three-fingered robotic hand (also called a gripper), a camera-based vision system, and artificial intelligence (AI) software. Unlike competitors, the gripper could pick up items of different sizes, shapes, and weights without pre-programming. Recent participation in the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) program had exposed the RHR team to various markets they could pursue: produce harvesting, subscription box services, e-commerce warehouse automation, assembly manufacturing, recycling, bomb disposal, and prosthetics. A related choice was the scope of the RHR product offering, ranging from selling the entire integrated robotic system to selling one component such as grippers or software. Finally, RHR was contemplating whether to contract exclusively with a system integrator, the party that would manage RHR’s product installation for customers. The RHR team considered which set of decisions would ensure a successful go-to-market strategy.

Keywords: Business Startups; Market Entry and Exit; Product; Research and Development; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Information Infrastructure; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Massachusetts

Citation

Educators

Apple: Privacy vs. Safety (C)

By: Henry McGee, Nien-hê Hsieh and Kerry Herman

August 2023 |
Supplement |
Faculty Research

In September 2021, Apple decided to delay updates to iOS and iPadOS that included features to fight child sexual abuse. While many—including prominent privacy and security experts—praised Apple, others were opposed. They saw Apple introducing features that risked undermining the privacy of all Apple users—privacy that Apple had strongly championed. Shortly thereafter, prompted by security concerns related to the war in Ukraine and the spread of online child sexual abuse and pornography, legislation was proposed in the United Kingdom to give the government the right to demand the removal of encryption. In response, some tech companies with encrypted messaging apps contemplated pulling out of the U.K. Should Apple CEO Tim Cook do the same, reintroduce the updates to iOS and iPadOS, or something else?

Citation

Purchase

Creyon Bio: A VC's Investment Thesis

By: Satish Tadikonda

August 2023 |
Case |
Faculty Research

Citation

Educators

Tenkara Outfitters

By: Christina Wallace, Jo Tango and Johnson Elugbadebo

August 2023 |
Supplement |
Faculty Research

Citation

Purchase

Tenkara Outfitters

By: Christina Wallace, Jo Tango and Johnson Elugbadebo

August 2023 |
Case |
Faculty Research

After taking over from their parents, Sebastian Maxwell and Alexandra Ito, CEO and COO of Minnesota-based outdoor adventure brand Tenkara, must decide how they want to resource and grow this formerly family-run business. After outdoor activities exploded during the COVID pandemic, Tenkara boasted a growth curve that could put them on a VC-backed path. But is that the right choice for these founders and this business? And if so, which of two Series A term sheets should they accept?

Keywords: General Management; Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management

Citation

Educators

Aphro Beverages

By: Frank V. Cespedes

August 2023 |
Teaching Note |
Faculty Research

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 823-044.

Keywords: Channel Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Africa; Ghana; Nigeria

Citation

Purchase

DexAI

By: Jo Tango and Christina Wallace

August 2023 |
Case |
Faculty Research

During a challenging fundraising environment, the DexAI founders received two term sheets with nearly identical economic terms but very different legal ones. The entrepreneurs had to navigate: representations and warranties (their personal guarantees that the company's intellectual property was free and clear and that its financial statements were accurate), investor control terms (protective provisions, Board of Directors composition, and matters that required investor approval), and how their founders' stock was treated (a buyback right that effectively vested their stock and how that might change upon a company sale/merger/IPO, the termination of a founder, or a founder's resignation for "good reason"). The case also explores a possible intellectual property violation with one founder's prior employer.