Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Corporate Venture Capital Primer
The introduction to Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) follows the journey of Claudia Fan Munce, who leads CVC for a large hardware and software conglomerate, as she and her team identify and explore opportunities to partner with startups in the healthcare industry. Along the way, students learn about the history of CVC, the relationship between CVCs …
Magic Markers (A): Growing a Whiteboard Animation Company
In 2013, two entrepreneurs founded Magic Markers, a whiteboard animation company in Bogotá, Colombia, with a mission to gracefully explain complex topics to an interested audience. Case (A) describes how the company experienced unexpected growth after one of its videos went viral. The two founders faced various challenges and had to quickly learn how to …
Sofame Technologies Inc.: Sparking Growth in a Mature Manufacturing Company
The president, chief executive officer (CEO) and director of Sofame Technologies Inc. (Sofame) seeks to boost the sales of his company. Sofame is trying to find out why it cannot achieve rapid growth rates with proven green technology. The purpose of the case is to highlight the problems and challenges of selling new technology and …
Jim Sharpe: Extrusion Technology, Inc. (A)
Jim Sharpe, 11 years after receiving his MBA from Harvard and working for others, is finally his own boss and 100% owner of a manufacturer of aluminum extrusion profiles. After 10 months of unfunded search, he acquires the company in an LBO and prepares to face his employees on the first day.
Stock Options at Virtua.Net
It describes the problems faced by three young founders of a high-tech startup in Silicon Valley, including hiring an experienced CEO and negotiating with a potential venture capitalist. It focuses on the incentive and compensation aspects of trading with applicants (eg what percentage of capital is appropriate) and with venture capitalists (eg options to exercise …
Marcia Radosevich and Health Payment Review–1989 (A)
Martha Radosevich, president of Health Payment Review, a small software startup, faces a serious cash flow problem: Health Payment Review built a PC-based prototype, but ran out of money to build a commercially acceptable mainframe product . As an interim measure to generate money, Marcia tries to sell the prototype PC, but is opposed by …
Entrepreneurial Sales and Marketing Vignettes
Which Sales Candidate is the Ideal Initial Hiring for a Startup? What are the best marketing channels to invest in? How aggressively should a leadership team align sales with customer success? Early-stage founders, sales managers, and marketing executives often face one and sometimes all of the above scenarios as their companies grow. This case features …
Scaling Swagbucks (B)
“Swagbucks (B)”, HBS No. 817123, took over the corporate culture in mid-2014 following the events described in “Swagbucks (A)”, HBS No. 817122 and developed a close working relationship. In early 2016, the company now has the opportunity to acquire MyPoints, an established competitor with millions of members, and the opportunity to increase sales even faster, …
CMNGD (Commongood) Linens: Scaling a Work-Integration Social Enterprise
In June 2018, Calgary, Alberta, co-founder of a social work integration business, CMNGD (Commongood) Linens, took stock of the impact of its efforts to help the homeless recover and find meaningful employment. Her ambition was to expand to other Canadian cities, but she feared that the CMNGD expansion could put so much pressure on the …