- 01 Jun 2021
- Cold Call Podcast
Running a Consumer Fintech Startup within Goldman Sachs
Marcus by Goldman Sachs marked a dramatic shift for the 150-year-old financial institution, which historically had served only businesses and the wealthiest people. The fintech startup operated within Goldman Sachs, offering unsecured personal loans for the mass market, high-yield deposits, and a credit card in partnership with Apple. Harvard Business School associate professor Rory McDonald discusses the challenges of launching and operating a startup within an established company in his case, “Marcus by Goldman Sachs.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Apr 2021
- Research & Ideas
IPO or M&A? How Venture Capital Shapes a Startup's Future
To a cash-strapped founder, any funding seems like a win, but research by Rory McDonald and colleagues shows that much more is at stake when it comes to venture capital. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Nov 2020
- Sharpening Your Skills
Research News and Tips: Innovating Across Time Zones
Recent research insights on collaborating across time zones, the economic cost of immigrant bans, selling a pivot story to investors, and more.
- 08 Aug 2017
- First Look
First Look at Research and Ideas, August 8, 2017
Can Waze navigate its own growth challenges? ... Hospital management practices can help (and hurt) maternal outcomes ... Seeking prestige, Japanese companies perform better on the Nikkei 400 stock index.
- 25 Oct 2016
- First Look
October 25, 2016
The challenge of explaining pivots to investors ... What's an innovation worth? ... How a manager's ethnic culture affects their communications with investors.
- 15 Jun 2016
- Research & Ideas
These VC Partners May Make Your Firm Less Innovative
Startups that do business with VCs that also fund competitors may find they get the short end of the attention stick and produce fewer new products, concludes research by Rory McDonald and colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 13 Apr 2016
- Research & Ideas
Why Your Company Wants to be a 'Cognitive Referent' (Hint: SpaceX)
Companies that come to epitomize a nascent market—think Starbucks and boutique coffee—can capture greater success than other startups, says Rory McDonald. Is there a roadmap to becoming a “cognitive referent”? Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Mar 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Becoming a Cognitive Referent: Market Creation and Cultural Strategy
Rory McDonald describes the making of a "cognitive referent," which is a firm that customers, the media, analysts, and employees automatically associate with a new market category--think Starbucks and coffee.
- 31 Jul 2014
- Research & Ideas
A Scholarly Crowd Explores Crowdsourcing
At the Open and User Innovation Workshop, several hundred researchers discussed their work on innovation contests, user-led product improvements, and the biases of crowds. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
8 Strategies to Sustain Business Innovation
It's a harsh reality: The majority of new business ventures fail. In the book Productive Tensions, Rory McDonald and his coauthor say the key to survival is figuring out how to pivot during the innovation process.