- 24 Aug 2021
- Cold Call Podcast
Why Did Pet Concierge Startup Baroo Fail?
In August 2017, Baroo Pet Care founder and CEO Lindsay Hyde wanted to continue expanding her pet services startup to new cities. In addition to raising venture capital, she needed to consider her growth strategy. Should she continue focusing on the needs of her early adopters or start tailoring Baroo’s services to more mainstream customers? And how fast is too fast to grow? Hyde (MBA 2014) joins Professor Tom Eisenmann to discuss how an early false positive signal from investors set an unsustainable course for her startup in the case, "Baroo: Pet Concierge," with additional lessons from Eisenmann’s 2021 book, Why Startups Fail: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 30 Oct 2019
- Research & Ideas
How to Recover Gracefully After Shutting Down Your Startup
It’s hard to call it quits on a business venture, but entrepreneurs can wind down a struggling startup while keeping their reputations and sanity intact, says Tom Eisenmann. The first step is knowing when to accept defeat. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Aug 2016
- Research & Ideas
Black Swans and Big Trends Can Ruin Anyone's Internet Prediction
Coming off the dot-com bust, Thomas R. Eisenmann was confident enough in his internet vision that he wrote a book about what would happen next. For the most part, he was wrong. He offers lessons learned for navigating the boom-bust cycle. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Apr 2011
- Lessons from the Classroom
Teaching a ‘Lean Startup’ Strategy
Most startups fail because they waste too much time and money building the wrong product before realizing what the right product should have been, says HBS entrepreneurial management professor Thomas R. Eisenmann. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 16 Oct 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
Opening Platforms: How, When and Why?
It is crucial for firms that create and maintain platforms to select optimal levels of openness. Decisions to open a platform entail tradeoffs between adoption and appropriability, and opening a platform can spur adoption by harnessing network effects, reducing users' concerns about lock-in, and stimulating production of differentiated goods that meet the needs of user segments. At the same time, opening a platform typically reduces users' switching costs and increases competition among platform providers, making it more difficult for them to appropriate rents from the platform. This paper describes research on factors that motivate managers to open or close mature platforms. Key concepts include: Absent careful definitions, it is not possible to make general statements about the attractiveness of open versus closed platform strategies. Platform openness occurs at multiple levels depending on whether participation is unrestricted at the demand-side user (end-user), supply-side user (application developer), platform provider, or platform sponsor levels. These distinctions in turn give rise to multiple strategies for managing openness. Forces tend to push both proprietary and shared platforms over time toward hybrid governance models typified by central control over platform technology and shared responsibility for serving users. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Jul 2007
- Working Paper Summaries
Managing Proprietary and Shared Platforms: A Life-Cycle View
The challenges facing platform managers vary systematically depending on (1) whether the platform is proprietary or shared and (2) the stage of platform development. This article summarizes the results of a multiyear research project on platform strategies, including interviews with 30 companies. It describes 3 stages of the platform life cycle—platform design, network mobilization, and platform maturity—and reviews in depth the strategic decisions and management issues for each stage. Key concepts include: As proprietary platforms mature, broad forces at work often open them up to new partners. Once network mobilization winds down, sponsors of a proprietary platform frequently license additional providers to serve market segments with diverse needs. These new providers will seek a say in the platform's direction. As shared platforms mature, their renewal may hinge on partners ceding power to a central authority that can set priorities and settle disputes over who will provide next-generation technologies. Over time, forces will tend to push both proprietary and shared platforms toward hybrid licensing forms, typified by central control over platform technology and shared responsibility for serving users. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Jul 2007
- Working Paper Summaries
Platform Envelopment
Established platform providers can be difficult to displace. This paper explores a path to platform leadership change that does not rely on breakthrough innovation or Schumpeterian creative destruction: a phenomenon the authors call "platform envelopment." In practical terms, envelopment entails one platform provider adding another platform's functionality to its own, and then offering a multiplatform bundle. Eisenmann and his colleagues describe a variety of envelopment attacks based on the relationship between the attacker's platform and its target's, and then discuss the economic and strategic motivations for each attack type. Key concepts include: Envelopment is a powerful force shaping platform evolution. Well-established incumbents that otherwise are sheltered from entry by standalone rivals, due to strong network effects and high switching costs, may be vulnerable to envelopment. A conglomeration attack means that platforms are functionally unrelated but may share common users and components. In such an attack, bundling can yield significant economies of scope. Example: Apple iPhone bundling smart phone with iPod. With an intermodal attack, the platforms are weak substitutes, and the attacker may neutralize an emerging competitive threat. Example: Blockbuster bundling DVD-by-mail service with store rentals. With a foreclosure attack, the platforms are complements. If envelopment reduces the appeal of a standalone provider's crucial complement, the attacker may strengthen its position vis-à-vis rivals in its core market. Example: Microsoft bundling Media Player with its Windows operating system. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 20 Mar 2005
- Research & Ideas
Lessons of Successful Entrepreneurs
The best way to become an entrepreneur is to jump into the water and get your feet wet, said several successful businessmen at the Harvard Business School Entrepreneurship Conference. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 14 Feb 2005
- Research & Ideas
Desktop Search and Revenue Streams
Search is a hot topic in high tech right now, so industry experts at Cyberposium’s "Search Visionary" panel drilled down for the most promising avenues to growth. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 18 Feb 2002
- Research & Ideas
Wrap-up: Software, Telecom, and Recovery
How is the VC industry doing on its own and in partnership with software and telecoms? These were just three topics discussed in special panel sessions at the recent conference. Here, a few highlights from those conversations. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Sep 2000
- Research & Ideas
Riding the Internet Fast Track
On the Internet Express, getting big fast is the strategy of choice. But is it right for everyone? HBS Professor Thomas R. Eisenmann looks at key factors that can help a company decide. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Jul 2000
- Research & Ideas
Cable TV: From Community Antennas to Wired Cities
The cable television industry has long outgrown its roots as a source of better TV reception to achieve its present place as a key player in the emerging telecommunications infrastructure. That change, writes HBS Professor Thomas R. Eisenmann in Business History Review, amid different managerial respondes to the twin—and sometimes competing—objectives of stabilty and growth. In this excerpt, Eisenmann looks at the formative years of the industry, from 1948 to 1975. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Determinants of Early-Stage Startup Performance: Survey Results
In this study of 470 founders/CEOs and their management practices, startups that employ lean startup techniques had better valuation outcomes. So did ventures that balanced hiring for skill versus attitude and, more broadly, made early efforts to professionalize human resource management.
How a Multimillion-Dollar Ice Cream Startup Melted Down (and Bounced Back)
A Brooklyn-based ice cream shop was getting buzz, and Disney was pitching a brand partnership. So how did the business wind up filing for bankruptcy? A case study by Thomas Eisenmann and Lindsay N. Hyde examines the rise and fall—and recent rebound—of Ample Hills Creamery.