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New research from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including entrepreneurship, new business ventures, and startup financing.
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Can Entrepreneurs and Governments Team Up to Solve Big Problems?

Re: Mitchell B. Weiss

In 2017, Shield AI’s quadcopter, with no pilot and no flight plan, could clear a building and outpace human warfighters by almost five minutes. It was evidence that autonomous robots could help protect civilian and service member lives. But was it also evidence that Shield AI—a startup barely two years past founding—could ask their newest potential customer, the US government, for a large contract for a system of coordinated, exploring robots? Or would it scare them away? Harvard Business School professor Mitch Weiss and Brandon Tseng, Shield AI’s CGO and co-founder, discuss these and other challenges entrepreneurs face when working with the public sector, and how investing in new ideas can enable entrepreneurs and governments to join forces and solve big problems in the case, “Shield AI.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.

How to Get Companies to Make Investments That Benefit Everyone

by Lane Lambert

Want more organizations to give back to their communities? Frank Nagle says the success of open source software offers an innovative—and unexpected—roadmap for social good. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

The Trial of Elizabeth Holmes: Visionary, Criminal, or Both?

by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

Eugene Soltes explains why the fraud case against the Theranos cofounder isn't as simple as it seems, and why a conviction probably wouldn't deter unethical behavior from others. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Why Did Pet Concierge Startup Baroo Fail?

Re: Thomas R. Eisenmann

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.

For Entrepreneurs, the Benefits of Slowing Down

by Jeffrey Bussgang

After several heady months for startups, Jeffrey Bussgang offers radical advice for founders this summer: just chill. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

One More Way the Startup World Hampers Women Entrepreneurs

by Michael Blanding

Early feedback is essential to launching new products, but women entrepreneurs are more likely to receive input from men. Research by Rembrand Koning, Ramana Nanda, and Ruiqing Cao. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

How Four Women Made Miami More Equitable for Startups

by Carolyn DiPaolo

A case study by Rosabeth Moss Kanter examines what it takes to break gender barriers and build thriving businesses in an emerging startup hub. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

IPO or M&A? How Venture Capital Shapes a Startup's Future

by Rachel Layne

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.

Whose Job Is It Anyway? Co-Ethnic Hiring in New US Ventures

by Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

The impact of immigration has been particularly sharp in entrepreneurship, yet there is remarkably little evidence about how immigration in the workplace connects to the creation and scaling of new firms. The economic consequences of greater workplace and entrepreneurial diversity deserve closer attention.

Biased Sampling of Early Users and the Direction of Startup Innovation

by Ruiqing Cao, Rembrand Koning, and Ramana Nanda

New ventures catering to female customers should be aware that the underrepresentation of women among early users on digital platforms can reduce the venture’s growth and chances of survival. As a result of gaining fewer early users, these ventures reduce future product development and are less likely to raise VC funding.

Flight to Safety: How Economic Downturns Affect Talent Flows to Startups

by Shai Benjamin Bernstein, Richard Townsend, and Ting Xu

The COVID-19 crisis makes it more difficult for small, young firms to attract talent as higher-quality candidates turn to more mature firms. Such “flight to safety” leads to a deterioration in the quality of human capital available for startups.

Fencing Off Silicon Valley: Cross-Border Venture Capital and Technology Spillovers

by Ufuk Akcigit, Sina T. Ates, Josh Lerner, Richard Townsend, and Yulia Zhestkova

This study of foreign corporate investment transactions from 32 countries between 1976 and 2015 finds these investments pose a trade-off: While they support young firms in pursuing innovations they could not otherwise afford, they also generate knowledge for the foreign investors.

Recessions Push Some Entrepreneurs to Launch Too Soon

by Sean Silverthorne

Research by Maria Roche looks at how past economic downturns forced job-insecure, high-tech entrepreneurs to rush their ventures to market. Will COVID-19 do the same? Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Two Case Studies on the Financing of Forest Conservation

by Andrew Baxter, Connor Cash, Josh Lerner, and Ratnika Prasad

Case studies about The Conservation Fund and Sonen Capital highlight three broad lessons about fresh approaches to the ownership and management of forestland.

The Evolution of CEO Compensation in Venture Capital-Backed Startups

by Michael Ewens, Ramana Nanda, and Christopher Stanton

Resolving uncertainty related to market demand—so called “product-market” fit—marks a key inflection point in the compensation contract for CEOs of venture-capital backed firms.

Open Source Software and Global Entrepreneurship

by Nataliya Langburd Wright, Frank Nagle, and Shane Greenstein

Does more activity in open source software development lead to increased entrepreneurial activity and, if so, how much, and in what direction? This study measures how participation on the GitHub open source platform affects the founding of new ventures globally.

Government Incentives for Entrepreneurship

by Josh Lerner

Even though many public policy efforts on entrepreneurship are well intentioned, the success rate has been disappointing. This essay explores these policies, focusing on financial incentives to entrepreneurs and the intermediaries who fund them.

Financial Distancing: How Venture Capital Follows the Economy Down and Curtails Innovation

by Sabrina T. Howell, Josh Lerner, Ramana Nanda, and Richard Townsend

Common wisdom holds that VC investment and VC-backed startups are relatively insulated from downturns. This study shows that the relative quantity and quality of innovation declines more for VC-backed firms than for other types of firms during downturns.

How Anchor Investors Help Impact Funds Succeed

by Sean Silverthorne

3Questions A startup fund's ability to attract a major first investor is a signal to others that the investment pool is just fine for entering. Shawn Cole and Rob Zochowski answer questions about anchor investors. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

Coronavirus Careers: Cloud Kitchens Are Now Serving

by Lena Ye and Geoffrey Jones

Cloud kitchens are restaurants built around food delivery rather than sit-down service, and they are increasing in popularity as COVID-19 disrupts the industry, write Lena Ye and Geoffrey Jones. Open for comment; 0 Comments.