Harvard Business Review

MARCH 11, 2014

It’s a common question thrown at me by entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, or the more cynically minded corporate leaders. Start-up companies tend to cluster in industries favored by venture capitalists (like biotechnology or information technology) or ones where there are relatively low barriers to entry (like restaurants).

Innovation 8

Innovation Venture Capitalist Company Supply Chain 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 9, 2014

But in technology startups, particularly venture-backed technology startups, the current investment climate does not always support that vision. For as long as it has been an industry, these have been the only two ways for a venture capital-backed company to succeed. There has to be a better way.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur Venture Capitalist Mezzanine Short-term 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 5, 2013

How long can a business model succeed that forces students to accumulate $200,000 or more in debt and cannot guarantee jobs — even years after graduation? Neither the pedagogical model nor the value equation of traditional higher education have changed much in the past fifty years. Emerging new education models.

Education 11

Education Venture Capitalist Business Model Technology 11

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 27, 2014

When investing in new growth businesses, corporate leaders are commonly advised to behave more like venture capitalists. And of course the more the company pushes the edges of today’s business, the lower those odds sink. All of this is right, as far as it goes.

Venture Capitalist 9

Venture Capitalist Discounted Cash Flow Parcell Project 9

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 9, 2013

How can these new technologies, solutions, products, and ideas reach not just one community, or even one region, but everyone who needs them? March : How to scale what works using technology, data, and other levers. But so many of these ideas benefit small groups of people in specific locations. And this is just the beginning.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Entrepreneur Business Model Human Needs 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 3, 2016

Twenty years ago, Louis Gerstner transformed IBM by emphasizing consulting and technology services — not just technology — to solve customer problems. How technology is changing the way we work. Smart venture capitalists invest in a portfolio of startups with different risk profiles and timeframes for returns.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Short-term ROI Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 1, 2017

The true promise of a culture, argues influential venture capitalist Ben Horowitz , is to “be provocative enough to change what people do every day.” But for the truly great leaders I’ve studied, the people factor is just as vital as the technology or money one.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Mission Statement Long-term Short-term 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

Venture capitalists are increasingly interested in emerging markets, and in working with local funds based in those markets (despite the fact that reverse innovation in venture capital seems counterintuitive). Editor's Note: This post was written with Justin Chakma, an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto (Canada).

Marketing 15

Marketing Venture Capitalist Biotechnology IPO 15

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 13, 2014

The business model – where peers can offer and purchase goods and services from each other through an online platform – continues to be applied to new industries from car sharing to peer-to-peer fashion, among many others. Many sharing economy business models do raise legitimate concerns about user safety, privacy and access.

Business Model 9

Business Model Hotels Venture Capitalist Transportation 9

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 21, 2014

It’s also attracting large investments by established companies and venture capitalists. While every business needs to adopt a true culture of change , clearly there is no lack of potential. That publishers need to innovate their business models just puts them in the same place as every other industry.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist EBITDA Venture Funding Magazine 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 13, 2015

In Africa’s technology start-up scene, one of the most difficult challenges is attracting and retaining talent. Africa has a limited talent pool, particularly in technology fields. It is a core continuity management strategy in a market scarce on technology talent. Inspire them with the company’s big picture.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist IPO Entrepreneur Banking 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 31, 2017

Since their founding less than a decade ago, Uber and Airbnb have wrangled with regulators, challenged the taxi and hotel industries, earned extraordinary valuations from venture capital investors — and fundamentally transformed the way people think about urban transportation and travel. The irony is many VCs just passed on them.

CEO 8

CEO Hotels Venture Capitalist Storytelling 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 8, 2011

This week, over 10,000 entrepreneurs and investors will descend on Austin, TX for SXSW Interactive , hoping to be or to find the next big thing in technology. Perhaps you've known an entrepreneur, or been that entrepreneur who has pulled together a solid business plan with a perfected pitch and you still have no takers.

Venture Capitalist 14

Venture Capitalist Christensen Entrepreneur Sports 14

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 8, 2015

Pharmaceutical companies, buffeted by regulatory changes, new drug technologies that alter entry barriers and competition, price pressures, and an estimated 300,000 job cuts since 2000, seem to fit the popular narrative of large organizations unable to deal with disruptive forces.

Health Care 8

Health Care Venture Capitalist Strategic Fit Pharmaceuticals 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 26, 2018

And what can Grab teach us about the future of platform businesses? To venture capitalists and the financial market, no business model is more attractive than a platform. Though none of these tweaks can be claimed to be a technological breakthrough, they have collectively helped Grab win over local consumers.

Transportation 10

Transportation Health Care Venture Capitalist Advertising 10

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 26, 2012

Graham argued that the proliferation of money combined with the decreasing costs to start a business were making the VC job more difficult, prophesying significant changes for the industry. Over the years, venture capitalists have been some of the most ardent students of disruptive innovation. He was right.

Disruptive Innovation 14

Disruptive Innovation Hedge Venture Capitalist Venture Funding 14

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 17, 2014

Identifying this so-called “growth gap” is critical, because the bigger the gap, the more a company needs to look beyond its current offerings, markets, and business models to find growth opportunities. To assess such risks to your business, consider the following six questions: Is customer loyalty decreasing?

Innovation 9

Innovation Company Venture Capitalist Business Model 9

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 26, 2011

Between 2006 and 2008, more than $1 billion venture-capital dollars were channeled into startups focused on solar, wind and biofuel technologies. In the last year, however, early-stage investments in clean energy production technologies have fallen substantially (see the table at the end of this piece for more detail).

Energy 11

Energy Finance IPO Biotechnology 11

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 10, 2014

Wealth inequality is on everyone’s minds these days: citizens, political leaders, economists, policymakers and yes, business leaders. Unfortunately, simpleminded thinking and insensitivity are often clouding the conversation.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Supply Chain Real Estate Entrepreneur 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 27, 2016

Similarly, about one-fourth of all technology and engineering companies started in the U.S. — data from the 2012 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor showed that the vast majority of the 69 countries surveyed reported higher entrepreneurial activity among immigrants than among natives, especially in growth-oriented ventures.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur Venture Capitalist Retail Incubator 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

It is the algorithms that will create value for the business. Sensors, the cloud, mobile and broadband wireless, and other such technologies are increasing the flow of digitized information exponentially. Venture capitalists have their radar out for and provide ample resources for the catalysts to scale up very quickly.

Short-term 8

Short-term How To Venture Capitalist CFO 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 12, 2018

Further, venture capitalists are jumping in with both feet. $4 Shift to providing advice on business models, not just strategy and operations. Many established firms— a 2017 Deloitte survey suggested about 20% in the U.S.—are —are making substantial investments in AI as well.

Consultative 8

Consultative Strategy Advice McKinsey 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 14, 2013

In the DVD-rental business, Netflix faced content costs that weren''t appreciably different from those of bigger archrival Blockbuster, and had a much lower-cost delivery system. Holding on to customers will require continual upgrades in technology and content (not to mention avoiding Qwikster-like missteps).

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Engineering Content Software 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 27, 2018

All three factors have become more common over time, which we argue stems from firms’ increasing reliance on intangible and knowledge inputs in their business models. Such acquisitions become more lucrative with rising first-mover advantages, pace of technological development, and network externality.

IPO 11

IPO Company First-mover Advantage Intangible Assets 11

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 24, 2017

Also known as “token sales,” this new fundraising phenomenon is being fueled by a convergence of blockchain technology, new wealth, clever entrepreneurs, and crypto-investors who are backing blockchain-fueled ideas. Business in the Era of Blockchain. How technology is transforming transactions. Insight Center.

Venture Capitalist 12

Venture Capitalist Due Diligence Finance Long-term 12

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 18, 2015

In the years ahead, Alphabet could dramatically influence business models in many industries. This new entity could bring together human talent, technology scale, and long-horizon venture and investment approaches to construct business models that could pose a formidable challenge to those designed and perfected in the industrial age.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Kleiner Business Model Health Care 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 6, 2014

With the ad market under $70 million, many of our local competitors were rapidly experimenting with new types of revenue and business models and were far ahead of us. Zhou departed in 2005 and went on to found Qihoo 360 Technology, a $12 billion company that now trades on NASDAQ. search engine company Inktomi in 2002.

Chief Financial Officer 10

Chief Financial Officer Operations Learning-by-Doing IPO 10

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 26, 2016

We spent time with established digital players, midsize companies (including Box and Palantir), and startups, particularly those focused on FinTech and technology services. We met with leaders at private equity funds, venture capitalists, and incubators, including Andreessen Horowitz and Playground.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Company Succession Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 23, 2016

If you want to see how mobile technology can disrupt the very basics of business models and habits established over hundreds if not thousands of years, look at what’s happening in India. By July 2016, virtually every Indian had a mobile telephone and access to text messaging, primarily using 2G technology.

Strategy 8

Strategy Banking Venture Capitalist Bottom-up 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 24, 2012

Here's why: the innovation revolution spurred by venture capitalists decades ago has created the conditions in which scale allows big companies to shift from shackling innovation to unleashing it. Innovation increasingly involves creating business models that tap big companies' unique strengths. This was Keyne Monson.

Innovation 8

Innovation Company Venture Capitalist Health Care 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 25, 2011

And yet venture capitalists and entreprenuers still go to great lengths to achieve first mover status; brands spend inordinate amounts of money to create buzz; and the latest trend is to increase influence through social media. I'd say it does, but only if the product you are selling delivers real value.

First-mover Advantage 15

First-mover Advantage Venture Capitalist Dunning Early Adopters 15

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 27, 2016

Why Better Technology Can Be Slower to Take Off. “We had the brand and the audience, and were then able to build an online dating business that was far more powerful as a business model than our core content execution.” Related Video. A lesson for both startups and incumbents. Interesting and dangerous.

Consensus 12

Consensus Venture Capitalist Entrepreneur Video 12

Mills Scofield

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

Shift Approach” to address a current concern in higher education: “What If Technology Has Rendered the Physical Classroom Obsolete?” We’ve also learned that Venture Capitalists (in the truest sense) no longer exist. For every person that scratches his or her head at What If…?

Venture Capitalist 132

Venture Capitalist Conference Education Class 132

Harvard Business Review

JULY 20, 2017

The innovation alone is a herculean task, but imagine being that upstart pioneer trying to develop the technology, while at the same time going up against entrenched, powerful competitors with deep industry knowledge, assets, and channels who’ve been around for a hundred years or more. Sponsored by DXC Technology. Insight Center.

Innovation 13

Innovation Productivity Products Venture Capitalist 13

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 19, 2018

In 2011, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen declared that “software is eating the world.” And academic research has found that rising industry concentration correlates with the patent-intensity of an industry, suggesting “that the industries becoming more concentrated are those with faster technological progress.”

Software 8

Software Company Competitive Advantage Henderson 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 3, 2018

By default, the two gold coasts have a self-sustaining edge: They have accumulated massive value, wealth, and power through the winner-take-all economics that govern many digital business models. The Information Technology Industry Council has identified at least 22 laws in 13 European countries that regulate the localization of data.

Company 8

Company Venture Capitalist GDP Retail 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 23, 2012

As a result, first time entrepreneurs frequently feel that they have been taken to the cleaners by venture capitalists. This exemplifies the famous golden rule of venture capital: "Whoever has the gold sets the rules." One of them claims, for example, to screen ventures using the "same criteria as venture capitalists."

Due Diligence 13

Due Diligence Venture Capitalist Entrepreneur Short-term 13