N2Growth Blog

FEBRUARY 8, 2019

Maybe you’re prepping for the IPO. Missing the turn or making it too late can cause a company to stagnate or implode or can spell the death of the idea; or worse, the idea becomes someone else’s to bring to market without you. You’re not managing your energy well. Effective time management begins with good energy management.

Delegation 201

Delegation Maturity CEO Execution 201

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 30, 2014

Call 2014 the year of innovation. Google Trends reveals that interest in disruptive innovation crept up to peak levels this year. It seems that every time you hop on a quarterly earnings call, the CEO mentions innovation. If innovation is the foundation to building the future, this focus should be reassuring.

Long-term 10

Long-term Innovation Company IPO 10

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). In contrast, emerging-market VCs such as Nadathur Holdings (established in 2000 by N.S.

Marketing 15

Marketing Venture Capitalist Biotechnology IPO 15

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 2, 2017

For decades, we have heard that emerging markets are poised for huge growth that will yield even greater prosperity. Much like their famed Silicon Valley counterparts, emerging market accelerators aim to boost startups’ potential for raising growth capital.

Marketing 8

Marketing Venture Funding Entrepreneur IPO 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 21, 2016

When financial services company Square priced its IPO at $9 a share last November, well under the $15+ price that private investors paid the year before, it was a cold shower of reality for the 6-year-old company. Until the IPO, Square had been one of more than 130 unicorns: privately owned tech companies valued at $1 billion or more.

IPO 8

IPO Innovation Price Operations 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 7, 2011

billion market valuation. As a price strategy consultant, it's common for managers and sales people to enthusiastically pitch me on a strategy of "let's get them in the door with a big discount, they'll love our product or service, and then return to pay full price." Consumers, of course, love big discounts. So what do you think?

IPO 10

IPO Discount Price Business Model 10

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 8, 2017

For instance, Snapchat’s recent IPO filing revealed that the company grew revenues by 600% (to $404 million) in 2016. The explosive growth of ride sharing is a big reason why Hertz reported dismal quarterly results in November 2016, leading to a 23% drop in its market value. Many of them have been growing at a ferocious pace.

Innovation 8

Innovation Bureaucracy IPO Bottom-up 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 23, 2013

The most motivated and productive people I’ve seen recently work in an older company on the American East Coast deploying innovative technology products to transform a traditional industry. To a person, they look astonished when I ask whether their dedication comes from anticipation of the money they could make in the event of an IPO.

Motivation 11

Motivation IPO Norton Open-book 11

Harvard Business Review

JULY 21, 2014

That could mean illustrating the effects of a proposed customer management system with testimonials from actual customers, or describing how the data-sharing project you want to expand helped keep employees connected during a major outage. Is there a market opportunity the company is overlooking? ” says Sheen. The price tag?

IPO 9

IPO Audience Chief Information Officer Case Study 9

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 2, 2016

True platform innovators aren’t just market matchmakers using data-driven algorithms to drive better buyer-seller matches; they invest in new value creation. In platform markets, cultivating user capability becomes as strategically important as reducing transaction costs. What really makes them work?

IPO 8

IPO Human Capital Insurance Business Model 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 2, 2013

With Facebook’s $115 billion market cap on its IPO day, Mark Zuckerberg created wealth nearly equivalent to half of Nigeria’s GDP in 2012. The value created by Facebook and a few other tech IPOs exceeds the GDP of most African regions. Through my experience, I’ve seen how a university could improve its community.

Education 8

Education Technology IPO GDP 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 15, 2013

And last year, he decided that the answer was to take the company private, to escape the hectoring of the public market. Competitors like IBM and Compaq struggled with the politics of managing their various channel partners and lagged Dell in inventory management. For more background on the potential deal, click here.)

Rivkin 15

Rivkin Succession Short-term Case Study 15

Harvard Business Review

JULY 27, 2017

Gimmy’s task was clear but highly demanding: to reimagine the way BMW innovates. To fill the void and build such a new BMW startup unit, Gimmy partnered with an experienced innovation manager from BMW, Matthias Meyer. At the time, BMW had no dedicated, company-spanning unit to leverage the creative power of startups.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Meyer Innovation Fixed Costs 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 16, 2016

Strategic alignment, for us, means that all elements of a business — including the market strategy and the way the company itself is organized — are arranged in such a way as to best support the fulfillment of its long-term purpose. Superior technical innovation is at the heart of its strategy and its organizational design.

Banking 14

Banking Strategy Film Operations 14

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 7, 2013

At the very least, it can buy time while management sorts out the right comprehensive response. Advantages typically include an established customer base, brand equity, market knowledge, and financial resources. Advantages typically include an established customer base, brand equity, market knowledge, and financial resources.

Disruptive Innovation 8

Disruptive Innovation Advertising Discount IPO 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 5, 2011

Since at least the 1980s (the era of deregulation, that is, over which Alfred Kahn presided) managers of big companies have been upbraided for their intolerance to risk. Perhaps not surprisingly, managers of mega corporations remain largely unsold on that notion. Certainly, that's a fair accusation. First, why is it a sector?

Entrepreneur 14

Entrepreneur Innovation Intellectual Capital Mission Statement 14

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 4, 2016

To borrow an analogy from our Harvard Business School colleague Shikhar Ghosh, their firms aren’t murdered by the market; they commit suicide because the founders can’t or won’t adapt to the organizations’ changing needs. Also, there is a difference between managing scale and getting to scale.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Sample IPO Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 9, 2014

It is incredibly hard to hold an IPO. Big acquirers cash out founders, management teams get folded into big organizations, cashflows disappoint, and visions flounder. Ultimately, high-risk venture capital investors need to be rewarded, ideally with high returns, for an ecosystem of innovation to be sustainable.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur Venture Capitalist Mezzanine Short-term 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 5, 2014

Booming public equities and a recovered IPO market generated record portfolio company exits and distributions from VC funds. A VC firm is, first and foremost, an investment vehicle created to generate returns for investors that exceed those available in the fully liquid, low cost public equity markets.

Venture Capitalist 17

Venture Capitalist Asset Management Rate of Return Industry 17

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 16, 2014

Icahn later reduced his buyback request to $50 billion, and in April 2014 Apple’s board approved a $30 billion program to be carried out by repurchasing its shares on the open market — either by just buying shares outright or doing it indirectly via accelerated share repurchases.

Safe Harbor 9

Safe Harbor Hedge EPS Price 9

Harvard Business Review

JULY 18, 2012

Ever thought air mattresses in living rooms would grow into a billion dollar company that would take on the vacation rental market and the hotel industry? Billion-dollar companies do not happen if the founding team is not extremely well suited to the market (now called " founder/market fit "). No 20,000 tech jobs. What gives?

Venture Capitalist 17

Venture Capitalist Software Entrepreneur Engineering 17

Harvard Business Review

JULY 18, 2012

Ever thought air mattresses in living rooms would grow into a billion dollar company that would take on the vacation rental market and the hotel industry? Billion-dollar companies do not happen if the founding team is not extremely well suited to the market (now called " founder/market fit "). No 20,000 tech jobs. What gives?

Venture Capitalist 17

Venture Capitalist Software Entrepreneur Engineering 17

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 8, 2010

And unfortunately, it's also one of the most in need of radical institutional innovation. That's why the traditional understanding of everything from GDP to " jobs " to " profit " to " IPO " is limited. But prosperity is always going to accrue to those who innovate yesterday's rusting, creaking institutions.

GDP 16

GDP Hypercompetition IPO Information 16

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 10, 2013

For you entrepreneurs, the challenges of scale-up are first and foremost the responsibility of managements and boards. It is hell to manage.". For example, it is nearly impossible for scaling ventures in many countries, including Brazil and Denmark, to count on an IPO for a successful exit. Not" is not a typo.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur IPO Incentives Venture Capitalist 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 30, 2013

For that reason, the "Lean" mentality is one of the most powerful tools in the innovator''s arsenal — in startups and mature corporations alike. That has resulted in some misconceptions that can be counterproductive in the quest for innovation. In a good start-up, these characteristics are not hard to find.

Company 9

Company Ries Maturity Innovation 9

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 11, 2013

Before the IPO in 1999, partners of Goldman Sachs owned equity in a private partnership. But leverage limits may have unintended consequences for capital markets’ competitiveness, innovation, growth, and efficiency. Ethics Finance Risk management'

Incentives 8

Incentives Banking Ethics IPO 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 4, 2015

Innovation is widely regarded as important to long-term business performance. We’ve found that CEOs of big pharmaceutical companies, for example, are more likely to have a background as company lawyers, salespeople, or finance managers, than one in medicine or pharmaceutical R&D.

CEO 8

CEO Innovation Pharmaceuticals Merchandising 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 1, 2015

Since the last financial crisis, many new regulations have been implemented to protect shareholders, increasing the pressure on management to meet earnings expectations by prioritizing short-term over long-term. For many consumer tech companies, this post-IPO pressure on financial returns is too high.

IPO 8

IPO Company Maturity Short-term 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 3, 2018

Council of Institutional Investors (CII), representing managers of $25 trillion assets, recently demanded limiting any company’s dual-class share structure to seven years. Some of the largest companies of recent times by market capitalization, such as Facebook, Alphabet, and Alibaba, carry dual class-shares.

Class 10

Class Maturity IPO Short-term 10

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 7, 2017

Just as striking is her description of Uber’s HR organization, which advised Fowler that because the manager in question was a high performer, HR did not feel comfortable punishing him. Today Uber is no startup, with 11,000 employees, not including its drivers, and a 2017 market value at IPO that is estimated as $28–$70 billion.

Compliance 11

Compliance Hedge Human Capital Finance 11

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

China leads all emerging markets with 89 companies on the latest Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest. To many skeptical consumers in developed markets, Brand China still means lower quality. Western brands also want access to China and recent global market turmoil has exposed many targets for astute Chinese brands.

Brand 8

Brand Globalization Company Development 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 22, 2013

Twitter and Zulily popped more than 70% and 80% respectively on the day of their recent IPOs. Of the 39 companies started since 2003 and valued at over $1B by private or public market investors, almost half were started by founders who met at school. Entrepreneurship Managing yourself' LinkedIn has surged over 100%.

IPO 9

IPO Insurance Entrepreneur Self-aware 9

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 10, 2015

Frequently cited as one of the world’s most vibrant innovation hubs, Israel boasts more startups per capita than any other country in the world. Are Israeli companies on the verge of developing a repeatable playbook to scale their companies and become market leaders, not just acquisition fodder for the Silicon Valley giants?

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Entrepreneur Marketing IPO 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 9, 2010

She'd mentioned her business, Calidad de Vida, a group of day care centers for the elderly, and he'd peppered her with questions, explaining that he was interested not only as a doctor (he was the leading cardiothoracic surgeon at Madrid's best hospital) but also as a potential investor (he'd unloaded his stocks just before the market collapsed).

Case Study 13

Case Study Franchising Health Care Follow-up 13

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. This is an incredible moment for innovation.

Innovation 13

Innovation Productivity Products Venture Capitalist 13

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 11, 2015

Huawei’s revenue from overseas markets exceeded that from the Chinese market for the first time in 2005. For example, when Huawei expanded their 3G market in Europe, they noticed that European carriers expected base stations to be more compact, easier to install, greener, and more energy efficient, while offering wider coverage.

Succession 8

Succession Golden Handcuff IPO Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 10, 2013

A generation ago, incumbents that struggled to respond to disruptive innovations had an excuse. Managers at companies like General Motors, Sears, and Eastman Kodak simply didn't have the tools to spot and respond to would-be disruptors. When a disruptive idea is first born, typically far away from the market's mainstream.

Trends 8

Trends Disruptive Innovation Christensen Business Model 8