Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 30, 2014

The typical enterprise software startup that IPOs is at least 7 years old (to say nothing of those that try and fail). In the year before Google IPO’d, it did about $962 million in revenue. Slowly, the company built out proprietary software systems to allow its customers to get more out of its product.

Long-term 11

Long-term Innovation Company IPO 11

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 26, 2018

On February 13, 2018, the New York Times reported that Uber is planning an IPO. Twitter reported a loss of $79 million before its IPO, yet it commanded a valuation of $24 billion on its IPO date in 2013. Many digital companies have no physical products and have no inventory to report.

Company 8

Company Intangible Assets Depreciation IPO 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 24, 2017

Major organizational changes, covering everything from recruiting and branding to regulatory approvals and marketing, happened in rapid succession, with a hard deadline of 12 months to get it all done for the IPO — and 18 months from the IPO until our full separation from GE. Change management certainly tested us.

Management 11

Management IPO Diversity Long-term 11

Rajesh Setty

DECEMBER 4, 2008

Here you’ll find more than 1500 articles and mini-sagas on entrepreneurship, leadership, creativity and simply how to distinguish yourself. We used agile method to build the product using the latest open source stack and some mashups with a few online services. HELLO THERE AND WELCOME. You are a new visitor to this blog.

Blue Ocean Strategy 30

Blue Ocean Strategy CPM Licensing Open-book 30

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 30, 2016

Amazon, for example, has learned that same-day delivery could increase revenues significantly, and it is also aware that new insurgent start-ups such as Instacart and WunWun are focusing on the instant delivery of certain products, so it has invested in its own delivery fleet, drone technology and more.

Supply Chain 14

Supply Chain Company IPO Talent Management 14

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 2, 2016

Where traditional business models sell products and/or services, matchmaking models sell reduced transaction costs. Choice One means going it alone to build product and find buyers. How should leaderships invest to make their users – not just their platforms – measurably better? That’s platform leadership.

IPO 8

IPO Human Capital Insurance Business Model 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 4, 2016

Even when startups have great products and customer interest, they struggle with long-term growth. Founders may lack the skills and interest to lead those activities effectively — what they typically love is dreaming up and building products. Often, our research shows, the biggest obstacles are the entrepreneurs themselves.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Sample IPO Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 16, 2016

For example, as it grew, Facebook found that its early “move fast and break things” culture had to be funneled into focused technical teams and product groups to make its product development process faster and less erratic, and for it to have a chance of meeting the demands of its new public shareholders following its IPO.

Banking 14

Banking Strategy Film Operations 14

Harvard Business Review

MAY 16, 2012

One of our most striking findings was that of the entrepreneurs we surveyed who had a successful exit (that is, an IPO or sale to another firm), about 70% did NOT start with a business plan. Instead, their business journeys originated in a different place, a place we call the Heart. Think big, start small, then scale or fail fast.

Planning 20

Planning Mintzberg IPO Entrepreneur 20

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 27, 2014

I still remember when Steve Jobs was featured in business school case studies as an example of bad leadership style. The consummate loner, Harano would likely have stayed off our radar screen, except that one day his unpredictable behavior led to a fantastically successful product.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur Venture Capitalist Business Incubator IPO 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 29, 2015

Brian Fitzpatrick joined Google as a senior software engineer in 2005, shortly after the company’s IPO. In our view, Brian’s work is an excellent demonstration of strategic leadership. But Brian’s accomplishment challenges conventional definitions of strategic leadership. They work with an eye toward scale.

Strategy 8

Strategy Power Idea Generation Project 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 24, 2013

I used to think our great technology would take us to leadership in our market — now I realize it is our team, our organization, our marketing and our ambition to sell. Indeed, many would-be entrepreneurs who are drawn by the romantic vision of developing a snazzy new app or product pooh-pooh selling as beneath their dignity.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur IPO Open-book Marketing 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 6, 2014

In each iteration, we spent a lot of time thinking about what might make the best use of our existing product. In hindsight, this thinking turned out to be far less important than what we learned about leadership, control, and trust, which ultimately were reflected in how each of the businesses was created, capitalized, and staffed.

Chief Financial Officer 10

Chief Financial Officer Operations Learning-by-Doing IPO 10

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

And of the remarkable tech IPO class of 1986, which included Adobe, EMC, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems, Oracle has been the best performer. Oracle’s products don’t inspire the sort of loving awe that even now greets Apple’s latest creations, but there is something about how Ellison runs his company that seems to work.

Company 8

Company Chief Technology Officer IPO CEO 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 27, 2017

Talented founders know that corporations simply cannot replicate the deep experience private VCs have in starting companies, nor their expertise in assisting startups with complex challenges such as deal making, business modeling, resolving disputes among founders, executing a successful IPO, and so on.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Meyer Innovation Fixed Costs 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 27, 2018

The number of listed firms can decline because of three developments: 1) bankruptcy, failure, or closure of listed firms, 2) delisting of firms going private or acquired, and 3) decrease in number of initial public offerings (IPOs). Furthermore, as production shifts to Asia and more and more U.S.

IPO 11

IPO Company First-mover Advantage Intangible Assets 11

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Between now and the IPO, every bit of information about the company’s finances and other metrics will be closely scrutinized. You can expect to see endless discussions in the press about revenue, valuation, user growth, and product. Research shows that firms’ management teams influence the success of their IPOs.

IPO 8

IPO Execution Incentives Finance 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 1, 2015

For many consumer tech companies, this post-IPO pressure on financial returns is too high. Because they are innovative by nature, consumer tech companies need to invest heavily in research and development, which could be done if they had a portfolio of products at different stages of maturity, with some of them being established cash cows.

IPO 8

IPO Company Maturity Short-term 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 21, 2016

That’s because overload is a surmountable crisis—under the right leadership. Norwegian encouraged its employees, in other words, to adopt an owner’s mindset: a powerful sense of responsibility for all of their employees, customers, products and decisions. Sheehan quickly diagnosed what was ailing Norwegian.

Company 10

Company IPO Price Loyalty 10

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 4, 2015

However, CEOs often don’t have the career background and education that would equip them to personally lead the process of new product development. This would mean, for example, working in R&D to lead pharma innovation, new product development for high tech, and product design or merchandising for fashion retail.

CEO 8

CEO Innovation Pharmaceuticals Merchandising 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

When Accenture asked 250 senior executives of Asian companies expanding overseas to compare their source of competitive advantage today and in three years, 55% cited high quality products and services, while 47% cited high-value innovation. Only a small minority thought low-cost operations would be an advantage in three years’ time.

Brand 8

Brand Globalization Company Development 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 20, 2014

In this letter, I’d like to explain more fully why I view the $51 billion already spent by Apple on open market (including accelerated) share repurchases under your leadership as a major misallocation of resources for both the company and the U.S. Public shareholders, including Carl Icahn, do not invest in Apple’s productive capabilities.

Innovation 11

Innovation EPS Incentives Supply Chain 11

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 15, 2012

This was largely a product of the firm's near-death experience after the 1929 crash. That may just be because some of the partnership ethos lived on nine years after the IPO, meaning that the firm is unlikely to do so well in the next financial crisis. It had spawned a closed-end fund, the Goldman Sachs Trading Corp.,

Hedge 13

Hedge Long-term Banking Short-term 13

Harvard Business Review

JULY 12, 2017

With products that rely on network effects, these players enjoy economies of scale and dominant market share. They have deep resources for innovation with the ability to accelerate the penetration and adoption of digital products. that help propagate new products, ideas and business models?).

Innovation 8

Innovation Policies Technology Politics 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 24, 2016

Seven years after that infamous day in 2008, we are a post-IPO company with a market cap of over $1 billion dollars. In many cases, they were simply in the wrong division working on the wrong product at the wrong time. Eight years later, many of these early hires are still with HubSpot serving in senior sales leadership roles.

Crisis 8

Crisis IPO Marketing Entrepreneur 8

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 14, 2014

Its IPO in 1999 was a sensation ; by autumn 2000 its market capitalization topped $65 billion and the ratio of its stock price to the next year’s projected earnings was a staggering 483. Attempts to branch out into new product areas (security and enterprise switching) haven’t gone well. Neither have acquisitions.

Hedge 8

Hedge Chief Technology Officer Maturity IPO 8