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. We’re in an up market and people are more excited about technology than ever before. Staying power is vital for innovation.

Long-term 11

Long-term Innovation Company IPO 11

Harvard Business Review

JULY 17, 2017

Despite rapid innovations in data processing and machine learning, many businesses have yet to make the leap from the Industrial Age to the information age, and the gap between technological and organizational progress is widening. Closing this gap requires much more than short-term fixes, like adopting new technologies.

Industry 13

Industry Short-term Planning Long-term 13

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. Uber’s value is estimated between $48 and $70 billion, despite reporting losses over the last two years.

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

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

SEPTEMBER 19, 2014

The 70-year-old will stay on as the software giant’s executive chairman and also its chief technology officer — the latter title a formalization of a role he was already playing. And of the remarkable tech IPO class of 1986, which included Adobe, EMC, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems, Oracle has been the best performer.

Company 8

Company Chief Technology Officer IPO CEO 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 30, 2017

This occurs when the founder’s leadership skills hit a limit, inhibiting the ability of the company to go to the next stage. In February Kalanick wrote an internal memo indicating that he needed more leadership help, having reached the limits of his ability, hence this week’s announcement of a new CEO.

CEO 12

CEO IPO Energy COO 12

Harvard Business Review

MAY 18, 2012

What we are witnessing, and participating in, is more than an IPO. The event will sanction Mark Zuckerberg's place in the pantheon of innovative entrepreneurs who built fortunes upon technologies that changed the world, or more precisely, that changed the way people experienced and lived in the world. It's a collective rite.

IPO 10

IPO Charisma Fashion Follow-up 10

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. Voltaire got the technology down pat but struggled with selling a product that enterprise customers were leery of. Sale is a big part of scale.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur IPO Open-book Marketing 8

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 4, 2016

Based on a recent sample of more than 2,600 VC-backed technology firms in the San Francisco Bay Area, we found that 45% of founder-CEOs of surviving companies are displaced by the completion of a Series C investment round. That means 55% of them remain at the helm while their company scales.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Sample IPO Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 2, 2016

How should leaderships invest to make their users – not just their platforms – measurably better? Before the company’s $155 billion IPO in 2014 — the largest initial public offering in history — he observed, “we want to help small businesses grow by solving their problems.”

IPO 8

IPO Human Capital Insurance Business Model 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

JULY 27, 2017

This meant that the company was leaving out huge innovation potential — thousands of startups with billions of funding — that could help BMW innovate anything from core vehicle technology (batteries, sensors, artificial intelligence software) to manufacturing innovations (internet of things, cybersecurity, robotics).

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Meyer Innovation Fixed Costs 8

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 21, 2011

Now, I'm excited by the rise of Facebook, the IPO of LinkedIn, and all the latest successes from the startup world. It's worth noting that the debate over this post takes place during IBM's centennial celebration. It's great stuff.

IPO 15

IPO Engineering Taylorism Taylor 15

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 6, 2014

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. Zhou departed in 2005 and went on to found Qihoo 360 Technology, a $12 billion company that now trades on NASDAQ.

Chief Financial Officer 10

Chief Financial Officer Operations Learning-by-Doing IPO 10

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, doing IPO is not only an expensive proposition, it also consumes managerial time and energy.

IPO 11

IPO Company First-mover Advantage Intangible Assets 11

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 19, 2011

The news had just hit that Danny Lewin — the co-founder of Akamai Technologies, its charismatic CTO, a former commando in the Israeli Special Forces, and MIT mathematics genius who led the company from a math class to an IPO and a market cap of $30 billion — had suddenly died. No one was crying, but they wanted to.

CTO 10

CTO Lewin IPO Mentor 10

Harvard Business Review

JUNE 1, 2015

For many consumer tech companies, this post-IPO pressure on financial returns is too high. What compels these companies to IPO prematurely is that they need to provide a liquidity event for their institutional investors, and sometimes for their founders or early employees. They need to maintain their leadership in the mobile space.

IPO 8

IPO Company Maturity Short-term 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 12, 2017

Yet in this short period, digital technologies have upended our world. Digital technology is widespread and spreading fast. Digital technologies are poised to change the future of work. Automation, big data, and artificial intelligence enabled by the application of digital technologies could affect 50% of the world economy.

Innovation 8

Innovation Policies Technology Politics 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 4, 2015

For example, Qualcomm’s CDMA mobile technology was a breakthrough that led to its IPO in 1991. But it was exploiting this technology’s growth potential some years later that put Irwin Jacobs in our top 10 tech CEOs between 1995 and 2014. billion company in 1995 to an $11 billion dollar company in 2014.

CEO 8

CEO Innovation Pharmaceuticals Merchandising 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. Unlike Mr. Icahn, I do not write to you as an Apple shareholder (I hold no Apple shares).

Innovation 11

Innovation EPS Incentives Supply Chain 11

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 14, 2014

The company, founded in 1996 by an engineer from Xerox’s legendary Palo Alto Research Center , Pradeep Sindhu (who remains its chief technology officer and vice chairman), was one of the highest flyers of the fin de siècle tech stock boom. attempt to change the leadership and strategic direction of the company. Maybe it’s both.

Hedge 8

Hedge Chief Technology Officer Maturity IPO 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 14, 2014

Alibaba, the Chinese internet titan that filed for an IPO in the U.S. last week, could be the largest tech IPO in history. Like conglomerates, Alibaba’s businesses have separate boards, and even separate technology teams and platforms. But Alibaba doesn’t look much like Facebook, Google, or even Amazon.

IPO 12

IPO Welch Strategy Long-term 12