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

Strategy Driven

SEPTEMBER 4, 2018

When it comes to fulfilling this end, the usual route to going public involves an initial public offering , also known as an IPO. IPOs can confer great benefits on companies that are able to go through them. But IPOs also come with some steep costs and excessive risks. IPOs have huge costs and risks.

IPO 62

IPO Real Estate Cost Company 62

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 23, 2013

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. One person says that he can’t let himself think about an IPO. One sales manager, a former actor, recited Shakespeare at a customer meeting and won over skeptical executives.

Motivation 11

Motivation IPO Norton Open-book 11

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

operator of theme parks including SeaWorld and Busch Gardens, recently filed for an initial public offering (IPO). Best known for its aquatic shows featuring Shamu the killer whale , SeaWorld's IPO filing specifies that a key future growth strategy will be to "expand in-park per capita spending through new and enhanced offerings.by

Price 8

Price IPO Discount Bottom-up 8

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. Its value growth is powered by the network in place, not by increments of operating costs.

Company 8

Company Intangible Assets Depreciation 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. Instead, it operates more like GE. But Alibaba doesn’t look much like Facebook, Google, or even Amazon. The article, by J. Ramachandran, K.S.

IPO 12

IPO Welch Strategy Long-term 12

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 16, 2011

This is the essence of Groupon's declaration last week that it will remove the controversial accounting metric called Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income (ACSOI) from its financial statements. The best way to manage a fledgling business is for managers to be impatient for profit but patient for growth.

Christensen 19

Christensen Fixed Costs Metrics Venture Funding 19

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 2, 2013

Today’s model is using African diasporas where companies hire native Africans living abroad and then send them to the continent to expand their operations. 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. Education drives technology.

Education 8

Education Technology IPO GDP 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

DECEMBER 30, 2014

But sometimes, executives manage to overcome all of these structural challenges and push the right types of ideas regardless of the barriers. 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.

Long-term 10

Long-term Innovation Company IPO 10

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 28, 2016

Both associations managed their brands and ran the clearing and settlement systems for banks that issued cards or helped merchants accept cards. Then the banks decided to turn the associations into for-profit companies, IPO them, and cash out. MasterCard IPO’d in 2006, and Visa followed two years later.

IPO 8

IPO Succession Technology Software 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 30, 2012

With the JOBS Act , the rise of international accelerators , the upcoming Facebook IPO , and the mind-blowing $1 billion Instagram acquisition , you can be sure that droves of young, ambitious founders will be jumping on the start-up bandwagon. It's juggling to manage your team, customers, investors, and strategic partners all at once.

Ries 15

Ries IPO Entrepreneur Maturity 15

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 31, 2014

It’s still the users whose creating and sharing gives Twitter its value as a business, but their activities are now mostly channeled and managed by the company itself. billion in its 2013 IPO) that investors have plowed into it. Could Twitter have chosen not to follow the standard VC-to-IPO path that has brought it to this pass?

Marketing 9

Marketing IPO Venture Capitalist Fashion 9

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 4, 2016

But as a venture scales and becomes more complex , more operational and commercial sophistication is required to manage it. Also, there is a difference between managing scale and getting to scale. Founders tend to use their personal charisma and technical smarts to rally their teams, and that can work while a business is small.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Sample IPO Long-term 8

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 6, 2014

The solution, we decided, was to acquire a local company that had already gained traction in the market and that could provide us with proven local management as well as help us with web search, which had become a priority after we bought U.S. The company was owned by management, venture capitalists, and SoftBank.

Chief Financial Officer 10

Chief Financial Officer Operations Learning-by-Doing IPO 10

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 25, 2014

After five years, in 2004, Tickle was profitable with more than $20 million in revenue; it received an acquisition offer for $100 million, as well as IPO entreaties. The most important way to mitigate risk is to become excellent at either engineering, product, selling, or operations and management.

Career 8

Career Company IPO Christensen 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 24, 2015

The first category is exogenous factors over which the business has little control: the growth of the markets into which it sells; the competitive intensity and thus the average profitability of the industry in which it operates; or the fragmentation of its industry and thus the scope for a growth-by-acquisition approach.

Chemicals 8

Chemicals How To Kahneman Reputation 8

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 17, 2015

In managing the fallout from BP’s Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster in 2010, company Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg had to take over from CEO Tony Hayward, whose gaffes and public blaming of partners had only exacerbated the crisis. operations in favor of financial performance. Take the case of BP.

CFO 8

CFO Crisis Mass Marketing IPO 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 18, 2014

BlueArc’s devices were high-end, but its management believed it needed a mid-priced product to get it through the recession. However, cash flow from operations had shifted from positive to negative, the company’s cash pile was dwindling, and the new product would demand R&D investment.

CFO 8

CFO Venture Funding IPO Retail 8

Harvard Business Review

FEBRUARY 17, 2011

Nadathur's portfolio includes firms operating in drug discovery research, companion diagnostics, pharmaceutical analytics, reimbursement claims processing, patient relationship management, and specialty healthcare delivery for running clinical trials — and they all work together.

Marketing 15

Marketing Venture Capitalist Biotechnology IPO 15

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 13, 2015

With limited exit opportunities via initial public offers ( IPOs ) and acquisitions, smart young people understand that stock options rarely bring a big payday. It is a core continuity management strategy in a market scarce on technology talent. Entrepreneurship Talent management Employee retention Africa'

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist IPO Entrepreneur Banking 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 29, 2015

Brian Fitzpatrick joined Google as a senior software engineer in 2005, shortly after the company’s IPO. He had no formal authority as a leader, operating without any title or mandate. Also, all of his work was done outside the boundaries of strategic management practices within the organization.

Strategy 8

Strategy Power Idea Generation Project 8

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 7, 2016

” When a data breach happens, there is nothing worse than trying to figure out how to manage the crisis on the fly as it is still happening. Here’s a generalized scenario similar to cases we’ve experienced: A hot new mobile technology company lands one of the most successful IPOs of the year.

Planning 9

Planning Company Crisis Brand 9

Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 20, 2013

Beijing-based telecom security company NQ Mobile has gone so far as to create a separate headquarters in Texas for its developed-market business, managed by an American co-CEO and entirely comprised of American employees. 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

AUGUST 10, 2016

On August 1 Uber announced that it is selling its Chinese brand and operations to Didi Chuxing for $1 billion, its annual burn rate in that market, in exchange for a 20% stake in the local competitor. The $1 billion burn rate in China was reportedly holding up its IPO, not just its expansion in other parts of the world.

Network Economy 8

Network Economy Globalization Discount Constraint 8

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 10, 2013

I met Slovenian entrepreneur, Sandi Cesko, in 2007 when his Ljubljana -based multi-channel retail operation, Studio Moderna , had about $70 million in sales. For you entrepreneurs, the challenges of scale-up are first and foremost the responsibility of managements and boards. It is hell to manage.". Even better.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur IPO Incentives Venture Capitalist 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. two years later) to as it became clear that the ranks of potential customers weren’t going to keep growing exponentially as they had during the dot-com boom.

Hedge 8

Hedge Chief Technology Officer Maturity IPO 8

Harvard Business Review

MAY 24, 2013

It was the CEO''s incredible persistence (and experience) in all aspects of selling — sales organization, compensation, pipeline management, and selling skills — that not only saved Voltaire from oblivion, but eventually propelled it to a NASDAQ IPO. Without it, you will always be a mom-and-pop operation.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur IPO Open-book Marketing 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. You get this. We know you get this.

Entrepreneur 14

Entrepreneur Innovation Intellectual Capital Mission Statement 14

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 12, 2011

For organizations like Groupon, a reputation for integrity and fair trading is much of what their business is predicated upon, especially now that others are nipping at their heels in the world of discount deals and looking so carefully at their corporate structure as Groupon prepares for its IPO. Social media is a frontline service.

Media 14

Media IPO Reputation Follow-up 14

Harvard Business Review

MAY 30, 2013

A good management team will be dedicated to creating product market fit, otherwise the business will flounder. Investors are involved for the long haul, understanding that startup managers will have to experiment and fail along the way to a successful IPO. In a good start-up, these characteristics are not hard to find.

Company 9

Company Ries Maturity Innovation 9

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 10, 2013

Managers at companies like General Motors, Sears, and Eastman Kodak simply didn't have the tools to spot and respond to would-be disruptors. Behavior tracking and modification devices like the one produced by Fitbit have the potential to serve as powerful means to help with wellness and chronic disease management.

Trends 8

Trends Disruptive Innovation Christensen Business Model 8

Harvard Business Review

JULY 27, 2017

To fill the void and build such a new BMW startup unit, Gimmy partnered with an experienced innovation manager from BMW, Matthias Meyer. Third, corporate VCs and accelerators are costly and complex to operate, turning them into a slow and expensive innovation tool.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Meyer Innovation Fixed Costs 8

Harvard Business Review

SEPTEMBER 10, 2015

In 2014, for example, 18 IPOs raised a record-breaking $9.8 We selected this benchmark because it reflects the phase in which companies have proven product viability, achieved initial product/market fit, and are now expanding sales and growing more complex operations. billion, compared to just $1.2 billion in 2013.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist Entrepreneur Marketing IPO 8

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 9, 2010

His money would allow her to pursue a new, perhaps more comfortable, growth strategy, directly managing 10 new centers instead of franchising them as she'd done with 11 of the 12 existing locations. Why would an IPO be so bad? She found a bench and pulled the document out of her purse. Herzlinger is the Nancy R.

Case Study 13

Case Study Franchising Health Care Follow-up 13

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

JUNE 21, 2016

He’s just trying to manage the chaos and avoid catastrophe. In 2000, with more than $100 million in negative cash flow, the company agreed to be acquired by Star Cruises, a leading cruise operator in Asia. When they confront overload, managers often react in ways that put distance between themselves and the front line.

Company 9

Company IPO Price Loyalty 9