Harvard Business Review

NOVEMBER 30, 2011

Yelp's IPO filing comes hot on the heels of successful IPOs and high valuations for Angie's List and Groupon. Yelp's timing reflects both a tech-friendly market and the company's current position as the dominant consumer-review web site. Yelp is relevant only to the extent that it affects readers' choices of where to go.

IPO 15

IPO Business Model Review Advertising 15

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. In fact, we are really losing a lot of money.". The company's product is not more valuable to users as more people adopt the platform.

Christensen 22

Christensen Fixed Costs Metrics Business Model 22

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 26, 2011

A star example is Google, which raised a mere $40 million in private funding before its IPO at a $23 billion valuation. While there has not been a defining exit in clean energy akin to the "Netscape moment" for the internet, there have been numerous recent IPOs in the biofuels sector.

Energy 15

Energy Finance IPO Biotechnology 15

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 27, 2018

stock exchanges has declined by almost 50% from its peak in 1996, despite dramatic increase in aggregate market capitalization. They operate as lean organizations, using cloud and internet-based infrastructure, and launch and distribute products more quickly than did firms that competed with factories, warehouses, inventories, and suppliers.

IPO 14

IPO Company First-mover Advantage Intangible Assets 14

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 31, 2014

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? WordPress operates as an open-source ecosystem with a venture-backed corporation, Automattic , at its heart. The company has piles of money — $3.6

Marketing 13

Marketing IPO Venture Capitalist Fashion 13

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 1, 2011

Microfinance has come under fire in the past 18 months, triggered in part by SKS Microfinance's IPO. Critics complain that the institutions supporting microfinance have become too greedy, and many are using this as an argument to deeply regulate or, even more, cut support to microfinance operations.

Microfinance 15

Microfinance IPO Bottom-up Finance 15

Harvard Business Review

JULY 11, 2018

To focus on businesses that are closer in spirit to the prototypical high-tech startup, we used a variety of indicators: whether the firm was granted a patent, received VC investment, or operated in an industry that employs a high fraction of STEM workers. These highest-performing firms were identified based on employment growth.

Succession 16

Succession IPO Entrepreneur Biotechnology 16

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. For these professionals, a future IPO is outweighed by today’s OPI — the opportunity for positive impact.

Motivation 14

Motivation IPO Norton Open-book 14

Harvard Business Review

DECEMBER 30, 2014

The M&A markets are frothy, corporations are investing in Silicon Valley labs, and even PhDs looking for jobs in business schools are finding it tough to find homes without “innovation” somewhere in their background. But it’s an idea that demands attention, investment, and a long view of the market.

Long-term 14

Long-term Innovation Company IPO 14

Harvard Business Review

MAY 10, 2011

Consider Zipcar, whose recent IPO valued the 11-year old company at over $1 billion. The company came from nowhere into a rental car business dominated by giants such as Hertz and Avis, creating a new market of by-the-hour rentals. They want data, even though data on non-existent markets is inherently fictional.

Venture Capitalist 15

Venture Capitalist Venture Funding Entrepreneur IPO 15

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 6, 2014

At the time, though, we were just in search of a new approach to building a sustainable business in that critical but often difficult market. In fact, you could say (and many did) that our previous attempts had failed, in that we hadn’t established a sustained market position. Things hadn’t gone well up until that point.

Chief Financial Officer 14

Chief Financial Officer Learning-by-Doing Operations IPO 14

Harvard Business Review

JULY 17, 2017

Eastman Kodak is the textbook case for failing to prioritize an innovation agenda; business schools around the world study the ramifications of the company’s ill-fated decision to ignore the digital photography market until it was too late. Some industries, like photography and media, were impacted earlier.

Industry 16

Industry Short-term Planning Long-term 16

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 7, 2017

But with the departures of a number of high-level HR leaders in late 2016, head of operations Ryan Graves largely took on the head HR role in addition to his other duties. 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 18

Compliance Hedge Human Capital Finance 18

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.

Management 15

Management IPO Diversity Long-term 15

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 28, 2014

billion IPO valuation in 2013) can be attributed to its continued focus on that target. Using brand personality in this way is not simply about developing creative communications; it’s about infusing every aspect of your operations with your unique character. Branding Marketing Strategy' How – personality.

Brand 13

Brand IPO Marketing Strategy Airlines 13

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. But corporate leaders today seem to agree that strategic alignment is high on the list.

Banking 15

Banking Strategy Film Operations 15

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 9

Price IPO Discount Bottom-up 9

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

OCTOBER 15, 2018

They therefore seek investors who understand their initial losses and can facilitate secondary rounds of funding when their operations grow. Gone is the heyday of the 1990s when firms with simply an idea and little or no revenues could do an IPO. By the time, those opportunities reach public markets, if at all, they are fully priced.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist IPO Company Kleiner 8

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 10

Education Technology IPO GDP 10

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 15

Media IPO Reputation Follow-up 15

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 9

Brand Globalization Company Development 9

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 5, 2011

If you think about how new products and services are hatched and brought to market today, it isn't usually the doing of just one entity — least of all the corporate R&D labs that once served as our engines of tomorrow. But we also bet it isn't your usual perspective on the world of VCs and IPO lawyers. First, why is it a sector?

Entrepreneur 15

Entrepreneur Innovation Intellectual Capital Mission Statement 15

Harvard Business Review

AUGUST 20, 2018

Because the amount of customer discovery and product-market fit you need to find is inversely proportional to the amount and availability of risk capital. Tech IPO prices and subsequent trading prices were disconnected from revenue and profits. IPOs dried up. It’s the antithesis of the lean startup. And it may work.

IPO 8

IPO First-mover Advantage Business Model Agility 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 9

Company Intangible Assets Depreciation IPO 9

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 30, 2018

Dara Khosrowshahi, the CEO of Uber, the ride-sharing giant, proudly declared on September 10 that “very few brands become verbs” The same week Upwork, a platform for hiring freelancers, filed for an IPO, as did Fiverr , which boasts that it offers a “freelance services marketplace for the lean entrepreneur.”

Quinn 14

Quinn Entrepreneur IPO Survey 14

Harvard Business Review

OCTOBER 7, 2016

Few things are more damaging to a brand’s reputation than a hack in the headlines, and in the event of a public security incident, it’s highly likely that the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and the Chief Security Officer (CSO) will be the first people the CEO looks to and says “What do we do now?”

Planning 13

Planning Company Crisis Brand 13

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 24, 2017

Then, via price dynamics determined by market supply and demand, the value is settled on by the network of participants, rather than by a central authority or government. As of March 2017, the market capitalization of the ether token was more than $4 billion.). Insight Center. Business in the Era of Blockchain.

Venture Capitalist 15

Venture Capitalist Due Diligence Finance Long-term 15

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 example, it is nearly impossible for scaling ventures in many countries, including Brazil and Denmark, to count on an IPO for a successful exit. Even better.

Entrepreneur 10

Entrepreneur IPO Incentives Venture Capitalist 10

Harvard Business Review

APRIL 18, 2014

The company was hell-bent on entering a new market but knew it had to automate its warehouse to do so. 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. BlueArc’s new product hit the market and was an instant success.

CFO 8

CFO Venture Funding IPO Retail 8

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. Other risk-mitigation strategies .

Career 10

Career Company IPO Christensen 10

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 12

Company Ries Maturity Innovation 12

Harvard Business Review

MAY 24, 2013

In the book, I tell the stories of scale-up entrepreneurs from around the world, and how they beat the odds to make a mark on their markets. 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.

Entrepreneur 8

Entrepreneur IPO Open-book Marketing 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 15

Case Study Franchising Health Care Follow-up 15

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 28, 2016

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. Around the world, though, many countries still have domestic payment networks that operate as not-for-profit platforms. Now they are very focused on making money.

IPO 8

IPO Succession Technology Software 8

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. He invested in training his staff, but that backfired as those individuals then became more marketable and moved on.

Venture Capitalist 8

Venture Capitalist IPO Entrepreneur Banking 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