Stanford Graduate School of Business (USA)
-
Qualtrics: Scaling an Inside-Sales Organization
Patell, J; Quigless, M; Bowman, KCase SGSB-E503-EEntrepreneurshipCEO, Ryan Smith and the rest of the founding team at Qualtrics grew the company to 350 employees and an estimated $50M in revenue through an inside-sales model. After ten years of bootstrapping however, the company took on $70M in funding from prominent venture capital funds. With this milestone, the team faced a new inflection point in the company’s growth. To support the next phase of evolution, Smith brought in John D’Agostino as the new H...Starting at €8.20
-
Nova Pioneer in 2019: Becoming a Pan-African School System
Ciesinski, Stephen; Rosen, Howard; Kavanaugh, BlakeCase SGSB-E706-EEntrepreneurshipNova Pioneer was a private school system in South Africa and Kenya that offered preschool through secondary education for students ranging in age from 3 to 19. The earliest of Nova Pioneer’s precursors was Pioneer Academies, founded in South Africa by Chinezi Chijioke in 2013. Pioneer was started to offer the affordable, quality education needed to develop Africa’s next generation of leaders and innovators. In 2015, Pioneer Academies merged with ...Starting at €8.20
-
Cumplo in 2019: Regulated Growth Across the Americas
Ciesinski, Stephen; Rosen, Howard; Kavanaugh, BlakeCase SGSB-E707-EEntrepreneurshipNico Shea founded Cumplo in 2011 to enable peer-to-peer lending for consumers before changing the company’s focus to small-to-medium businesses (SMBs). Cumplo was a financial technology (“fintech”) company that provided a platform for SMBs applying for a loan to be matched with investors willing to fund that loan. The platform further differentiated itself among SMBs by allowing companies to use unpaid invoices as collateral. Despite significant ...Starting at €8.20
-
Qualtrics: Bootstrapping Growth
LevavJ; Quigless, MCase SGSB-SM224-EStrategyIn March 2012 the founders of Qualtrics sat together in the Provo, Utah, office of advisor Duff Thompson. They stared down one of the toughest decisions in the ten-year history of the company. Thompson and Qualtrics’ CEO Ryan Smith had spent the last few months fielding calls from venture capitalists and strategic partners who were interested in becoming a part of the Qualtrics story. The culmination of their effort was a $500 million buyout o...Starting at €8.20
-
eBay's "Connected Technologies": Innovating Customer Engagement in the Retail Industry
Nair, H; Hoyt, DCase SGSB-M349-EMarketing, StrategyIn 2013 and 2014, eBay deployed several sets of large, interactive touch screens and related technologies in shopping malls and retail stores. These “connected technologies” were used in a variety of ways intended to benefit both shoppers and retailers. In one case, screens served as “digital storefronts” in four locations throughout New York City for a new fashion brand, Kate Spade Saturday. Shoppers could evaluate products using the screen...Starting at €8.20
-
Squirrel AI: Learning by Scaling
Ciesinski, Stephen; Conn, JeffreyCase SGSB-E-666-EEntrepreneurshipThis case provides an overview of the founding and scaling of Chinese artificial intelligence-enabled adaptive learning company Squirrel AI. The case details founder Derek Haoyang Li’s struggles to build and scale a comprehensive cutting-edge product and accompanying business model for China’s large and growing after-school education industry.Starting at €8.20
-
Paga: Ending Cash’s Reign in Emerging Markets
Ciesinski, Stephen; Montgomery, LucyCase SGSB-E748-EEntrepreneurshipTayo Oviosu founded Paga in 2009 to make life possible for the millions of Nigerians who operated in a cash-first environment. Paga helped users send money through peer-to-peer transactions, pay utility bills, and store money in a digital wallet. Paga launched a valuable human agent network throughout Nigeria, which enabled the company to build trust with customers and grow its user base significantly. By November 2020, Paga had over 26,000 agent...Starting at €8.20
-
MarketForce: Building an Operating System for Merchants in Africa
Ciesinski, Stephen; Montgomery, LucyCase SGSB-E809-EEntrepreneurshipTesh Mbaabu started MarketForce to help bring technology to the thousands of Kenyan merchants who ran corner shops that were often a centerpiece of their communities. MarketForce began as an inventory ordering platform for merchants, but has quickly evolved into a comprehensive operating system that merchants can use to unlock new revenue streams and grow their businesses. The team has expanded from Kenya into four new African countries and hope...Starting at €8.20