Stanford Graduate School of Business (USA)
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A Note on Getting the Most Out of Your Board Meetings
Dodson, D; Pohlmeyer, SCase SGSB-E631-EEntrepreneurshipIn your first year as chief executive officer (CEO), you will encounter a host of management challenges and opportunities—all of which can be navigated more skillfully if you can tap into the insights and perspectives of a handful of seasoned operators and investors. For this reason, your board can have a significant impact on the company’s performance. Unfortunately, CEOs often get far less value out of their boards in the first few years than...Starting at €8.20
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Lazier Industries
Ellis, Jim; Harrington, SeanCase SGSB-E-283-EEntrepreneurshipBob Lazier was the CEO of his family's business that manufactured high quality components used primarily in laundry machines. Despite LI's strong overall financial standing, Lazier was worried about a plateau in sales over the past six months and wondered if it had been a hiring mistake to bring on Scott Hawthorne as VP of sales. To complicate matters, Hawthorne's supervisor-the newly-promoted SVP of sales and marketing-was potentially compoundin...Starting at €8.20
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Branch Metrics: "Failing" into the Idea
Mandelbaum, F; Pohlmeyer, SCase SGSB-E586-EEntrepreneurshipThis case explores the Branch Metrics’ cofounders’ early days as a team and their pursuit of a viable idea for their startup. The three original cofounders, who met in business school, transformed their business concept entirely several times before finding the idea for Branch Metrics. Starting with a fitness collar for dogs, then starting over with developing a mobile application for low-cost, high-quality photobooks, and ultimately developing a...Starting at €8.20
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2016 Search Fund Study: Selected Observations
Kelly, P; Dodson, D; Grousheck, IH; Pohlmeyer, S; Rosenthal, SCase SGSB-E605-EEntrepreneurshipSince 1996, the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies (CES) at the Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) has conducted a series of studies on the performance of search funds. These studies endeavor to gather data and gain insight into all known search funds. The studies aggregate the characteristics of search funds, present their principals’ backgrounds, and evaluate the investment returns generated by first-time search funds to their origina...Starting at €8.20
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Yobella
Ellis, Jim; Randolph, JustinCase SGSB-E484-EEntrepreneurshipThe case profiles the protagonist, Luke Tashie, CEO of Yobella — a self-serve frozen yogurt retail chain that Tashie acquired via a search fund — as the company struggles post-acquisition. The case provides an overview of Luke Tashie’s background, his motivation and subsequent capitalization of a search fund, the identification of the Yobella acquisition, and post-acquisition business challenges. As Tashie struggles to maintain financial viab...Starting at €8.20
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Smitten Ice Cream: Serving Joy
Saloner, Garth; Ellis, Jim; Conn, JeffreyCase SGSB-E-663-EEntrepreneurshipThis case examines the founding story California ice cream chain Smitten Ice Cream and CEO and Founder Robyn Sue Fisher, who invented a liquid nitrogen-fueled ice cream machine which mixes the world’s smoothest ice cream. Students will be confronted with numerous common entrepreneurial issues including prototyping, dealing with failure, discovering product-market fit, hiring, financing, and scaling organizations.Starting at €8.20
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FanGo
Ellis, Jim; Strabo, JackCase SGSB-E743-EEntrepreneurshipThis case details the challenges Collin Wallace faced at FanGo, a mobile ordering technology company that he founded based on technology that he developed as a college student. The case explores critical decisions that Wallace had to make, including in which market to apply his technology, whether to pivot to another market, and whether to sell his company to a strategic acquirer.Starting at €8.20
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Carlypso (B): Pumping the Brakes
Ellis, Jim; Nakache, Patricia; Montgomery, LucyCase SGSB-E546B-EEntrepreneurshipAfter graduating from Stanford Graduate School of Business, Nicholas Heinrichsen and Christopher Coleman launched Carlypso, a peer-to-peer marketplace for selling used cars. Carlypso hoped to disrupt the $400 billion used car market by making it easier and more convenient for both sellers and buyers. However, Carlypso ran into difficulty trying to scale its operations, and pivoted to a reverse auction model, where Carlypso worked with leasing and...Starting at €5.74
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HealthCo
Ellis, Jim; Mansfield, ImogenCase SGSB-E762-EEntrepreneurshipThis case follows the decision of two Stanford Graduate School of Business classmates, Heather Fernandez and Daniele Farnedi, to start a company together. It explores the criteria they used to assess ideas, how the pair identified an opportunity in consumer health care, and how they started testing urgent care clinic software concept. The case culminates with making a go or no-go decision.Starting at €8.20