Entrepreneurship
March 2023
Finance for Entrepreneurial Companies: Financing Instruments – Technical Note (Spanish language)
By John Mullins, Robert M Johnson, Steve Pesenti
Brand valuation is the process of estimating the financial value of a brand. The valuation of brands as intangible assets emerged in the 1980s, when brands were first capitalized on post-M&A balance sheets. Brands are also valued for non-reporting purposes...
February 2023
Cree (C)
By John Mullins, Elizabeth Philp
Another four years had passed, and it was now April 2018. After two attempts to shut down the venture totally, Hubert Rhomberg’s father Walter-Heinz presented Hubert with an opportunity to buy their cash-burning company, CREE, for €1. CREE had been “his baby” for the better part of a decade,...
February 2023
Cree (B)
By John Mullins, Elizabeth Philp
After having been spun out of the family business, CREE’s progress had been disappointing, to say the least. Despite the fact that two towers had been built using CREE’s innovative approach, and to considerable acclaim, it was proving difficult to sell additional projects. The result was that CR...
February 2023
Cree (A)
By John Mullins, Elizabeth Philp
Hubert Rhomberg was contemplating the wall of photographs at the entrance to the headquarters of his family business, Rhomberg. They showed the history of the company and his forefathers. With such rich heritage, should he really be pushing for innovation so strongly? But if he didn’t, he would be...
September 2022
Feedr (B)
By Gary Dushnitsky, Kathryn Larin
The case describes the journey of Riya Grover and Lyz Swanton (MBAs from HBS and LBS respectively) who launched, scaled and sold London-based startup Feedr during the second half of 2010. Feedr introduced a sustainable solution offering nutritionally healthy food by leveraging technology to drive pe...
September 2022
Feedr (A)
By Gary Dushnitsky, Kathryn Larin
The case describes the journey of Riya Grover and Lyz Swanton as they launched, scaled and sold London-based startup Feedr during the second half of 2010. Feedr provided nutritionally healthy food to the workplace by leveraging technology to drive personalisation in choice and scale. Case A follo...
June 2022
Anne Boden at Starling Bank: Disrupting an industry
By Herminia Ibarra, Luisa Alemany, Nick Mickshik, Ken Mark
The case describes the start-up and evolution of UK-based digital bank Starling. Founded in 2014, Starling offered personal and business accounts, and lending products, promising a better customer-service experience, faster approvals and a more digital-friendly approach than traditional banks. By 20...
March 2022
Refinitiv: A private equity-led transformation
By Julian Birkinshaw, David Craig
In August 2019 CEO David Craig was considering the likely benefits and challenges of merging his company, financial-markets data and infrastructure provider Refinitiv, with the London Stock Exchange Group. Craig had led a turnaround of Thomson Reuters’ Financial & Risk division (F&R), then...
February 2022
TrueLayer: Innovation, regulation and the future of financial services
By Julian Birkinshaw, Ken Mark, Farhan Lalji
In April 2021, having just raised $70 million in a Series D funding, Francesco Simoneschi, Co-Founder and CEO of TrueLayer, was thinking about expansion plans. Should the company focus on product innovation, broadening its line-up within the 13 countries in which it operated, or should it look to gr...
November 2021
Patrick McGinnis
By John Mullins, Jeremy Hughes, Tiffany Putimahtama
The case analyses the scenario facing Paddy McGiness, the sole founder of Breathe coffee shop in Hays, Kansas, as he seeks to launch his new business without seeking any external financing. The case explores the various mindsets that characterise many entrepreneurs and uses Mullins' texts 'The Count...