Walker & Company follows Tristan Walker, the GSB alumnus and Silicon Valley entrepreneur, as he searches for an idea around which to start a business. After a period of sifting through ideas and performing diligence on opportunities ranging from hair weaves for African American women to starting a bank, Walker found his calling-starting a consumer packaged goods (CPG) company for people of color. But this is where his journey only begins. From here, the case follows Walker as he leads the company through a series of growth stages, including setting up his board of directors and making key executive hires.

George Hausman, co-founder and CEO of Pleasanton, California-based Refresh Organics (fictional), was proud of the business he had built over the past 15 years. Along with a minority partner, Hausman had started Refresh as a distributor of organic produce sourced throughout California. The business had grown steadily, if not explosively, and was now a distributor for organic farms throughout the United States. Refresh's distribution revenues were on track to hit $40 million this year. Refresh Organics also has a lucrative juice business. As the business grows, Hausman wonders if and how he ought to expand his ad hoc board of family and friends into a "real" board (vignette 1). He also wonders whom to add and whether the group of ten he has assembled is 'right' (vignette 2). Finally, Hausman has an opportunity to learn some best practices around how to deliver bad news to the board (vignette 3).