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In 2014, Mar Hershenson and Pejman Nozad teamed up to form Pear VC, a venture capital firm that invested in start-ups spanning three stages of company development: 1) pre-seed, which Pear termed "soil"; 2) seed; and 3) Series A. The duo had known each other for well over a decade before creating Pear VC. And while they have very different backgrounds-Hershenson had founded several companies after receiving her PhD in electrical engineering, while Nozad had invested in dozens of successful start-ups as an angel investor after immigrating to the United States from Iran-they shared the same deep-rooted mission of helping early-stage start-ups succeed. Along with financial capital, Pear provided its portfolio companies with the tools, network, support, and mentorship needed to grow their businesses. Hershenson and Nozad took great pride in Pear's high-touch, values-driven approach, which they deemed "partnering" rather than "investing." The two spent significant time helping start-ups develop into sustainable, category-defining companies, whether that meant assisting with an operating plan, introducing founders to potential employees, or connecting teams with experts in a given industry. The "Pear VC" case explores the myriad challenges associated with forming and growing a seed-stage venture capital firm, from raising a fund, to aligning on investment criteria, to scaling the business.

"Mesosphere: Creating Lasting Value on Top of Open Source Software" explores the challenges associated with building a company on top of open source software. In 2013, Florian Leibert, Ben Hindman, and Tobias Knaup founded Mesosphere. By combining proprietary software products with an open source software called Apache Mesos, Mesosphere developed a single platform called the datacenter operating system (DC/OS). With the DC/OS, companies could easily deploy, operate, and scale workloads and applications across multiple servers in a datacenter. In an era of big data analysis and software containers, companies were thrilled to find a solution that simplified the management of these complex services. For Mesosphere's co-founders, there was little doubt that Apache Mesos and the DC/OS could provide tremendous value to thousands of enterprises around the globe. However, the trio faced several challenges associated with building a successful organization on top of a free, open source product. Specific obstacles addressed in the case include: building and managing open source software communities; understanding distinct customers and customer needs; creating products (and a product release schedule) aligned with customer needs; determining how to monetize Mesosphere's products and services; aligning on what product features to open source (versus what features to make proprietary); and responding to major competitive threats.

"Keyssa: Unraveling the Laws of Physics" explores the challenges associated with growing a start-up around a brand new technology. In October 2012, Eric Almgren became CEO of Keyssa. Founded in 2009, Keyssa reinvented the physical connector, an essential component in every computing and mobile device around the globe. Using a novel technology called Kiss Connectivity, Keyssa enabled contactless, wireless, secure, instant data flows within and between devices, while freeing product designers from the constraints of bulky but fragile metal connectors. Almgren was confident that this technology would have a huge impact on the next generation of mobile and computing devices. However, he faced several challenges in his efforts to grow Keyssa. Specific obstacles addressed include: replacing an existing CEO; raising money in a challenging fundraising environment; aligning on the company's go-to-market strategy; determining the right approach with regard to industry standards; and assessing opportunities outside of Keyssa's core computing and mobile markets. To Almgren and the Keyssa team, there was little doubt about the endless opportunities for Keyssa's revolutionary technology. Yet they also knew that it was only a matter of time before competitors would develop market ready products across multiple industries. Against that backdrop, Keyssa would need to continue innovating for the customers and industries that mattered most.

This case explores the transformation of a company, ComplexAminos, from a failing start-up to a successful organization preparing for a liquidity event. After conducting a six-year turnaround strategy, the CEO needed to decide whether the company should go public or be sold. During the turnaround, the company adopted a roll-up strategy to grow quickly. This case explores such issues as when roll-ups are appropriate and how the CEO gained the funding and board support to successfully implement the strategy.

As Box continued to mature as a company, the firm fought through the ups and downs of being a highly visible hyper-growth Silicon Valley firm. Box struggled to get its IPO completed, having to deal simultaneously with a volatile stock market and increased scrutiny of its SaaS business model. In parallel, the company worked to aggressively expand its business into large enterprises through a key partnership with IBM, all while working to grow its top line, keep costs in line with targets and retain top talent.

This case profiles the journey of protagonist Tim Harkness through his many entrepreneurial pursuits. It chronicles his early career and how a bout of serendipity landed him a job in the life sciences tools industry. From there, Harkness went on to lead another life sciences tools company, and transformed the company from an under-performing venture-backed start-up to a profitable multi-product firm. After four acquisitions, a failed sales process, and filing for IPO, Harkness eventually sold the firm for a record multiple for the industry. Shortly after the sale, the firm's new acquirers fired Harkness. This was devastating for Harkness, but before long he was already planning his next business venture. Harkness planned to have the new enterprise replicate the strategy he had employed successfully in the previous two companies he worked for. However, after one of his investors pulled out, he struggled to find replacements for the unique business concept. He began to question whether this was the right time to pursue this endeavor.

By 2015 Google's Android operating system had been deployed on over one billion units worldwide. The firm had been happy with the high market segment share achieved on mobile phones, but new challenges were arising: advances by traditional competitors such as Apple and Facebook, potential fragmentation of the Android OS, new market dynamics in China and India, and the complexity of managing a large organization which sometimes had diverging goals in different product groups. This case explores how Google confronted the strategic opportunities facing the company around Android, including maintaining strong performance while being nimble enough to expand into new markets.

The Medium Corporation seeks to change how people author, consume and engage with content on the Internet. Founded by Ev Williams, co-founder of Blogger and Twitter, the company developed a digital publishing platform and set of social network tools that allow people to spend substantive time with weighty issues facing society, business and politics. Fighting the trend of quick engagement with short-form content on the Internet, Medium wrestles with how to deliver an experience that advances important topics with ease, flexibility and meaning, while working to build a large and successful company. The challenges of building a successful digital media company, balancing tool development with content curation, and organizing a firm in the 21st century are at the core topics facing the firm's leadership team.

CODE2040 was founded by Tristan Walker and Laura Weidman Powers to create pathways to success for blacks and Latinos in the technology and entrepreneurship sector by providing mentoring and coaching for students beginning their careers. Over the course of the case Weidman Powers wrestles with finding funding for the organization, growing and building a team in a mission-driven organization, and also with her limitations as a first-time CEO. In addition, the team discovers how to take advantage of the changing conversation in the technology industry for minorities, and how they are able to use the dynamic market conditions to drive their efforts.

The Wikimedia Foundation is responsible for supporting Wikipedia and various other projects through administration, technical and financial support. Since its founding, Wikipedia has changed the way people around the world research information by allowing individuals to document and write history in a collaborative and decentralized fashion. The case follows Lila Tretikov as she takes on her new role as the Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, and how she and the organization have to balance fundraising, technology development and managing an organization through influence and strategy.

This short case discusses the process of Life Technologies' acquisition by Thermo Fisher in 2013 and 2014. The case is a complement to SM-209A and SM-209B, which highlight the various growth and acquisition strategies the company undertook over the previous 10 years.

Mariam Naficy (Minted CEO) and Melissa Kim (Minted COO) have grown the company to become a leader in the online printed cards, independent design and art market segments. As the business has continued to scale they wrestle with simultaneously growing their existing business while also looking at expanding into new markets, all the while keeping their existing customer base engaged. The case highlights the difficult decisions management faces in deciding where to pursue growth opportunities when choices might be overly abundant.

The case follows AngelList, an online platform connecting entrepreneurs with investors, as it searches for product/market fit and business models. Founded in 2010 by entrepreneurs Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi, AngelList begins as a project to give back to the start-up community. Ravikant and Nivi write a blog that provides founders with advice and then build AngelList to give them access to investors. However, investors often have incentives to interact with entrepreneurs using traditional modes of communication in order to protect their access to top startups, limiting trackable activities and outcomes on AngelList.

It was 2005 and David Steiner, CEO of Waste Management (WM), had just received a report from an internal advisory panel created some months before to assess the future of the waste management industry and propose how the company's strategy should be adapted. The core of this report was the recommendation to create a special unit within the company, chartered with the central purpose of identifying ways to extract value from waste through new and innovative waste technologies.

An update of Google's Android operating system since 2009. The case discusses the incredible success and market growth of Android and its impact on the global mobile market. Google adeptly added features and functions to make the OS competitive with Apple, as well as fleshing out its relationships with OEMs. Additionally, the company successfully brought partners and content into the Android ecosystem to make a richer experience for customers.

An update to First Solar (A), this case highlights changes to the solar energy market between 2010 and 2013 and the resulting challenges that First Solar had to overcome. In addition to increased competition from highly subsidized Chinese manufacturers, First Solar lost its pricing advantage due to a steep decline in material costs for the competing solar cell technology, c-Sci. The 2008 global financial crisis spurred a dramatic decline in demand from subsidy markets, further intensifying competition. Within First Solar, the management team went through substantial turnover and was sharply divided over what the company's core strategy should be. Good financial discipline and several key business model decisions kept First Solar solvent. Through acquisitions, the company developed a competitive advantage in the systems business and pivoted away from subsidy markets, pursuing more sustainable markets elsewhere. Finally, First Solar hedged its bet on technology, adding c-Sci, the competing solar cell technology, to its portfolio through an acquisition. These shifts helped to restore optimism and position First Solar to resume a leadership role.

Flibe Energy is a startup in the nuclear power space seeking to find a safe way to enable nuclear energy using a technology previously dismissed by the US government since it could not be used for making material for nuclear weapons. The founders believe they have found a way to create safe, clean energy using a proven but forgotten technology. The challenges are steep, however, as proof of the technology will require hundreds of millions of dollars in funding.

On June 12, 2008, Invitrogen and Applied Biosystems announced plans to merge. The combined company was to be renamed Life Technologies (NASDAQ: LIFE). Invitrogen offered to acquire Applied Biosystems for $6.7 billion in cash and stock. AB shareholders would receive $38 per share in cash and stock, representing a 17 percent premium over the share's closing price on Wednesday, June 11, 2008.

Founded in 1987, Invitrogen was one of the largest catalog life science companies in the industry. Its customers came from academic research, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and government laboratories. Scientists viewed Invitrogen as a one-stop shop for all major molecular biology, biochemistry and cell culture reagent products, with prices ranging from a hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars.

This article presents the "strategy diamond," which extends received strategic management theory by integrating the positional view and the resource-based view, the formulation and implementation of strategy, and the firm's internal selection environment into one relatively simple conceptual framework of dynamic forces driving firm evolution. The article suggests that this framework can be helpful in stimulating further research to drive towards a dynamic theory of strategy. The strategy diamond facilitates understanding the dynamic interplays between strategy logic and strategy execution, and its jargon-free "natural language form" may facilitate strategic conversations and help inculcate a strategic mentality into organizations. This framework has been useful for senior executives in two major corporations. Four case studies highlight how the framework may help instill strategic discipline in high-technology ventures operating in extremely dynamic environments.