The summer of 2014 posed challenges for the food start-up, EazyMeals, which operated in the low-cost daily meals segment (lunch and dinner only), catering to the densely populated region of Indirapuram, in the Delhi National Capital Region. EazyMeals catered to the young millennial population of the area, who were looking for low-cost, fresh food that was served in a hygienic way. It also catered to local small businesses, who mostly ordered lunch, and senior citizens residing there, who mostly ordered lunch and dinner. The company’s founder was facing multiple challenges. First, he faced the problem of unit economics: his operating margins per order were barely sufficient to meet his operational fixed costs. Second, even though order volumes had surged, which could have cushioned the overall margins, the demand for quicker deliveries meant faster turnaround times in the kitchen, and this in turn meant investing more on staff and fixed costs to meet customer expectations. Third, he needed a way to bypass the food-ordering platforms (FoPs) that were providing a large chunk of his orders. They operated on a commission basis, which was further eating into his operating margins.
Instacart is an online grocery delivery platform that is seeking to go public through an initial public offering (IPO). Instacart has hired an investment bank to be its lead bookrunner, and the bank is responsible for coming up with an IPO price range. Maya Martinez, an investment banking analyst at the firm, has been tasked with building financial models to come up with an appropriate share range for the firm’s managing directors to present at the IPO roadshow.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, most foreign backpackers could no longer travel to Hong Kong, a trend that continued well into 2021 and adversely affected the operations of a local hostel in the Sham Shui Po neighbourhood. The own and founder of Wontonmeen, Patricia Choi, was exploring the feasibility of repositioning to attract new customers. To explore the repositioning decision, an online survey was conducted along with consumer interviews to better understand a new market opportunity. The data provided useful information about the feasibility of repositioning the hostel to attract local Hong Kong based consumers. Using the data, Choi had to explore the risks and benefits and make a decision on how to position her beloved hostel.
The Himalayan Chocolate is a start-up brainchild of Rohan Keshewar. Stuck in Manali during the Lockdown, Rohan stayed with a family in their homestay facility. While interacting with the host family, Rohan discovered that the locals had two primary sources of income: working at a nearby farm and tourism. Apart from that, they did not have any other source of livelihood. Owing to his skills in making chocolate, he made his first batch of chocolate for the host family using local food ingredients. It began the journey of The Himalayan Chocolate with a bit of start-up investment, raw chocolate, and unique local flavors. Rohan named the brand The Himalayan Chocolate to suggest a chocolate made by the Himalayan people using local ingredients.
The case outlines the key strategic challenges that the protagonist, the founder of a high-potential fintech start-up, is grappling with in his push for growth, which has started to plateau. It considers this strategic challenge in light of the tumultuous entrepreneurial journey and the various uncertainties entrepreneurs often have to navigate to ensure business continuity and the growth of the companies they launch.
The Calgary Social Value Fund (CSVF) was a newly created, student-run, impact investing fund working to make its first investment decision. The co-founder of CSVF was considering an investment in aGRO Systems Inc, a local, female-founded social enterprise that had been growing quickly and creating valuable impact in the community. aGRO Systems was deciding which growth strategy to pursue, and CSVF had to determine if it should invest in aGRO Systems—without knowing which growth strategy the organization would choose. The co-founder wanted to further assess aGRO Systems and evaluate its potential fit as a first investment for CSVF using the impact assessment tool developed for it.
Founded in 2021, Satvic Foods (Satvic) was a company based in Ujjain, India, offering organic, herbal-based food products to a wide range of customers. After only two and a half years since its inception, Satvic had shown tremendous growth, making profits three times the amount of its original investment. Given the high demand for Satvic’s products in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the business’s founder was planning to expand the business globally. However, to achieve international expansion, Satvic needed to develop an effective measure for dealing with cutthroat competition from several leading brands in the country. It also needed to elevate its branding and packaging for better recall in consumers’ minds. Finally, the company’s distribution network needed to be improved for attaining greater availability across markets.
Street Business School (SBS) employed an innovative social-franchise model aimed at providing entrepreneurship training to one million impoverished women worldwide. Originating as BeadforLife, a non-profit organization that connected women in Uganda who produced recycled paper jewellery with international markets, SBS developed a tailored entrepreneurship program while working with small groups of bead producers. With aspirations to expand globally and impact more women, SBS adopted a social franchising model and certified other organizations to implement its valuable approach and curriculum. However, generating earned income proved challenging, and SBS relied heavily on funds raised from individuals and philanthropic organizations. In addition, the organization faced the dilemma of balancing its focus on scalability and global expansion with the depth of impact it aimed to achieve. In January 2023, the chief executive officer (CEO) wondered what she should recommend to the board as the most appropriate business model for scaling SBS’s impact.
Zibusiso Mkhwanazi, chief executive officer of Avatar South Africa, looked out of his office window in Johannesburg. Mkhwanazi was contemplating whether he should stay at Avatar or move on to new things. This question was triggered by a media briefing that South Africa’s Minister of Health had just given in which he outlined the rollout for the COVID-19 vaccine. Avatar had been directly involved with the communication strategies the president of South Africa and the Ministry of Health used to reach the majority of the population in a country in which access to the internet was not equal. The work had been innovative, challenging, and a matter of life and death. Mkhwanazi had enjoyed and thrived on the work, and felt it had been the outstanding achievement of his career. Mkhwanazi had never stayed in a job when the job had stopped challenging him. He started his career when computer technology was disrupting the way organizations worked and communicated. Initially, he was motivated by money. However, he had achieved his goals and now had different motivations. At Avatar, he had helped develop a culture through faith-driven leadership, but Avatar no longer gave him the joy and fulfilment of working on the cutting edge of technology. His dilemma was whether he should stay at Avatar with the people he had come to love and care about, or leave to find something that would satisfy his passion for innovative and creative work.
Maria took a final glance at the company accounts, then closed her laptop. On New Year’s Eve of 2022, she had mixed emotions reflecting on the journey of the past two years. In just fifteen days, it would be Merafuture's two year anniversary as a registered company. 2020 and 2021 were anything but normal for the world, and it was no different for Merafuture. In August 2021, after struggling for the first year and a half, the company began to show progress by picking up sales when schools and colleges reopened across Pakistan. Yet, still operating at a loss, she wondered if the company could afford to stay afloat for another year while waiting to make a profit.
Online grocery shopping and two-sided platform businesses are on the rise in South Africa. In 2020, shortly before South Africa went into lockdown as a result of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sadaf Vahedna established a digital venture called Hoodgoods with seven cofounders. As the company name suggests, the business aimed to connect customers with small retail businesses around their neighbourhoods. Three years later, the cofounders faced the dilemma of whether to try to relaunch the platform business or sell it to a potential buyer. On what basis should they anchor their decision? If they decide to relaunch Hoodgoods, what aspects of the business should they try to improve, and how should they go about doing so? If they decide to sell the business, which nonfinancial factors should they take into consideration?
Next Skills 360 EdTech Private Limited (Next Skills 360) was founded by Suraj Meiyur and Sowjanya Suraj in 2020 to teach computer skills to low-income schoolchildren, particularly those from remote and rural areas who did not have access to electricity, computers, or the internet. By May 2022, around 160,000 students and 3,500 teachers across India had used Next Skills 360’s products, ProGame and Life Skills 360. The company had also been recognized by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as part of the 2021 Solve team. Meiyur felt happy that he could impact the lives of so many poor schoolchildren across the country, particularly those who had never had access to computers or the internet. Next Skills 360 had ambitious plans to reach one million students by the year 2025. However, Meiyur wondered if this business was sustainable and scalable. Did a market of one million students exist for this innovative disruptive and product?
This case follows the situation arising from the difficulties faced by Rakesh Sharma while trying to expand the market reach of his entrepreneurial venture, Om Technologies. Sharma had established a team of competent and skilled professionals whose joint efforts were able to design, develop, manufacture, and offer a range of products in industrial robots and automation-related machinery, along with providing related maintenance services. However, he was experiencing challenges in marketing and branding the business. The case also reflects on the importance of balancing excellent products and services with effective marketing. This case explores critical concepts in entrepreneurship, strategic planning, and crafting a suitable marketing strategy.
Since its beginning in 2018, Jane Win LLC, a nimble and lean start-up selling amulet jewellery pieces, had seen immediate success. From the company’s inception, its founder, Jane Winchester Paradis, assessed the advantages and disadvantages of an expansion strategy. Paradis also assessed the viability of expanding beyond amulet pieces to achieve substantial growth. Although the young company already enjoyed strong brand recognition and offered a meaningful unique selling proposition, there were still many questions about the company’s next steps, including which growth strategy would be the most suitable. Did the company have the resources and skilled management team necessary to adequately support and monitor its growth? What legal and financial issues must Paradis consider? What marketing and operational issues were the company likely to encounter during expansion?
In late 2019, the Mississauga, Ontario–based NetDynamic Consulting Inc. (NetDynamic) faced intricate challenges related to aligning and standardizing enterprise resource planning (ERP) processes on a global scale in a large multinational enterprise while simultaneously safeguarding the distinctive operational nuances specific to each of the company’s local subsidiaries. <br><br>NetDynamic had undertaken the challenge of integrating the operations of its client, SodaStream Canada, into a unified ERP system. SodaStream Canada was a subsidiary of SodaStream International Ltd. (SodaStream), headquartered in Israel. While SodaStream was part of the food and beverage multinational PepsiCo Inc. (PepsiCo), it was also a multinational in its own right, with 10 global subsidiaries under its purview. NetDynamic’s leaders needed to make crucial decisions regarding how to roll out the new ERP system, how to efficiently address end-user concerns, and how to learn from the ongoing integration to serve future clients better.
KiranaKart Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Zepto) was a quick-commerce start-up founded by two 19-year-old Stanford University dropouts and operating in the Indian e-commerce market, one of the fastest growing in the world. Using a quick hyperlocal e-grocery delivery model, the company faced challenges during its post-pandemic growth; these included the viability of its disruptive model, the competition it faced, and a long wait for profitability. While the quick-commerce grocery delivery model, initially supported by a steady flow of funding from venture capital firms, faced close scrutiny the world over as the flow of easy money started drying up, not everything was ominous for Zepto. As August 2023 was coming to an end, the start-up found itself on a stable funding runway. However, critics raised doubts about the feasibility of its 10-minute delivery service. Every reduction in customer wait time led to an increase in costs, and there was no broader e-commerce or food delivery platform to synergize with. Moreover, there were also social costs associated with delivery. To sustain the next phase of growth, Zepto’s founding team had to consider various strategic options. They could commit to grocery and focus on high-margin items to increase the frequency and basket size of online grocery customers. Alternatively, they could aggressively re-launch Zepto Café to expand their product range, attract more customers, and increase average order value. Diversifying the company’s product categories by adding e-pharmacy or even electronics could be another option to win over more customers.
This note is about tokenization and tokenized assets. Tokenization refers to the process of creating a representation of a particular asset on a blockchain via digital tokens. Tokenized assets typically derive their value from the value of the underlying asset. This note explores the benefits and risks of tokenization, as well as use cases. Moreover, it explores Security Token Offerings, considerations for tokenized asset issuers, and the Howey Test. It concludes with a consideration of how possible future trends may affect tokenization.