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A new venture team is composed of the founders, employees, and advisors who will guide an idea from its formation stage into a fully functioning company. Each of these groups plays an important role in growing the venture and putting it on the path to success. This note will explore the myriad factors to be considered when forming a new venture team. While strategy and implementation may depend on the industry, product or service, and target customer, the core tenets of forming a team will be consistent regardless. Above all, founders must instill a commitment to and passion for the idea: A compelling vision will attract a stellar team. Founders must also be deliberate about culture; this requires determining one's own personal definition of success and assuring that it is aligned with that of other team members. As important as culture is makeup: new venture teams should be a carefully balanced blend of backgrounds, functional skills, and industry expertise. Lastly, as their company grows, founders must be thoughtful in hiring employees as well as choosing advisors and investors. Issues of ownership must be considered. This note explores each of these issues in detail and provides anecdotes of successful teams which spent the time to get the group balance right before moving onward to build a product or seek funding. It incorporates the perspective of investors who have seen great ideas fail and succeed, based on the strength of the founding team.

Darlarna is a manufacturer of high-end Swedish-style furniture. It has grown rapidly since its formation in 2005 and is currently attempting to expand into the U.S. market. In early 2009, after releasing the financial statements from the accountants, the owner became very concerned about a dramatic decrease in profits and all the bad news relating to the financial crisis in the United States. A chartered accountant was hired to conduct an analysis of Darlarna's operations and to make recommendations for future actions within the week.

Vitality is part of a $2 billion start-up South African and U.K. health insurance firm. It has achieved excellent results in rewarding people for promoting their health. It is now contemplating how to enter the U.S. market.

In 2008, the U.S. financial system was in a state of crisis and Lehman Brothers went from a major Wall Street investment bank to an insolvent institution. It was a swift end for a firm that had its beginnings over 150 years prior. What would be the firm's legacy? And how, if at all, had its activities changed the course of American history?

This case describes how an IT director identified an opportunity and implemented an innovative business solution designed to enable line managers and executives to convert data to information to insights. The case also details how the company partnered with an emerging technology start-up, Netezza.

Shurgard, a U.S.-based firm that rents storage facilities to consumers and small businesses, is considering financing options for rapid expansion of its European operations. Five years after entering Europe, Shurgard Europe has opened 17 facilities in Belgium, France, and Sweden. Along the way, Shurgard has encountered skepticism from both European consumers and investors about the unfamiliar self-storage concept and internal debates on how much to adapt the U.S. business model to European lifestyles. Wall Street analysts also do not value the impact that the European expansion could have on Shurgard's U.S. performance as a publicly traded Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). As an alternative, to finance this expansion, Shurgard received a proposed deal from a consortium of banks and other investors where they would provide private equity financing spaced over the next few years plus a line of credit. In return, the investors would receive a large share of Shurgard's equity and control of its board, which could force a public offering in less than two years. The decision focuses on whether Shurgard Europe should accept the conditions and valuation of the proposed deal or seek another deal at a later point in time. Students must assess whether the self-storage business model can deliver the growth rate in Europe that the company has promised its potential investors. Involves calculating some basic estimates of the company's value from financial exhibits (enterprise value using an EBITDA multiple). Main focus is to assess this as an entrepreneurial venture. Students do not need to be familiar with REITs.

Tennant, a leading producer of floor cleaning equipment, must determine how to create, finance, structure, staff, govern, measure and manage a new venture for developing a fundamentally new product line. In 2005, Tennant Company had developed an innovative, environmentally friendly, cleaning technology that could potentially revolutionize cleaning. Historically, Tennant was a producer of floor and carpet washing machines for industrial and commercial markets. Over time, it became clear that the technology had applications far beyond Tennant's core markets. In mid-2009, the company set up a new venture to develop the technology's promise. In 2010 this venture was wholly owned by Tennant and run by a Tennant manager. The case examines the decisions the CEO and new venture head must make to best structure and position the venture to succeed.     

Silver Sales Company's president is building a growing company that sells extremely accurate flow meters used to measure water flow in pipes and channels. In addition, Silver Sales Company provides inspection and assessment services to water agencies. The president owns 31 per cent of the company. Ring Manufacturing, the sole owner of the intellectual property and manufacturing facility for the flow meters, controls 62 per cent of the ownership of Silver Sales Company. The president is considering his long-term stake in the organization. Recently, the president has been approached by a U.K. company that is a sales agent for Silver Sales Company's products. The company has expressed an interest in a possible merger or acquisition between the two companies and has further indicated that it has an investor to support its desires. The president is now trying to determine whether a closer relationship with, or sale to, the U.K. company might be a way for him to capture some of the value he has created over the last several years.

This case discusses changes in CommonAngels' investment model and organization between 2005 and 2009.

Describes the motivations behind the founding of CommonAngels-a group of successful business owners who provide capital, connections, and expertise to entrepreneurs who are building new ventures. In 2005, the group is considering increasing its investment focus to include a broader range of technologies, including emerging technologies (for example, Mobile and RFID technologies) and non-information technologies.

The case is about the decision to convert a not-for-profit organization into a for-profit company. STFC, which is part of a larger non-profit organization - the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) - works to improve the livelihoods of very poor rural and urban women in India. It does so by translating traditional Indian embroidery skills into contemporary apparel and home furnishings that STFC then helps to market and sell around the world. Organized as a producers' cooperative, STFC is owned by its artisan-members. STFC is thinking of changing to for-profit status because it would enable faster and more sustainable growth by providing access to outside funds, and also allow the payment of dividends, which would further improve the women's livelihoods. The legal and financial implications of such a move aside, it is not clear that STFC would be able to withstand the changes such a transformation would entail. Most importantly, would an organization accustomed to taking decisions based solely on social benefit criteria be able to adjust to a for-profit mentality? And, would customers accept the change?

Thomas G. Tsao, founding general partner of Gobi Partners, an early stage venture capital firm in China, must decide how to manage his firm's largest investment after the departure of the CEO. Tom has temporarily stepped in as CEO, but finding a replacement with the necessary technical and language skills is difficult. Moreover, the company is facing significant challenges in winning business and restructuring its own operations. Should Tom stay on as CEO? Revisit one of the candidates who had withdrawn? Try harder to sell the company? At what price? The case provides an opportunity to discuss the issue of active investment management in an emerging market from the perspectives of the many stakeholders involved.

This note provides background in all the modalities of telemedicine. It accompanies the cases "Medtronic: Patient Management Initiative" (A) and (B), HBS Nos. 302-005 and 309-064.

After its successful new U.K. venture, the Hospital for Special Surgery wants to do more of the same, without decimating its core New York City facility. The case provides considerable details about the different options it is exploring.

GPS-to-GO is a successful company that has a wealth of brilliant researchers and scientists who have created advanced global positioning systems (GPSs) for complex air-traffic control and logistics systems. Now, the vision of one of the up and coming managers is to use GPS-to-GO's knowledge to dominate the consumer market with premium-priced and feature-rich GPS units. Even though GPS-to-GO is far ahead in terms of GPS technology, the consumer market demands low-cost units and yearly follow-on products, which requires drastically different skills than GPS-to-GO's typical five- to 10-year cost-plus government projects. One of the managers is tasked with how to meet the cost target and market window for the new product, while working with the same engineering group that caused the unit manufacturing problem and launch delays in the first place. The key issues concern 1) engineering-centric companies and their culture, business strategies and processes for managing new product development 2) the implications these strategies and processes have on addressing the needs of customers, shareholders and employees in a totally new market segment 3) the role managers can play in making critical decisions with a keen eye on roadblocks to success, such as culture, inadequate skills and overly optimistic and myopic visionaries. The case includes an Excel spreadsheet with break-even scenarios that professors can use to complement the teaching note. The case is intended for courses in managing new product commercialization, managing technology and innovation, strategic thinking, operations management and leadership.

The Swagruha Foods case has been developed to highlight the challenge facing many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) all over the world. There are many SMEs that have successfully overcome the initial survival challenge. They have a stable base of loyal customers, are able to command attractive prices, and have built up a reputation for good quality. Yet they are unable to grow beyond a certain point. Why? What must they do to overcome the growth challenge? Swagruha Foods is a good example of an SME that has enjoyed considerable success, thanks to the dedication and commitment of the Chagarlamudi family as well as to the changing socio-economic situation in India. Yet, there are several indications that it is unable to fully exploit its growth opportunities.

Against all odds, the founder of Mk II Corporation (Mk II) has started an American watch company. The founder, a former investment banker and a Wharton MBA graduate, began his venture in 2002 with no prior experience in the watchmaking trade. He started his company to produce watches in the United States during an era when U.S. manufacturing was in decline and the country had no indigenous watchmaking firms to speak of. In addition, the economy was recovering from the dotcom bust and there was intense competition from large, vertically integrated players. Despite all this, the founder has managed to deliver a few thousand watches and watch parts, and has a growing customer list. His challenge in March 2009 turns from trying to survive to figuring out how to manage Mk II's explosive growth.

Spreadsheet for teaching note 8B09A27.

This case examines how CEMEX adapted its flagship corporate social responsibility (CSR) program (Patrimonio Hoy) to the specific socio-economic realities of Puerto Rico - Fundacion Arte en Concreto (the Foundation). The Foundation was a partnership between a number of entities in the private, public and not for profit sector. For CEMEX, the main partner and founder, Arte en Concreto provided a way to promote concrete as an art form while contributing to the economic and social development of Puerto Rico. The goal of the Foundation was to rehabilitate prisoners through vocational training. The case also examines a number of external factors that affected the Foundation in 2008-09, such as global and local economic recessions, a slowdown in the construction sector, destabilizing effects for a public-private partnership of a new political party in government, and a general distrust of CEMEX's environmental record. The staff at the board of directors needed to develop a strategy that could guarantee the future of the Foundation.

This technical note introduces the concepts and terms entrepreneurial innovators use in addressing sustainability. It explores the evolution of such terms as sustainable development, environmental justice, earth systems engineering, sustainable science, the Natural Step framework, industrial ecology, and bio-mimicry. It also explores how paradigms are created and replaced.