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Shane Eten is passionate about being an entrepreneur and finds an opportunity in managing food waste; a Clean Technology startup. Shane develops a plan for an anaerobic digester that will convert grocery store food waste into energy and organic fertilizer. The case explores Shane's entrepreneurial journey, from working in a high tech startup, a low tech candle maker, an MBA student to gaining recognition in business plan competitions for the anaerobic digester. At the point in time of the case, Shane needs to raise some capital to develop a prototype and prove his concept. Shane struggles in identifying sources for the $250,000 he needs to launch his dream. Although Shane has garnered lots of interest from potential investors during his success in business plan competitions, his venture is too early and the capital needed is too small for venture capitalists. He could seek angel capital, but how can he identify these "hidden" angels? Friends and family are a possibility, but Shane isn't sure that his contacts have enough capital available for him. Besides, he would like to preserve as much ownership as possible at this point in time, because he recognizes that he'll need to raise more capital to build out the company if the prototype is successful. This is a good case to explore alternative sources of capital.

The CEO of Better Place talks about what went through his mind the night he decided to start a venture to end the world's dependence on oil as a transportation fuel.

Supplement to case LBS116. This is part of a case series. 'Everyone says entrepreneurship is about risk-taking. But it's not: it's about minimising risks and taking careful risks.' Terry Rhodes' own words resonated with him as he reflected on the most critical decision of his career at Celtel International. Since its inception in March 1998, Celtel, a wireless service provider, set out to change the way business was done in Africa and to prove the transformative effects business could have on the continent and its people. Rhodes, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Celtel, had successfully mitigated the risks and overcome the challenges that deterred other businesses from investing in and contributing to the region. 'We were lucky that our business - mobile telecommunications - was seen as raising money in the West to bring to Africa and build infrastructure,' he explained. As Celtel expanded and moved into more and more markets across Sub-Saharan Africa, its corporate values were continually tested. Up until now, Rhodes had managed to avert corrupt situations using simple but creative tactics. However, the market entry into Guinea in late 1999 had posed a different story. Despite his multiple efforts, negotiations with the Guinean government were now at a standstill and it had become clear to Rhodes that the government expected substantial bribery payments for the deal to move forward. It was now late September 2001 and to add to the dire situation, Celtel's CFO had informed him that losing the Guinea deal might lead the company towards bankruptcy. Rhodes now sat outside the door of the boardroom, waiting to be called in and present his recommendation to the Board concerning the Guinea deal. As he reflected on his available options, Rhodes knew he would have to defend his decision to the Board and would need their full support.

The case describes the issues arising in Private Equity Partnerships once multiple funds have been raised and are being managed by the same set of partners. In addition, one LP is in financial distress and has asked to be given preferential treatment.

This case traces the 30-year development of the rock band U2 and the development of its four members as artists, business leaders, and humanitarians (with particular attention paid to lead singer Bono's global humanitarian work). The case examines the beginnings of the band among four school friends and follows the development of the enterprise as a business and as a powerful social and cultural force in its own right. It also investigates the individual journeys of the band members during moments of great success and significant challenges. The case pays particular attention to the four men's evolving identities as musical artists and to the tradeoffs that have accompanied their fame and larger social commitments. The case takes up the evolution of the global music industry in the face of rapid technological and organizational change, examining how U2 and colleagues navigated such change, built a very powerful brand, and created a successful business model. The final part of the case traces lead singer Bono's involvement in political and humanitarian causes and the potential power of such a model as a framework for artistry, entrepreneurship, and effective leadership in the 21st century.

In February 2008, as S. Mahalingam (Maha), the CFO of Tata Consultancy Services considered the strategic challenges facing TCS, challenges faced only by the elite segment of IT services companies: IBM Global Services, Computer Sciences Corporation, Accenture, KPMG, and others. The key issue was how to maintain a breathtaking annual growth rate of 35 to 40 percent without sacrificing 25 to 30 percent margins. Maha: "By 2010 we want to become a $10 billion-a-year company producing 25 percent margins". The company's strategy and positioning, combined with excellent execution and a fair number of macro factors breaking its way, had placed it front and center in the leadership competition for global IT services. Since the early 1990s, TCS had grown faster, made more money, created a better brand and reputation, and invested more heavily (as a percentage of revenues) in its future than its Indian or international competitors. The question on Maha's mind was whether TCS had the right strategy to continue to outmaneuver its competitors as it aimed to become the first Indian technology company to join the $10B revenue club.

The multi-million dollar technology licensing agreement was in danger of falling apart. It was late September 2001; some months previously, The University of Western Ontario's (UWO's) Industry Liaison Office had signed a conditional agreement with a major pharmaceutical company operating throughout the People's Republic of China (PRC). The agreement permitted the company to utilize specific technology developed at UWO in health products to be marketed throughout the PRC. The agreement was conditional upon ratification being signed not later than October 31, 2001 - but, within that period, terrorists attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. In the months immediately following September 11, 2001, the appetite of the PRC for buying Western technology had greatly diminished, and the PRC Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Development continued to delay ratification of the agreement. UWO's legal counsel, Peter Ross, was asked by his university to lay out the framework and possible alternative courses of action within which a decision could be made as to what the university could do in this situation. The learning objectives of the case are: 1) to become aware of the forms of intellectual property (IP) that can be involved in international cooperation, the potential difficulties and risks involved in sharing IP, the types of agreements that can be drawn up to minimize the risks, and the legal frameworks within which disagreements can be resolved 2) to become aware of how different partner countries respect or allegedly disregard rights to IP and commercial transactions generally 3) to develop strategies for coping in this environment.

An executive from pharmaceutical company GSK must choose how much to integrate a recently acquired biotechnology firm, Sirtris. Moncef Slaoui, GSK's Global head of R&D, championed the acquisition of Sirtris to gain access to its potentially revolutionary science. Slaoui must balance the need to recoup shareholder value after paying a two-times premium for Sirtris with his desire to retain Christoph Westphal, Sirtris's co-founder and CEO, and other key individuals at the company. His desire to protect Sirtris from GSK's size and bureaucracy occurs in a period when GSK has launched major changes in its R&D organization, which focus on decentralizing and externalizing R&D, as well as revamping the resource allocation process to parallel more of a venture capital-based model. The case also explores the views of Christoph Westphal on the early challenges of the integration and the impact GSK was having on Sirtris. Can be used in conjunction with a separate case that focuses on Sirtris's business model.

The case follows Andrew Housser and Brad Stroh, two recent graduates from the Stanford GSB, as they search for a business opportunity and ultimately start a company in the consumer finance industry. It covers their inspiration for the business idea and their decision to initially bootstrap the company. The case then highlights some of the complexities involved in managing a rapidly growing business. Specifically, Housser and Stroh are faced with challenging decisions regarding expansion/opening a second call center and with hiring/firing and the resulting difficult conversations with employees. Finally, the case concludes with an overview of a lawsuit currently filed against the company and the founders trying to decide the best course of action for Freedom Financial Network.

The case explores the entrepreneurial journey of Oprah Winfrey, examining how she built an audience for one of the most successful television shows in history; how she created the company, Harpo Productions, that produces that show as well as other media offerings; how she leads and manages her organization; and how she has chosen to use the authority and other fruits of success to make a significant social as well as business contribution. The case uses interviews with Winfrey and her team to analyze how the business model and strategy of the company has changed-in the context of a dynamic marketplace, rapid technological innovation and Winfrey's own evolving conception of her purpose and path.

In early 2008, managers at Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, faced decisions about the company's growth strategy. Despite profound initial skepticism about demand for a user-generated virtual world that was not a traditional game, Second Life had achieved profitability and strong growth. However, sustaining growth would prove challenging. Growth had strained Linden Lab's technical infrastructure. Also, although Second Life had attracted a large, loyal base of early adopters, it was unclear whether their preferences were similar to those of mainstream consumers. In this context, management faced choices about platform strategy and target markets. Should Linden Lab continue to offer an open platform or build its own solutions for customers? Should it target adult consumers, teens, enterprise customers, or the education market?

In 1929, Chicago, IL mob boss Al Capone was at the height of his power. As head of the extensive crime organization known as "The Outfit" during most of U.S.'s Prohibition Era (1920-1933), Capone oversaw hundreds of brothels, speakeasies, and roadhouses which served as venues for gang-administered gambling, prostitution, and illegal alcohol sales. At their peak, yearly revenues from all of his enterprises combined totaled over $100 million. Capone's ability to operate these establishments with impunity stemmed from a combination of his political ties and a profound fear of reprisal. Capone's ascension had come at the tremendous loss of human life. Turf wars between Chicago gangs had caused roughly 700 gang-related deaths from 1920 to 1930. By some estimates, Capone had been directly or indirectly responsible for over 200 murders, the most notorious of which was the St. Valentine's Day Massacre in February 1929, a shootout that had killed seven men from a rival gang. The brutality, efficiency, and wealth of Capone's organization demonstrated the destructive forms of American entrepreneurship in the early 20th century.

Two entrepreneurs have just been told by their venture capital backer to prepare a list of possible cuts to help them weather the 2008-2009 economic downturn. The impact on each firm is very different: one is a later-stage company with revenues in excess of $100 million; the other a pre-revenue company trying to raise its first institutional round. The entrepreneurs must consider their options and the impact on their companies' growth and, perhaps, survival.

Sermo operates the leading online professional network for physicians in the United States. Doctors use Sermo free of charge to post surveys regarding diagnostic and treatment concerns and to discuss these concerns, as well as challenges with managing their practices. Sermo earns revenue by charging clients who would value early information regarding the effectiveness of new drugs and medical devices-investment managers, pharmaceutical companies, and regulatory authorities. Clients cannot participate in doctors' online discussions, but they can view survey results and post their own surveys to Sermo's physician members. The case discusses challenges confronting Sermo in mobilizing this two-sided platform and in balancing the sometimes conflicting needs of the platform's two sides.

From 1995 to 1999, the U.S. experienced a period of tremendous growth in its information technology (IT) sector. The IT industry, although it accounted for less than 10% of the U.S. economy's total output, contributed disproportionately to economic growth. One market that was particularly contentious was online pet supply retailing. Pet supply retailing had an estimated worth of $31 billion in 1997, and in the late 1990s, several startups and brick-and-mortar-based companies launched online retail stores, hoping to become the premiere (and perhaps the only) online pet supplies retailer. Two companies emerged as pure play frontrunners: Oakland-based Petstore.com and San Francisco-based Pets.com. In the years that followed, online pet supply retailers were widely regarded by the media as epitomizing the excesses and the follies of dot-com speculative mania in the late 1990s that culminated in the 2000 stock market crash. In 2008, CNet pronounced Pets.com as one of the greatest dot-com disasters in history. But what led to the failure, and subsequent crucifixion, of these one-time media darlings? Were Petstore.com and Pets.com the victim of poor strategic decisions, a prohibitive and crowded market, investor attitudes that destroyed their chances of success, or perhaps just bad luck or bad timing?

Ted Morgan, the founder of Skyhook Wireless just received a call from Steve Jobs of Apple asking for a meeting. Ted must decide how to prepare for a meeting that could finally give Skyhook an anchor customer. Ted and his team have worked for three years to build a new approach to location based services that uses WiFi rather than the well-established satellite based GPS technology. Skyhook's approach is more accurate than GPS in urban areas and, unlike GPS, it works indoors. Yet, large device manufacturers are reluctant to be the first ones to use it. Skyhook has no customers. The board and investors are getting restless. Should Ted offer Steve Jobs a free license, or pay him for Apple's user base - or should he insist on a substantial license fee? The case examines the challenges faced by entrepreneurs in creating a technology-based company and in getting market traction against an established standard.

Ribe Maskinfabrik A/S (RM) had, during the last 15 years, developed from a simple machine works operating out of Southern Jutland (Denmark) to the modern and globalized RM Group consisting of three distinct business units. This change had developed gradually as its outsourcing activities became increasingly important during the last years. In the beginning, outsourcing activities developed in an ad-hoc and reactive manner. However, RM gained important knowledge on how to optimize the outsourcing processes, and it developed a very extensive network of suppliers, many of which it had relationships with for many years. This network was offered to RM's customers and represented a high value to them. RM had already established these contacts and was able to assure the quality of its partners, which saved its customers valuable time and effort. In that sense, RM exploited its own experience and network of suppliers and became an outsourcing consultant.

It was nearly 10 years since Multi Media Mapping Ltd had gone live with the launch of the Multimap.com website and Sean Phelan, founder and majority shareholder, was facing the classic entrepreneur's dilemma. The company had a successful platform and business model that had made it the market leader in the UK and a highly profitable 'dot-com' survivor of the Web 1.0 generation, but the market was evolving quickly and Sean was convinced that the company's current technology platform didn't have a future. The choice was whether to raise the stakes and bet on the company again in the evolving online mapping industry and emerging Web 2.0 environment, or commit to a process that may lead to the sale of the business.

It was early October 2007 as Sean Phelan, founder of Multi Media Mapping Ltd, reviewed the previous 12 months. It had been a year of highs and lows that now set the scene for the most important decision in the company's 12-year history. At least he now had some options to consider - unlike this time last year, when the company had been facing technological oblivion and market-share meltdown. The Multimap technology team under Sean's direction had rebuilt the whole Multimap.com site from the ground up, while delivering over two billion map impressions worldwide and maintaining service to their eight million unique users in the UK and probably half as many again worldwide. Eric Brown, Multimap's new CTO, who had been brought on board to manage the project after masterminding the launch of the UK National Lottery online, described it as "... changing all four engines and the wings on a plane while it was crossing the Atlantic - at night!" At the same time, Sean's advisors had been in discussion with a number of financial and corporate partners. Three firm proposals had been made for either partial or full acquisition of the business. Now Sean had to decide which, if any, of these offers to pursue and effectively exit the business he had founded 12 years before, or whether to be a leading player in the consolidation of the on-line mapping industry.

A venture capitalist must decide whether to invest in a medical technology company that licenses intellectual property from a privately held IP holding company based on a platform technology. Entrepreneurs Amar Sawhney and Fred Khosravi founded Incept LLC to commercialize their multi-use hydrogel technology. The pair then spun off Confluent Surgical to develop some, but not all, of Incept's IP. The specifics of which IP Confluent would develop were described by a licensing agreement between Incept and Confluent. Venture capitalist Charles Warden of Schroder Ventures Life Sciences was deciding whether to invest in a Series A financing round in Confluent. Initially very excited about the deal, Warden becomes concerned about Confluent's valuation and its ability to succeed as a business when he learns about restrictions placed upon Confluent by the licensing agreement. The case describes Incept's business model and its approach to managing risk in early stage ventures. The case also addresses issues such as diversification and options preservation as well as the importance of trust and long-term relationships in decision-making in entrepreneurial arenas.