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Blinds To Go, a small retail fabricator of custom-made blinds, is looking to for the best talent it could to help them achieve their aggressive expansion goals. Emphasis was put on establishing internal programs that would groom candidates for senior management positions. Despite the temptation to bring in a vice-president from outside the company, the company believed it was in their best interest to develop and promote talent from within. This is a supplement to the Blinds To Go - Wanted: People To Lead Explosive Growth (A) case, (product number 9B01C002).

Strategic Intelligence Pte. Limited is a Singapore-based research and media company. The newly appointed director of advisory services is considering the challenges in building the company's latest service offering. The company's strong emphasis on this new service is a departure from their previous strategy of attempting to develop its existing events, custom research and online information services in a relatively even manner. He needs to formulate a plan that will ensure the new service contributes about half of the company's revenue within the next year. This case may be used with Strategic Intelligence Pte. Limited (A), 9B01M032.

The music industry has changed dramatically as a result of technological and business innovations that have transformed how music is acquired, and how value is created and distributed. Napster Inc. operated one of several Web sites that allowed Internet users free access to MP3 music files -- which eventually led to lawsuits around issues of the protection of intellectual capital. These issues lead to the examination of the forces at play in the transformation of the music industry, the strategic alternatives for players in the industry and the legal context underpinning the strategic alternatives, with a particular focus on the protection of intellectual capital.

The owner of a shop specializing in the creation and sale of Celtic art was faced with the challenge of finding a way to rejuvenate sales; customer traffic was declining due to the closing of a local market. He was determined to develop a strategy that would better insulate his business in the future. Limited resources meant that maximizing the returns on his efforts would be critical to the survival of the business. He had to examine his marketing strategy and product mix, consider his options and generate solutions to improve and secure his short-term and long-term profitability.

A Harvard professor points the finger at venture capitalists, investment banks--and the Federal Reserve. He also explains what managers of the next wave of Internet companies must do to avoid the irrational exuberance of the dot-com bubble.

Describes Peoplestreet, an Internet business being developed at Cambridge Incubator. Peoplestreet is attempting to hire a VP of business development and has identified a candidate, Mark Pitts. Asks students to assess which interview techniques seemed most effective in discovering the desired information.

Two entrepreneurial students want to launch their new business called College Home Safety Inc. College Home Safety consists of high school and university students selling carbon dioxide detectors door-to-door. The two entrepreneurs felt strongly about this new business as it would provide jobs for students and address a safety concern that had been increasing in the past few years. The advice they received from a professional accountant was not what they expected. Told they would lose their shirts and to reconsider their concept and start-up plan, they only had a few months left before the launch date to decide whether or not to proceed with the venture.

Spreadsheet supplement for case 801446.

Provides a brief introduction to calculations inherent in pre-money and post-money evaluations at multiple stages of financing. Relies on three different examples to illustrate how valuations can be calculated depending on the information provided.

An abstract is not available for this product.

Supplements the (A) case.

Supplements the (A) case.

Scott Rozic, CEO of start-up Verge Software, has just told his board that he is taking the company in a totally new direction, moving from enterprise knowledge management software to Internet direct marketing. This case covers the start-up of the business, and Rozic's mentoring by a key angel investor. It leaves open the question of whether this decision is wise or whether Rozic should go back to the enterprise business, now that venture capital funding preferences have shifted once again.

Describes the legal battles faced by Napster, the popular Web site for finding and downloading music files through the Internet. Traces the evolution of copyright law as it has been interpreted in recent cases on digital music. Focuses on the recent suit against Napster by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and involves the RIAA's arguments alleging that Napster constitutes illegal infringement and Napster's response that it does not.

Presents three fictionalized but realistic situations in which a venture capitalist may find himself. One situation requires crisis intervention to quell a dispute between a vice president of sales and a CEO; another poses the problem of working out the composition of a board of directors; and the third examines the problem of dividing stock among founders.

Discusses some of the fundamental issues of valuation in venture capital deals. Examines topics not necessarily limited to venture capital-backed companies, but that frequently surface in entrepreneurial companies that are financed either by venture capitalists or other private equity investors. Covers five sections: (1) introduces the so-called venture capital method, (2) examines the problem of determining the terminal value, (3) examines the treatment of risk, (4) examines how to determine the funding requirements and the ways of dealing with multiple financing rounds, and (5) discusses briefly the use of these methods in actual negotiations.

Spreadsheet supplement to case E95.

The fictional case of SpiffyTerm, Inc., is meant to teach students about the term sheets commonly used in venture capital deals. At the time of the case, the three company founders concentrate on understanding the term sheet just received from a Silicon Valley venture capital firm (included in the case) and, considering the current and anticipated future financing rounds, collaborate to determine what valuation and other terms they should bargain for. The case consists of six sections: 1) basic valuation, 2) valuation with alternative scenarios, 3) vesting and founder replacement, 4) preferred stock, 5) pricing of follow-up rounds and the right of first refusal, and 6) anti-dilution. The teaching note to this case is a spreadsheet that contains all the formulas used to solve the problems.

The Taiyuan Project involved the construction of a pipeline to supply water from the Yellow River to Taiyuan, the capital city of Shanxi Province, China. The main contractor for the project intended to appoint Taiyang Company, a six partner joint venture, as the supplier of the 82 kilometres of prestressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP) needed for the project. The general manager for Taiyang Company had to decide what the company's involvement should be. The company was the only supplier of PCCP in China, however, due to a slow start, it had no cash. A new factory and new equipment would be required to meet the requirements of this project. He would have to work out a capital budget for a cash-constrained situation while considering whether to find a joint venture partner and what the most advantageous way to structure the company would be from a tax perspective.

eLance.com allowed buyers to find sellers for time-sensitive project work without limiting bids to sellers within the vicinity of the buyer's physical office. It was just finishing the beta test of its site which had facilitated over 30,000 transactions in the past year. eLance was in the midst of closing its second round of venture financing which would allow it to execute its plan to become the premier online global services marketplace. To do this, it needed to prevent disintermediation - instances when eLance buyers and sellers, after being introduced on the eLance site, decide to conduct future project-related transactions offline. This would prevent eLance from mediating these transactions and gaining revenue from them. eLance had already implemented several customer-focused onsite and offline features to deter disintermediation. The co-founder and vice-president of business development had to determine what incentives were needed to keep customers dealing with each other through the site rather than offline.