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The case describes the scientific approach taken by the founders of Mimoto - an electric scooter-sharing company offering dockless, keyless scooters available 24/7 - to develop their business idea. After a successful launch, they must decide whether to scale up their current strategy of renting scooters to individual customers or enter a new segment - renting to businesses (moving goods rather than people).

Pigeonly was launched in 2012 as an affordable technology provider serving the incarcerated population. Growing out of his own 5-year experience as an inmate, Founder Frederick Hutson created a business model, launch plan, and corporate mission statement: to create easy, affordable mail and telephone services to better connect the 2.3 million people incarcerated in America to their loved ones. A for-profit company with a social mission, Pigeonly overcame the complexities of dealing with the US prison system and grew quickly: by 2015, its operations supported on average two million minutes of phone time and 250,000 photos sent every month. In 2016 Hutson learned that its key photo supplier was going out of business. This case provides students with data on the US prison population, the cost of available communications services, and details about Pigeonly's own business model and asks them to consider how Hutson should respond to its operational crisis.

Swedish technology start-up Primateria AB (Primateria) was founded in November of 2004 with the main idea to provide science-backed consulting services for cutting-tool producers and end-users. What had started as a consulting service without the need for assets turned quickly into a production-driven service to support the cutting tool supply chain. The company had managed to consistently grow without external capital, had automated processes, opened a second physical location, and added physical vapour deposition coating capabilities. For the road ahead, the owners had to now decide how to protect Primateria’s intellectual property and how to meet the need for localized services for their large international clients quickly.

Swedish technology start-up Primateria AB (Primateria) was founded in November of 2004 with the main idea to provide science-backed consulting services for cutting-tool producers and end-users. What had started as a consulting service without the need for assets turned quickly into a production-driven service to support the cutting tool supply chain. The company had managed to consistently grow without external capital, had automated processes, opened a second physical location, and added physical vapour deposition coating capabilities. For the road ahead, the owners had to now decide how to protect Primateria's intellectual property and how to meet the need for localized services for their large international clients quickly.

Stemina Lubricants (Stemina) was an automotive lubricant manufacturer in Udupi, Karnataka, India. All Stemina products were a blend of high-class base oil and imported branded additives. Stemina competed with leading brands-one that was strong in the market and at mechanics' locations, having leveraged its consumer brand equity and strong advertising support to win over mechanics and dealers, and another that had a strong presence in the forecourts of gas stations in India. Customers looking for oil changes at gas stations were likely to purchase these company brands rather than a local brand, and Stemina faced an uphill battle to establish itself in a market with such entrenched distribution. How could this small business, with few resources for branding and distribution, successfully establish itself in the market?

The owner of Physio2U, the largest provider of in-home physical rehabilitation services in Western Canada, was forced to rapidly transition to telehealth amid the growing threat of COVID-19 in early 2020. While the Physio2U team and its patients were pleasantly surprised by their success with telehealth, as vaccination rates increased and the threat of COVID-19 infection became less significant, she had some tough decisions to make. She wondered if telehealth was (a) just a temporary solution to survive the pandemic; or (b) an opportunity for her business going forward. Before she invested any more resources in telehealth, including marketing funds, the owner needed to make sure she had both a strong business case and a comprehensive strategy for offering telehealth post-pandemic.

Many people thought of knitting as a hobby for grandmothers, but the time-honored craft had evolved into a booming business with loyal, passionate, and interactive customers worldwide. The Spanish e-commerce business We Are Knitters (WAK) spent the last decade growing into what investors called the “world leader in online knitted kit sales,” a segment of the global $100 billion knitting industry. WAK’s sales soared by 240 per cent between April 2019 and April 2020 due to the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. By February 2021, while WAK’s co-founders were still grappling with pandemic-related challenges, ahead of WAK's 10-year anniversary, they also started to look ahead to consider plans for further growth and internationalization while maintaining their business model and competitive advantages.

This case is about evaluation of an entrepreneurial idea in a setting that is relatable to the students, a university. Michael Brosko, Director of Capital Planning at Loyola University Chicago, had to decide on a recommendation to the president of the university about a building under construction. It could be sold as condominiums, rented as apartments, or a team of undergraduate students could start and manage the country's first student-run guesthouse. On one hand, it presented an exciting entrepreneurial opportunity, consistent with the mission of the university. On the other hand, the novelty of the concept created uncertainty about the financial and operational feasibility of the venture. In January 2010, a residential building was in late stages of construction near the campus. The original intention of the administration was to either sell the building as condominiums or rent them as apartments. When the real estate market went into decline, Brosko remembered his entrepreneurial experiences at his alma mater and imagined an alternative use for the property that would provide a hands-on experiential learning opportunity for students. After preliminary meetings with several professors and administrators who were skeptical, he found an ally in Assistant Professor Uygur, who taught entrepreneurship courses in the MBA program. Impressed by Brosko's enthusiasm, he agreed to design a feasibility study as part of an MBA course. The feasibility analysis investigated several issues concerning that venture with the experiential learning mission: potential demand, customer profiles, competitor analysis, operational feasibility, financial feasibility, and educational benefits to the student workers.

With a passion for coffee inspired by her experience overseas, Grace enrolled in a coffee school to learn how to roast her own coffee. With the business skills she had obtained during her MBA program, Grace, along with two partners (Mr. Wang from Beijing and Chester Shen from Shanghai), was exploring the possibility of opening a coffee shop in Shanghai in 2014. This case gives students the opportunity to evaluate Grace's entrepreneurial intentions, capabilities, and passion in addition to assessing competitive conditions in the coffee industry in China and make a recommendation to the protagonist regarding her proposed café in Xujiahui mall location.

This is a teaching case study regarding the decision to enter entrepreneurship as a career choice. The case is set in the years 2018-2021, during which the case protagonist Alexandra Schneller faced the decision of becoming an entrepreneur or not. Coming from a working-class background, her career vision did not originally entail entrepreneurship. After business school, Schneller had entered various corporate roles, including finance management and a dual study model in a large German corporate. At the same time, she was an eager participant in well-being workshops and yoga classes and was becoming increasingly interested in pursuing a career in such an area full-time. She increasingly noticed that founding her own business would be something she would feel passionate about and began to investigate if her personality would suit an entrepreneurial career. The case ends with the decision that is to be discussed in classes, if Schneller should start her own business offering an online platform for workshops or if she should continue her corporate career or explore other options.

This case focuses on a potential student entrepreneurship opportunity based on the social media presence of three Division I soccer teammates. The case explores the opportunity using the Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas to draw student attention to significant elements of business building that should be considered. It highlights considerations such as the strengths and weaknesses of the entrepreneurs' position and examines potential conflicts, including athlete status and NCAA rules, the realities of social media revenue potential, and the challenges that starting a product-focused company would entail.

Spreadsheet supplement for Case NA0732

ReMaterials was started in 2012 by Hasit Ganatra, when he realised the potential of an alternate product that could cater to the current needs of people living in slums. Slums are characterised by inadequate facilities, one of which is durable housing. Ganatra observed that metal sheets were the most commonly used roofing material in slums and the household had to adjust with leaky roofs in monsoons, high temperatures in summer and very little ventilation throughout the year. The residents of such houses were unable to pay for a concrete roof which was the only other option available in the market. Instead, they found it more affordable to undertake yearly repairs. Ganatra felt the need for an alternate roofing solution keeping affordability in mind. To achieve this, he experimented with industrial and agricultural waste for almost a year and came up with a roofing panel made from waste cardboard, which he called 'Modroof.' The price of Modroof is almost half that of the concrete roof and it can last for about 20 years. In 2015, ReMaterials partnered with microfinance institutions, which offered housing loans for the underprivileged, to boost sales. In the beginning of 2017, ReMaterials aimed to achieve 500 installations by the year end to become profitable, but it was able to complete only 100 installations by the end of December 2017. Envisaged as a social enterprise, the dilemma before Ganatra was how to go about making ReMaterials profitable while keeping specific core areas in sight. There were multiple options available to him but he did not want to compromise on his vision or lose the freedom to experiment.

Orsières (Valais, Switzerland) April 2020. Opaline, an original juice production company with high social and environmental standards had begun in 2010. It took founder Sofia de Meyer over 10 years to build a responsible and impactful company aligned with her own aspirations, not just a lifestyle venture but one that would capitalize on her deeply rooted values, shared with many in the valley. Opaline was her experiment to prove to the world that a different type of capitalism was possible, one that put human and environmental aspects where they belonged - at the epicenter of a business revolution. De Meyer had regularly been asked in interviews why Opaline was not trying to grow faster, rather than ensuring that its existing suppliers and distributors developed alongside the company. She always replied by drawing an analogy with a growing forest, in which no tree stood much higher than the others or else it would fall, alone, with the next storm. The analogy proved robust but now a more violent storm - a global pandemic - was brewing that was hurting everyone at once. What would it mean for all the projects the team had set out for 2020? And more fundamentally, could Opaline weather this storm as it had already done several times thanks to its strong ecosystem of partners? Would it pay the price for not having extended its roots deep enough when it could?

Orsières (Valais, Switzerland) April 2020. Opaline, an original juice production company with high social and environmental standards had begun in 2010. It took founder Sofia de Meyer over 10 years to build a responsible and impactful company aligned with her own aspirations, not just a lifestyle venture but one that would capitalize on her deeply rooted values, shared with many in the valley. Opaline was her experiment to prove to the world that a different type of capitalism was possible, one that put human and environmental aspects where they belonged - at the epicenter of a business revolution. De Meyer had regularly been asked in interviews why Opaline was not trying to grow faster, rather than ensuring that its existing suppliers and distributors developed alongside the company. She always replied by drawing an analogy with a growing forest, in which no tree stood much higher than the others or else it would fall, alone, with the next storm. The analogy proved robust but now a more violent storm - a global pandemic - was brewing that was hurting everyone at once. What would it mean for all the projects the team had set out for 2020? And more fundamentally, could Opaline weather this storm as it had already done several times thanks to its strong ecosystem of partners? Would it pay the price for not having extended its roots deep enough when it could?

As industry boundaries dissolve and digitalization grows apace, ecosystems are becoming increasingly important. Yet for all the excitement and Big-Tech envy, there is little guidance for how to create ecosystems. How should a firm best engage? Should it become a partner to someone else's ecosystem, or build its own? Should it focus on a broad range of digitally connected services, or narrow down? How should we think about ecosystem value proposition, governance, and complementor choice? And, what is the case for investment in ecosystems? Drawing on recent research and projects with leading firms, this article offers a framework for understanding, engaging in, and building business ecosystems.

Simple Energy was an electric scooter start-up in India founded with the intent of filling a market gap for a well-designed e-scooter, fully made in India, with sufficient range to be practical. In April 2021, with a couple of months left to launch Mark 2, the company’s first e-scooter, the founders needed to settle on their marketing strategy and decide how to position Simple Energy as a relatively new entrant in what was becoming a fiercely competitive market. Simple Energy had one model ready, but competitors had entered the market with multiple variants. Should Simple Energy introduce both a basic and premium variant of Mark 2? The founders also wondered whether they should focus on introducing Mark 2 in one city first or start operations in multiple cities simultaneously.

The Miami metropolitan area is a global epicenter of climate risk from heat and sea level rise, but leaders have only recently mobilized for action to respond to this systemic challenge. Resilient 305 began a collaboration across officials in the cities of Miami and Miami Beach and Miami-Dade County, with some community leaders, but action has been slow. The case identifies the actions and concerns of (a) public sector officials (Mayors and new Chief Resilience Officers), concerned with infrastructure; (b) community activists (grass roots advocacy organizations) concerned with immediate resident issues like electric utility bills in a region with large income disparities; and (c) business leaders (real estate developers and climate technology entrepreneurs) who seek growth and economic returns. Can their interests be aligned, and new collaborations forged to accelerate climate action for both short-term and longer-term goals?

This general experience case tells the story of SearchLight Cures, a fictional biotechnology startup. Having discovered a new therapy for a rare disease, the company's co-founders find themselves at an impasse over a pricing disagreement.