The ladies of Jasper Cocktails give you the drink you want to drink when you’re not drinking. Tell us more about your background and what inspired you to be an entrepreneur. Vanessa Royle (MBA ’22): I was introduced to entrepreneurship from an early age. My first business was selling irises door to door in my…
Alumni founders raised $3.3B in venture capital this summer; startups founded since 2010 topped $350B in market cap. Keith Bender (MBA ’20) reports. Startups led by HBS alumni received more than $3.2B in venture capital funding from the beginning of June through press time for this issue (August 21, 2021). Here, I review the fifty…
Alex Smith (MBA ’23) interviews Angela Son (MBA ’23) and Kevin Miao (MBA ’23), two incoming RC’s who left successful careers at large corporations to join startups. Son’s account at an early-stage venture and Miao’s experience in hypergrowth give unique insight into life at a startup. Angela Son (MBA ’23) is an incoming RC who…
Farah Azmi (MBA ’21) walks through her journey as a female entrepreneur. Some people say that you are either born an entrepreneur or you are not. As someone who was born into a poor immigrant family, I certainly was not bred to be an HBS student much less an entrepreneur. However, throughout my life, I…
Miguel Fernandez and Przemek Gotfryd (MBAs ’21) share how their startup, Capchase, helps SaaS companies avoid painful dilution and extend their runway. Tell us more about your background and what inspired you to be an entrepreneur. Miguel Fernandez (MBA ’21): I am originally from Madrid, Spain. Even though I have an engineering background (industrial and…
Saswat Panda (MBA ’22) shares the story of LiveLike, a company creating technology to make live sports streaming more social and immersive. Tell us more about your background and what inspired you to be an entrepreneur. I have always loved building things. I attended Cornell to be an aerospace engineer, but quickly fell in love…
James Williams (MBA ’21) introduces us to MasterGlass, a new platform to connect customers with wineries and tasting experts. Tell us more about your background and what inspired you to be an entrepreneur. I have always loved the idea of building a business from the ground up. Our first-year TEM course inspired me and gave…
Umang Sota (MBA ’21) talks with co-founder of London-based startup Trouva that is using online to spread the beauty of offline and not steal it. Undoubtedly, technology advancements—not only in the e-commerce space but also across the whole ecosystem—including mobile penetration, payment systems, and logistics are increasingly attracting customers towards digital stores. The rhetoric on…
Umang Sota (MBA ’21) examines entrepreneurial efforts at large companies. Almost ubiquitously, words like “Innovation” and “The Next Big Thing” are associated with startups. VC firms are competing every day to get a sliver of potentially the next Uber or the next Google. Up-and-coming talent and even the long-time industry veterans are happy to work…
This month, Anthony Tayoun (MBA ’19) introduces us to Alfred, a robotic sous-chef. What is the problem that you are trying to solve? We are solving the labor crisis that’s currently faced by the food industry. Today, 75% of restaurants are understaffed, and turnover is 146% for certain positions. The food industry’s labor gap was…
“Come on, entrepreneurs!” cheered Allison Mnookin (MBA ’98), Senior Lecturer at HBS, as she energized the class full of RCs – some with jet lag, some having just finished company interviews – on their first morning back to Aldrich from winter break. As we flipped through the course agenda and the All-Star list of facilitating…
This month we meet Joel Camacho (MBA ’20), Co-Founder of blockchain VC Decipher Capital What is the problem you’re trying to solve? Technological advances provide opportunities for wealth creation. Blockchain promises to democratize access to capital, but that will not happen if the founders receiving funding do not represent all segments of the population. Decipher…
What is the problem you’re trying to solve? The number of women breastfeeding is increasing, yet the process of pumping and storing milk is terrible and outdated. Right now, almost all women store their breast milk in plastic bags in the freezer. The overall pumping and feeding process involves several transfer points to the get…
This month we meet Eloops, a mobile app and web-based platform to help companies better engage their employees and allow them to connect with one another. What is the problem you’re trying to solve? Having an engaged, happy and well-connected workforce is critical for any organization. Companies with remote and/or ‘desk-less’ employees (retail, maintenance services,…