Questions from General Entrepreneurship

Q: How Casper Woke Up the “Sleepy” Mattress Industry 1

How Casper Woke Up the “Sleepy” Mattress Industry 1. To what degree do you think Casper has disrupted the mattress industry? To what degree did Casper’s research about the mattress buying process res...

Q: How bringing Its Business Plan to Life Helped a Social Enterprise Get

How bringing Its Business Plan to Life Helped a Social Enterprise Get Off to a Strong Start 1. Why is the problem of bringing light to people who don’t have access to reliable electricity not being ta...

Q: Peloton Cycle and Donors Choose: How For-Profit and Nonprofit

Peloton Cycle and Donors Choose: How For-Profit and Nonprofit Start-Ups Build Credibility and Trust. 1. Why is building credibility, legitimacy, and trust particularly important for a start-up venture...

Q: Fundbox: Designed to Help Small Businesses Minimize Cash Flow Shortfalls

Fundbox: Designed to Help Small Businesses Minimize Cash Flow Shortfalls 1. Toward the beginning of this case, the following statement appears: “Almost all small businesses experience cash flow shortf...

Q: Zappos: Making Human Resources the Key to Customer Service 1

Zappos: Making Human Resources the Key to Customer Service 1. What steps did Zappos take early in its life as a company to overcome the liability of newness? 2. What can entrepreneurs learn from Zappo...

Q: Kickstarter: An Increasingly Important Forum for Raising Seed Capital 1

Kickstarter: An Increasingly Important Forum for Raising Seed Capital 1. Do you think Kickstarter is a viable alternative to raising equity funding or debt financing? If so, under what circumstances?...

Q: How can the threat of substitute products suppress an industry’s profitability?

How can the threat of substitute products suppress an industry’s profitability?

Q: Proactive: How Three Critical Marketing Decisions Shaped a New Venture’s Future

Proactive: How Three Critical Marketing Decisions Shaped a New Venture’s Future 1. How has Proactiv gone about establishing its brand? To what degree do you believe Proactiv is important in its custom...

Q: You Make the Call: Can a Company Patent How It Makes

You Make the Call: Can a Company Patent How It Makes a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich? 1. Go to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office’s Web site (www.uspto.gov) and look up Patent No. 6,004,596. Read t...

Q: Airbnb: Passing through the Stage of Growth in an Exemplary Manner

Airbnb: Passing through the Stage of Growth in an Exemplary Manner 1. Make a list of things that you think Airbnb did “right” in growing its business. 2. Comment on the propensity of Airbnb’s founders...