Case Teaching Package
A case teaching package, written by Bill Bygrave, is available for this case. It includes strategies for case presentation, key concepts, solutions to the assignment questions in the case, and suggestions for the most effective ways to work this case into your course.
Length
This case is 28 pages in length and its case teaching package is 8 pages.
Abstract
Eight years after graduating from Babson College with an entrepreneurship major, Andrew Zenoff has no meaningful career so—out of desperation—he decides to become an entrepreneur. He starts a company to develop and market a baby support pillow for nursing mothers. Andrew is continually running out of money and having to scramble for both equity investments and loans from family, friends, and angels. In this manner he raises about $300,000 from about 20 different persons in nine "rounds" of financing. Approximately one and a half years after starting the business, sales revenue is annualizing at $600,000 and growing very rapidly, the company is out of cash, and Andrew is again scrambling for cash to keep his company afloat.
- Location of the company: California
- Years spanned by the case: 1995 through 1996
- Industry segment: Baby nursing products
- Stage of the company: Pre-startup, startup, and early growth
- Age of the entrepreneurs: 30
Study Questions
- Is Andrew's child feeding support pillow a good opportunity?
- How would you characterize Andrew?
- Evaluate Andrew's financing of his venture.
- How urgent is Andrew's need for money? How much time does he have?
- Assuming that you were a wealthy angel, would you invest in his company? Why or why not?
- What should Andrew do now?
Key Words
searching for an opportunity; creativity; developing, marketing, and selling a new product; entrepreneurial characteristics; careers; financing from family, friends, and angels; valuations; ethical and legal issues in the sale of securities; and protection of intellectual property
The downloadable file for this case is an self-extracting WinZip file. After downloading, find AndrewZenoff.exe in Windows® Explorer and double-click the file to decompress. The case file itself is in Microsoft® Word 7.0 for Windows®.
If you do not have Microsoft Word, you can download the free Microsoft® Word Viewer 97 right here: For Windows 3.x For Windows 95
©1996 South-Western College Publishing, All Rights Reserved webmaster@swcollege.com