harvard
(318)
Claudia Laurie and the business of coming back
A fashion internship led Claudia Laurie toward software. After co-founding Prive and selling it to Recurly, she is still working on the same question: what makes a customer return?
Felix Ruano and the problem of getting in
A scholarship helped Felix Ruano reach Harvard. With Subject, he built a route to accredited courses. Now he is taking the same question of access to local government.
Geoffrey Cook’s 25-minute education
A school run became a novel. A family idea became myYearbook. Across Geoffrey Cook’s career, the interesting question has usually arrived before the business plan.
Steve Y. Lin left Harvard. The restaurant stayed with him.
He grew up taking orders in his parents’ restaurant, then built Wonders with his brother Dennis. Now called Tarro, the business carries a family problem into a much larger working life.
Belva Devara and the trouble with finding a teacher
A frustrating search for a tutor helped send Belva Devara into the education business. His journey from scholarship student to Ruangguru co-founder now includes venture capital, a palace exit and a rather public enthusiasm for difficult questions.
Russ Wilcox and the long wait for a page to turn
A household coin toss helped send Russ Wilcox into startups. Electronic paper taught him how long an invention takes to become a business. Now the E Ink co-founder is back at the laboratory door with Trellis Air.
Robert Maginn and the unfinished business of education
He co-founded Jenzabar in 1998 and returned as CEO in 2024. Between those dates lies a career in consulting, classrooms, investing and politics - with a complicated lesson in ownership.
Steve Lin and the call he couldn't leave behind
His parents hoped Harvard would take him away from the family restaurant. Steve Lin left one semester early to build a business around the work they wanted him to escape.
Alfred Wahlforss had 20,000 users. Then came the questions.
A viral avatar app gave the Listen Labs co-founder an audience he barely understood. His next experiment turned that problem into a business built around asking people why.
Lou LaRocca wants you to need him less
For the J2 Interactive co-founder, a good partnership leaves people more capable. His years as a software developer, employer and Boston volunteer tutor offer a few clues about how that works.
Steve Yi and the value of a second try
A failed toolbar venture, a modest travel exit, and an insurance marketplace built one workable transaction at a time. Steve Yi’s route to MediaAlpha began with a team he trusted and a need to pay the bills.
David Paffenholz’s case for starting over
Before Juicebox became an AI recruiting business, David Paffenholz closed a music app and watched a talent marketplace fail. The useful part was learning which problem deserved another attempt.
Kevin Yang and the question that kept coming back at noon
At EAT Club, Kevin Yang wrote code and answered the phones. The lunch orders led him to a second company, Idiomatic, and eventually to Front, where he is still working on what happens after a customer asks for help.
Jacomo Corbo and the cost of one more experiment
A Formula One strategist learns to make decisions before the opportunity disappears. At PhysicsX, Jacomo Corbo is applying that lesson to the time engineers spend waiting for answers.
Paul Koullick and the art of making things less taxing
Paul Koullick spent seven years building Keeper, then handed the CEO job to his co-founder. From tax software to Google Meet, his recurring concern is how much work a product asks of the person using it.
Bret Voith and the Work Between the Wins
Before he founded Tenure Health, Bret Voith captained Harvard’s water-polo team through wins, losses and a coaching change. His next chapters lead through an acquisition, NCD’s leadership team and a return to his school community.
Jonathan Matus and the price of paying attention
He helped put the internet in everyone’s pocket. With Zendrive and Fairmatic, Jonathan Matus turned to a consequence of that success: what happens when the phone comes along for the drive.
Sarah London and the advantage of not knowing
Before she led Centene, Sarah London studied literature, tried Hollywood, and learned to ask better questions. Her route to the corner office makes a case for keeping a beginner’s curiosity.
Linda Rendle and the education of a quiet competitor
She grew up checking store shelves with her father. At Clorox, Linda Rendle turned that early education into a career spent learning how products move, how teams work and when a leader needs to speak plainly.
Joe Bae and the education he left behind
He was unpacking at Harvard Business School when KKR called. Three decades later, Joe Bae’s career offers a different syllabus: learn the local language of business, choose your partners carefully, and know when to leave the piano.
Louis Beryl wanted credit for the future.
A bank saw a graduate student who needed his mother’s help. Louis Beryl saw a lending system that was asking the wrong questions. Earnest was his attempt to change the conversation.
Chris Mann and the business that had to grow like a forest
Before the yellow cans, there was a restaurant, a shared gourd, and an economics graduate with an objection to economics. Chris Mann helped build Guayakí, now Yerba Madre, around a question that took decades to answer: could selling a drink make a standing forest more valuable?
Kyna Fong and the advantage of staying close
Before she co-founded Elation Health, Kyna Fong was a table tennis champion, a teenage office manager, and a Stanford economist. Her career has kept bringing her back to the same question: what happens when an idea meets the person who has to use it?
Ben Pleat and the business of staying
A move to Manhattan gave Ben Pleat a question the floor plan could not answer: how do strangers become neighbors? His company, Cobu, has spent years turning that question into a business.
Max Novendstern and the problem with joining in
Before Worldcoin, Max Novendstern built a place for neighbors to meet. His route from a Harvard blog to global identity and AI investment research keeps returning to a familiar question: what makes a system useful to the people inside it?
Arif Nathoo’s long education in slowing down
He left consulting to build Komodo Health with Web Sun. Twelve years later, Arif Nathoo’s story turns on a problem no amount of software can hurry: learning how to lead.
Stephen Kaufer and the value of a stranger’s opinion
A disappointing hotel search helped Stephen Kaufer build Tripadvisor. After 22 years as CEO, he is putting another everyday habit to work: shopping that sends money to charity.
John H. Chuang and the business hiding behind a $5,000 printer
A Harvard publishing project became Aquent when John H. Chuang and his co-founders noticed what customers kept asking for. Four decades later, he is still working on the distance between a useful tool and the person who knows how to use it.
Charles K. Fisher and the trouble with being right
The Unlearn.AI co-founder trained as a physicist, built a company around generative models, and learned to question his own intuition. His next chapter asks how much of a career should be spent earning other people’s approval.
Michael Broukhim and the newsletter that arrived in a box
Before FabFitFun shipped products, it sent words. Michael Broukhim’s career follows the distance between getting someone’s attention and giving them something worth coming back for.