This case, the second in a set that begins with “Upli: Financial Health Appiness” (UVA-M-1026), revisits Upli founders Michael Krause and Christof Meyer as they seek to understand people’s problems around financial health. In the A case, the founders used focus groups to generate insights into who would use a financial wellness app. Krause and Meyer then used the qualitative data from the focus gr
This case, the third and final in a series that begins with “Upli: Financial Health Appiness” (UVA-M-1026), reveals Upli founders Michael Krause and Christof Meyer’s move forward to design the Upli MVP and push it out to a small group of people. It also offers insight into entrepreneurial motivation to keep moving forward and financing entrepreneurial ventures.
This field-based case, the first of a trio that includes UVA-M-1027 and UVA-M-1028, explores the qualitative and quantitative research a start-up platform in the financial industry undertook in its early growth stages. Upli founders Michael Krause and Christof Meyer sought to understand people’s problems when it came to financial health, the best consumers their product could target, and the set o
In July 2022, Ashley Sudjianto, a partner at Adelaida Technology Capital (ATC), had to make a recommendation to ATC's investment committee on how much money ATC should lend to CarboCaptor Inc., an emerging chemical-manufacturing start-up that had a patented, cost-effective solvent that captured carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air. In late 2021, CarboCaptor had been well on the way to launching a new
In early 2023, pension fund manager Lynda Chen was troubled. She knew how important portfolio returns were for the pension’s finances. The fund’s assets ensure the pension’s health, as portfolio returns prefund the cost of the benefits the pension pays out to members. Built into Chen’s pension calculations was a 6.5% expected return, which, relative to other pension funds, was conservative. But in
Philips, the Dutch multinational conglomerate, is assessing whether to enter the business-to-consumer (B2C) LED lightbulb market in the United States. Philips has already been serving the business-to-business (B2B) market with moderate success, but it has completely ignored the B2C market. Now, a change in energy taxes and possibly additional regulatory changes have the company reevaluating that d
This case, a follow-up to “Design Thinking in Action (A): South Western Railway” (UVA-S-0377) and an abridged version of "Design Thinking in Action (B): From Insights to Ideas at South Western Railway" (UVA-S-0378), finds South Western Railway (SWR) and its design-consultancy partner, David Kester & Associates (DK&A), beginning work on a project to improve passenger experience. The team followed a
This abridged case, the third in a series that begins with “Design Thinking in Action (A): South Western Railway” (UVA-S-0377), describes two waves of experimentation undertaken by UK railway operator South Western Railway (SWR) and its design-consultancy partner, David Kester & Associates (DK&A), during the deliver stage of their joint project to improve customer experience at SWR. They had follo
In May 2022, Jennifer Chen, vice president of strategic partnerships for the Washington Nationals, faced a dilemma. Just months before, the Nationals had embarked on a high-profile sponsorship partnership with Terraform Labs, a decentralized autonomous organization that had created two cryptocurrencies, TerraUSD (UST) and Luna. The Nationals had agreed to accept the stablecoin UST as payment and h
In 2019, several years after a referendum in which British voters chose “Brexit,” meaning the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (EU), the transitional agreement between the United Kingdom and the EU is due to expire. Prime Minister Boris Johnson must prepare for two facets of Brexit, each of which involves a decision: (1) whether to invest in mitigation funding in case of a hard Brexit
In 2019, several years after a referendum in which British voters chose “Brexit,” meaning the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (EU), the transitional agreement between the United Kingdom and the EU is due to expire. Prime Minister Boris Johnson must prepare for two facets of Brexit, each of which involves a decision: (1) whether to invest in mitigation funding in case of a hard Brexit
In 2019, several years after a referendum in which British voters chose “Brexit,” meaning the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (EU), the transitional agreement between the United Kingdom and the EU is due to expire. Prime Minister Boris Johnson must prepare for two facets of Brexit, each of which involves a decision: (1) whether to invest in mitigation funding in case of a hard Brexit