Jeffrey J. Bussgang
Senior Lecturer of Business Administration
General Partner, Flybridge Capital Partners
Former entrepreneur turned VC, HBS Senior Lecturer, author, dad of three, husband of one, civic leader, Cross Fitter and fan of all Boston sports.
Jeffrey J. Bussgang is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at the Harvard Business School as well as Co-Founder and General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm with offices in Boston and New York City and over $700 million under management. He studies lean startups as well as strategy and management challenges for founders.
Jeff's investment interests and entrepreneurial experience are in blockchain, consumer, e-commerce, machine learning, and mobile start-ups. On behalf of Flybridge, he has led investments in dozens of companies, including Analytical Space, bloXroute, Bowery Farming, BrightHire, Codecademy, DataXu, FalconX, Infracommerce, MadeiraMadeira, and Open English. Jeff is the cofounder of The Graduate Syndicate, a pre-seed fund that invests in recent Harvard graduates. He also serves as one of the Harvard representatives on the board of edX, a leading online education platform.
Jeff has authored two books: one for startup joiners, Entering StartUpLand, and one on venture capital and entrepreneurship, Mastering the VC Game, to provide entrepreneurs an insider's guide to financing and company-building. Both books have been hailed by the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, TechCrunch and The Financial Times as essential guides for entrepreneurs.
Jeff is an active community member, serving as board chair and co-founder of Hack.Diversity, a talent development program for Black and LatinX technologists, as well as co-chairman of the board of advisors of educational non-profit, Facing History and Ourselves as well as co-founder and board chair of LEADS, an economic and leadership development program for diverse Gateway City leaders.
Jeff holds a BA in Computer Science from Harvard University where he graduated magna cum laude and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar and a Ford Scholar.
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Featured Work Publications Research Summary Teaching Awards & Honors
Launching Technology Ventures
Launching Technology Ventures (LTV) is an MBA elective designed for students who will join startups, launch their own companies, or work in established firms launching information technology products, in particular, new ventures in the Internet, mobile, and enterprise software sectors. The course was created by Professors Jeffrey Bussgang and Tom Eisenmann.
Entering StartUpLand: An Essential Guide to Finding the Right Job
Many professionals aspire to work for a start-up. Executives from large companies view them as models to help them adapt to today's dynamic innovation economy. Yes, start-ups look magical, but they can also be chaotic and inaccessible. Many books are written for those who aspire to be founders, but a company only has one or two of those. What's needed are hundreds of employees to do the day-to-day work required to operate a fledgling company and grow it into something of value.
This practical, step-by-step guide provides an insider's analysis of various start-up roles and responsibilities, including product development, marketing, growth strategy, and sales, to help you figure out if you want to join a start-up and what to expect if you do. You'll gain insight into how successful start-ups operate and learn to assess which of them you might want to join―or emulate. Inside this book you'll find:
A tour of typical start-up roles to help you determine which one might be the best fit for you
Profiles of start-up executives in many different functions who share their stories and describe their responsibilities
A practical approach to your job search that will help you position yourself to find the start-up opportunity that's right for you
Written by an experienced venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and Harvard Business School professor, Entering StartUpLand will guide you as you seek your ideal entry point into this popular, cutting-edge organizational paradigm.
Mastering the VC Game
A VC insider reveals how start-ups can successfully finance and launch their venture.
Entrepreneurs who dream of building the next Amazon, Facebook or Google have the opportunity to take advantage of one of the most powerful economic engines the world has ever known: venture capital. To do so, you need to woo, impress, and persuade venture capitalists to take a risk on an unproven endeavor. Getting funding is challenge enough, but choosing the right investor and creating a good working relationship can be harder still. You want your VC to act as a partner and adviser, not as an adversary who cares more about a quick return than about realizing the vision of your company.
Jeffrey Bussgang is one of the few people who have played on both sides of this high-stakes game. By his early thirties, he had helped build two successful start-ups—one went public, the other was acquired. Now he uses his experience and unique perspective on "the other side" as a venture capitalist helping entrepreneurs bring their dreams to fruition.
Bussgang offers detailed insights, colorful stories, and practical advice gathered from his own experience as well as from interviews with dozens of the most successful players on both sides of the game, including Twitter's Jack Dorsey and LinkedIn's Reid Hoffman. He reveals how to get noticed, perfect a pitch, and negotiate a partnership that
works for everyone.
An insider's guide to the secrets of the world of venture capital, Mastering the VC Game will prove invaluable for entrepreneurs seeking capital and successful partnerships.
Seeing Both Sides
VC Perspectives From a Former Entrepreneur
The purpose of this blog is to provide transparency into the venture capital process and to give entrepreneurs advice on company building.
Cases Featuring Jeff
Jeff's involvement with Open Market and Upromise has been the subject of the following cases.
UPromise 2002: Describes a set of decisions confronting the senior management of a company that has established a loyalty rewards program allocating cash to tax-advantaged college savings accounts for participants. The company has recruited a new CEO and needs to raise additional capital in the post-Internet bubble period.
Citation: Sahlman, William A. "Upromise 2002." Harvard Business School Case 804-058, September 2003.
UPromise: Describes the development of UPromise, a company that has developed a loyalty program through which corporate partners can contribute to funds that finance the education of consumers' children. Presents the accomplishments prior to the company's second round of financing and asks students to consider how the recent NASDAQ drop could or should affect the company's ability to raise money.
Citation: Sahlman, William A., Michael J. Roberts. "UPromise." Harvard Business School Case 801-321, November 2000.
Open Market, Inc.: The E-Commerce Wars: Continues the story of Open Market, Inc., a company founded in 1994 to support electronic commerce on the Internet. Despite a very successful initial public offering, the firm had reached a growth plateau, and the management team was considering several strategic options. Should it focus on building market share of its simple "storefront" product shop site (which was targeted at small e-merchants) or develop new channels for their high-end order-processing software, Transact? The 1999 holiday season was rapidly approaching, and Open Market's management team hoped to benefit from a predicted surge in online sales.
Citation: Cash, James I., Janis Gogan, Micahel Haselkorn, and Mani Subramani. "Open Market, Inc.: The E-Commerce Wars." Harvard Business School Case 800-255, October 2000. (Revised from original February 2000 version.)
Open Market, Inc.: Managing in a Turbulent Environment: Presents the story of Open Market, Inc., one of numerous companies formed in 1994 to engage in electronic commerce over the Internet. This case examines the company's development--its business strategy and organization evolution--as the company increased in size and gained a firm foothold in the uncertain electronic commerce.
Citation: Applegate, Lynda M., Janis L. Gogan. "Open Market, Inc.: Managing in a Turbulent Environment." Harvard Business School Case 196-097. August 1996. (Revised from original March 1996 version.)
Bussgang, Jeffrey J. Entering StartUpLand: An Essential Guide to Finding the Right Job. Boston: Harvard Business Review Press, 2017. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J. Mastering the VC Game: A Venture Capital Insider Reveals How to Get from Start-up to IPO on Your Terms. Portfolio, 2010. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Jono Bacon. "When Community Becomes Your Competitive Advantage." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (January 21, 2020). View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Craig Montuori, and William Brah. "How to Attract Startups and Tech Companies to a City Without Relying on Tax Breaks." Harvard Business Review Digital Articles (May 15, 2019). View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Ramana Nanda. "The Hidden Costs of Initial Coin Offerings." Harvard Business Review (website) (November 7, 2018). View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Samuel Clemens. "Continuous Development Will Change Organizations as Much as Agile Did." Harvard Business Review (website) (May 4, 2018). View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey. "Are You Suited for a Start-up?" Harvard Business Review 95, no. 6 (November–December 2017): 150–153. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Nadav Benbarak. "Every Company Needs a Growth Manager." Harvard Business Review (website) (February 19, 2016). View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J. "How Israeli Startups Can Scale." Harvard Business Review (website) (September 10, 2015). View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J. "You Found Your Product-Market Fit. Now What?" Harvard Business Review (website) (July 30, 2013). View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J. "The Secrets to TripAdvisor's Impressive Scale." Harvard Business Review (website) (October 2, 2012). View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J. "Scaling Is Hard. Here's How Akamai Did It." Harvard Business Review (website) (August 7, 2012). View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J. "Should I Become an Entrepreneur?" Harvard Business Review (website) (January 21, 2011). View Details
Spar, D. L., and Jeffrey J. Bussgang. "Ruling the Net." Harvard Business Review 74, no. 3 (May–June 1996): 125–133. View Details
Cases and Teaching Materials
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Benjamin N. Roth, and Michael Norris. "A Close Shave at Squire." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 822-055, January 2022. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Mel Martin. "Pacesetters." Harvard Business School Case 322-019, November 2021. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Tom Quinn, and Annelena Lobb. "On the Bubble: Startup Bootstrapping." Harvard Business School Case 822-033, September 2021. View Details
Rigol, Natalia, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, and Mitch Weiss. "Collab Capital." Harvard Business School Case 821-067, February 2021. (Revised October 2021.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Olivia Hull. "COVID-19 Testing at Everlywell." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 821-052, June 2021. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Zoë B. Cullen, William R. Kerr, Benjamin N. Roth, and Michael Norris. "A Close Shave at Squire." Harvard Business School Case 821-073, July 2021. View Details
Mills, Karen G., Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Martin A. Sinozich, and Gabriella Elanbeck. "The Black New Venture Competition." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 821-094, March 2021. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Allison H. Mnookin, and James Barnett. "KhataBook." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 821-007, March 2021. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Amy Klopfenstein. "Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?" Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 821-055, February 2021. View Details
Mills, Karen, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Martin Sinozich, and Gabriella Elanbeck. "The Black New Venture Competition." Harvard Business School Case 821-029, September 2020. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Allison H. Mnookin, and James Barnett. "KhataBook." Harvard Business School Case 821-006, November 2020. (Revised September 2021.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Olivia Hull. "COVID-19 Testing at Everlywell." Harvard Business School Case 821-001, October 2020. (Revised June 2021.) View Details
Rogers, Steven, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, and Alterrell Mills. "Amanda and Kristen: Mented Cosmetics." Harvard Business School Case 321-002, July 2020. View Details
Coffman, Katherine B., Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Kathleen L. McGinn, Julia Kelley, Amy Klopfenstein, and Katherine Chen. "Chief." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 920-033, June 2020. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Amy Klopfenstein, and Amram Migdal. "Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?" Harvard Business School Case 820-098, May 2020. (Revised September 2020.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Julia Kelley. "Giving Birth to Ovia Health." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 820-088, March 2020. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Olivia Hull, and Mel Martin. "C16 Biosciences: Lab-Grown Palm Oil." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 820-071, March 2020. View Details
Coffman, Katherine B., Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Kathleen L. McGinn, Julia Kelley, and Katherine Chen. "Scaling at Chief." Harvard Business School Case 920-021, November 2019. View Details
Coffman, Katherine B., Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Kathleen L. McGinn, Julia Kelley, and Katherine Chen. "Chief: Role for Lindsay Kaplan." Harvard Business School Case 920-020, November 2019. View Details
Coffman, Katherine B., Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Kathleen L. McGinn, Katherine Chen, and Julia Kelley. "Chief: Role for Carolyn Childers." Harvard Business School Case 920-019, November 2019. View Details
Eisenmann, Thomas R., Jeffrey J. Bussgang, and David Lane. "Analytical Space: The Next Frontier?" Harvard Business School Case 819-089, January 2019. (Revised July 2021.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Olivia Hull. "C16 Biosciences: Lab-Grown Palm Oil." Harvard Business School Case 820-008, October 2019. (Revised November 2019.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Julia Kelley. "Choosy." Harvard Business School Case 819-054, December 2018. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Ramana Nanda, Robert F. White, and Nathaniel Schwalb. "Initial Coin Offerings in 2018." Harvard Business School Technical Note 819-057, November 2018. (Revised December 2020.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Nathaniel Schwalb. "AirFox (A): Embracing the Blockchain and an ICO." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 819-065, November 2018. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Olivia Hull. "ZappRx." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 819-018, July 2018. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Edward B. Berk, and Nate Schwalb. "AirFox (A): Embracing the Blockchain and an ICO." Harvard Business School Case 818-097, May 2018. (Revised January 2019.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Julia Kelley. "Giving Birth to Ovia Health." Harvard Business School Case 818-004, January 2018. (Revised October 2020.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Olivia Hull. "ZappRx." Harvard Business School Case 818-001, January 2018. (Revised January 2019.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Samuel Clemens, and Olivia Hull. "Continuous Software Development: Agile's Successor." Harvard Business School Background Note 818-055, January 2018. (Revised August 2020.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Olivia Hull. "Delivering the Goods at Shippo." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 817-106, April 2017. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Olivia Hull. "Classtivity: Payal's Pirouette." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 817-105, March 2017. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Nadav Benbarak. "The Growth Manager." Harvard Business School Technical Note 819-034, July 2018. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Jeffrey F. Rayport, and Olivia Hull. "Delivering the Goods at Shippo." Harvard Business School Case 817-065, January 2017. (Revised October 2021.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Olivia Hull. "Classtivity: Payal's Pirouette." Harvard Business School Case 817-002, January 2017. (Revised September 2020.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Annelena Lobb. "Mattermark." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 817-090, December 2016. View Details
White, Robert, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, and Christine Snively. "Bootstrapping at Lightricks." Harvard Business School Case 817-051, October 2016. (Revised November 2020.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Christine Snively. "Jibo: A Social Robot for the Home." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 816-084, March 2016. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey, and Annelena Lobb. "Mattermark." Harvard Business School Case 816-073, February 2016. (Revised February 2017.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Christine Snively. "Jibo: A Social Robot for the Home." Harvard Business School Case 816-003, December 2015. (Revised May 2016.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Lisa Mazzanti. "Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?" Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 815-117, April 2015. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Lisa C. Mazzanti. "Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?" Harvard Business School Case 815-093, December 2014. (Revised October 2015.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey, and Matthew G. Preble. "Growth Hacking at Bazaart (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 815-077, December 2014. (Revised May 2015.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey, and Matthew G. Preble. "Growth Hacking at Bazaart (A)." Harvard Business School Case 815-001, December 2014. (Revised May 2015.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Lisa C. Mazzanti. "Yahoo: Both Sides of the Stamped Deal." Harvard Business School Case 814-051, January 2014. (Revised May 2015.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Lisa Mazzanti. "Yahoo: Both Sides of the Stamped Deal." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 815-080, November 2014. (Revised January 2015.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey. "Raising Startup Capital." Harvard Business School Background Note 814-089, February 2014. View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Lisa Mazzanti. "Open English." Harvard Business School Case 814-020, January 2014. (Revised May 2015.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Gaurav Jain, Liroy Haddad, Luke Langford, and Matt Noble. "Plastiq." Harvard Business School Case 813-125, December 2012. (Revised July 2018.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Gaurav Jain. "BabbaCo." Harvard Business School Case 813-107, December 2012. (Revised April 2016.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Thomas R. Eisenmann, Sarah Dillard, Katharine Nevins, and Puja Ramani. "The Business Development Manager." Harvard Business School Background Note 812-107, December 2011. (Revised March 2013.) (request a courtesy copy.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey, Thomas Eisenmann, and Robert Go. "The Product Manager." Harvard Business School Background Note 812-105, December 2011. (Revised January 2015.) View Details
Piskorski, Mikolaj Jan, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Jeffrey J. Bussgang, and David Chen. "foursquare." Harvard Business School Case 711-418, January 2010. (Revised March 2013.) View Details
Wasserman, Noam T., Jeffrey J. Bussgang, and Rachel Gordon. "Curt Schilling's Next Pitch." Harvard Business School Case 810-053, December 2009. (Revised June 2011.) View Details
Eisenmann, Thomas R., Jeffrey J. Bussgang, and David Kiron. "Predictive Biosciences." Harvard Business School Case 811-015, January 2011. (Revised March 2011.) View Details
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Michael J. Roberts. "Entrepreneurship Reading: Partnering with Venture Capitalists." Core Curriculum Readings Series. Boston: Harvard Business Publishing 8240, 2015. View Details
Start Up Strategy and Management
Bussgang's research focuses on applying Lean Startup principles to early-stage technology companies as well as the challenges and opportunities when scaling startups. His work led to the creation of the MBA elective course Launching Technology Ventures and dozens of case studies, teaching notes and HBR articles on startups, startup management and scaling startups. Bussgang's research on deconstructing startup management and best practices led to the writing of his book, Entering StartUpLand, published by Harvard Business Review Press.
Bussgang's work on how to raise venture capital culminated in a book, Mastering the VC Game, published by Penguin's Portfolio. He wrote a chapter on VC financing in the book Entrepreneur Readings: Partnering With Venture Capitalists. He also researches how to achieve alignment between entrepreneurs and venture capitalists.
Minority Entrepreneurs
Bussgang's work on studying the unique challenges and opportunities for minority entrepreneurs has resulted in numerous cases (e.g., Black New Venture Competition, Collab Capital) and the course Scaling Minority Businesses.
Boston Start Up Ecosystem
Jeff's work on characterizing the start up ecosystem in Boston is part of an annual review presented to the Harvard community at the iLab and can be found at www.slideshare.net/bussgang.
Launching Technology Ventures (LTV) is designed for students who are actively working on their own startups or who will work at early-stage startups. The course material is, in particular, focused on new businesses in the Internet, mobile, and enterprise software sectors, although the lessons from these sectors are quite generalized.
Extending concepts introduced in the MBA Required Curriculum course, The Entrepreneurial Manager, LTV explores in greater depth "lean startup" management practices and series of experiments that startups run to hone their value proposition, go to market strategy, and business model. LTV emphasizes implementation rather than strategy issues, including financing strategy and ethical issues facing founders.
Scaling Minority Businesses
Scaling Minority Businesses (SMB) is a field course designed to leverage the intellectual power and community of Harvard Business School to address the vital needs of Black-owned enterprises as they face the twin tasks of surviving and growing. The course utilizes three approaches to learning—traditional case-based classes, talks by subject experts, and hands-on consulting assignments with Black-owned businesses in the greater Boston-area. It will provide students with the opportunity to draw upon and strengthen their learnings from a range of RC courses including, but not limited to, TEM, Marketing, Strategy, and TOM. Students will receive hands-on experience wrestling with key issues in scaling a small business and will gain an understanding of the historic and systemic barriers to growth faced by Black businesses.
The arc of the course covers three modules: (1) Challenges of Systemic Racism and Inequities; (2) Challenges of Access to Capita; and (3) Challenges of Access to Customers.
The Rock Venture Partners
The Rock Venture Partners (RVP) program enables a small group of HBS 2nd year students to learn more about investing in startups by supporting Rock Accelerator teams as they go through the process of starting and pitching a venture. As part of the program, students evaluate and invest in Rock Accelerator startups, study and network with leaders of the venture capital industry, and participate in internships at venture capital firms.
Selected for Boston Magazine's "The 100 Most Influential People in Boston Right Now" in 2020.
Included as one of the 21 Most Powerful People in Boston Business in Boston Magazine in 2017.
Named one of Boston Magazine's The 30 Most Disruptive People in Boston Tech.
Named one of Boston's 50 Most Powerful People by Boston Magazine in 2015.
Honored as The Civic Tech Innovator of the Year in 2015 by Civic Tech Challenge and Generation Citizen.
Co-winner of the 2015 Barry Shrage Community Builder Award from the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston.
Named one of Boston Magazine's Most Powerful Idea People in 2014.
Named one of Mashable's Top 15 People Shaping Boston's Tech Scene.
Named a 2014 "Venture Capitalist" Power Player in Digital Media by AlwaysOn.
Named one of Boston Business Journal's 40 Under 40 in 2006.
Hack.Diversity
Global EIR Program
The Alliance for Business Leadership
Facing History and Ourselves
about.me Profile
Seeing Both Sides (blog)
www.jeffbussgang.com
Boston business leaders: Seize this moment and invest in Black businesses
Collaborations, not tax breaks, are better for growth
So, You Want to Join a Startup
The 21 Most Powerful People in Boston Business
Creating diversity in the innovation economy
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Every Company Needs a Growth Manager
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