Harvard Business School has a long tradition of studying both venture capital and private equity, and of influencing the industry through its teaching and involvement through alumni. The first modern private equity fund, American Research and Development, was designed and led by Professor Georges Doriot in the years after World War II. HBS alumni have continued to be among the most highly represented among the business school graduates in leadership across the industry.
HBS's influence in the private capital arena has extended to research and teaching as well. Some of the most-cited papers in the private capital literature have been written by HBS faculty. HBS was among the first business school to offer classes on entrepreneurial finance, venture capital and private equity. All three have been widely emulated, often using HBS cases, at other institutions. Today, HBS offers a sequence of four specialized MBA classes (Entrepreneurial Finance, Venture Capital and Private Equity, Private Equity Finance, and the Private Equity Practicum). Also, the Executive Education program Private Equity and Venture Capital is now in its third decade.
Our Goals
- To facilitate deeper interaction between academia and practitioners to understand the big challenges in the industry and their potential solutions
- To foster influential research at HBS and other schools by assembling and curating data on the industry
- To ensure that our MBA graduates and Executive Education participants are exposed to cutting-edge ideas that will shape their career paths in the Venture Capital and Private Equity Industries