Made by: Enno Masurel, Marianna Akhbulatova and Maud van Merriënboer,  Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.

This is the story of Ruben Brave, a Dutch citizen from Amsterdam, with a Surinamese background, and a black skin. Ruben is a successful entrepreneur, and more recently is also playing a key role in the start-up scene and in denouncing racial discrimination. He has experienced many situations of racial discrimination himself, as a person in general but also specifically as an entrepreneur.

Topics: tech entrepreneur, racial discrimination of entrepreneurs (background, personal experience, personal effects, ways to fight).

Download the case text (pdf) or request the teaching notes

Eva de Mol founded CapitalT in February 2020, together with Janneke Niessen. Their success can be expressed in two ways: the entrance of a female-led company in an almost exclusively male sector, and the rapid collection of a huge investment sum. The investments in scale-ups by CapitalT are very well on their way to become successful.

Download the case text (pdf, May 2021) or request Teaching Notes.

Predator is founded by sisters Natasha and Bianca de Jong. Their quest for a healthy drink, besides water and tea, led to the market introduction of Predator: an endurance drink that consists of natural herbal energizers, instead of caffeine or sugar, to increase energy levels. Predator also donates 1 cent of every sale to the Predator Protection Plan: a plan to protect the endangered species in Africa.
Topics: startup branding, positioning, brand orientation, retail, energy drink, healthy lifestyle

Download the case text (pdf, November 2020) or request Teaching Notes.

Metrica Sports provides tactical analysis tools to improve the performance of football players through easy-to-use, customer centered software for data and video analysis. Their core product is the software FootMapp, which provides clubs with detection of key moments or movements using pattern recognition technology and original video of matches with overlaid annotated visualizations.

Topics: networking, incubation, early stage venture, software, video analytics, sports, football

Download the case text (pdf, January 2018) or request Teaching Notes and case update (March 2021)

In 2016 Optics11 was one of the most innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Netherlands. Optics11 has its origins in academics, but is now a serious player in the commercial market as well. Optics11 is an example of how the academic world and the private sector may intertwine, with the help of the public sector.

Topics: firm life cycle, growth stage, exit strategy, open innovation, investor, optical fiber-sensing systems, life sciences

Download the case text (pdf, January 2018) or request Teaching Notes

By Maarten Hogenstijn, Nesrien Abu Ghazaleh, Merel Sluiter/ HvA

This teaching case explains the story of social enterprise Tony’s Chocolonely. Tony’s is a mission driven company that sells chocolate with the aim to ban slavery in the cacao industry. Currently, they are market leader in the Netherlands and have also entered the market in several European countries and the United States. In this teaching case their journey is discussed and three specific topics are highlighted: transparency in the value chain, Tony’s organizational culture and telling and selling Tony’s story.

Topics: social entrepreneurship, social impact, transparency in value chains, organizational behavior, HRM

Download the case text (pdf) or request Teaching Notes and case update (january 2021)

By Enno Masurel / VU

In this case the successful development of the company SRXP and the entrepreneur Pieter Verbruggen are highlighted. SRXP operates in the Fintech (‘Financial Technology’) sector, that seeks to improve and automate the delivery and use of financial services with new technology. This case ​convincingly shows that there is ample space for young and innovative companies in the FinTech sector, with a right entrepreneurial approach.

Topics: fintech, entrepreneurship, pivotal role of the entrepreneur.

Download case text (PDF, December 2018) or request Teaching Notes

By Joris Ebbers / UvA
ROS is a not-for-profit IT security platform organization. The majority of the work ROS do consists of so-called “pen testing”. Pen testing is short for penetration testing, which is an authorized cyber attack to evaluate the security of IT systems by trying to exploit its vulnerabilities. Customers include retailer Ahold-Delhaize, the Dutch police, insurance company Aegon and internet browser Mozilla.

Topics: Platform business, virtual organization, nonprofit business models, cyber security, ethical hacking.

Download the case text (April 2019) or request Teaching Notes and the case update (pdf, June 2021).

By Martin Haring / HvA
In this case we introduce the topic of what it means to work at an entrepreneurial firm. What are the benefits and pitfalls for employees working at an entrepreneurial firm and how does the entrepreneur deal with the different wants and needs of his employees? What are the conditions for building a ‘blame free’ work environment and how do employees cope with the many changes and responsibilities in such a firm?

Topics: serial entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial firm culture, leading by example, entrepreneurial employees, HRM.
Download the case text (pdf, April 2019) or request Teaching Notes

Taco Zimmerman is a successful serial entrepreneur because, so far, he has started five new firms and left behind four firms (in due time he will leave his fifth firm behind as well). Looking at his current firm, Tuvalu Media, Taco is also a successful entrepreneur without reading the adjective ‘serial’. Good illustrations of the success of Tuvalu Media are the appealing television programs like ‘DNA Onbekend’ and ‘Ali B Op Volle Toeren’ that have been developed, the strong growth of the firm, and the acquisition of the firm by an investor.

Topics: serial entrepreneurship, production of television programs, acquisition by investor, internationalization

Download the case text (PDF, March 2020) or request Teaching Notes

Startup Studio Nescio is a SAAS (software as a service) company that values entrepreneurship so much that it calls itself a startup studio. It stimulates entrepreneurship by means of specific product development practices, HR practices, and Its culture. The case highlights how the entrepreneurs, who see themselves as creative individuals, innovate by first seeking uncertainty and subsequently reducing it by means of rapid data driven experimentation.

Topics: learn startup, uncertainty, innovation, entrepreneurial identity, competitive advantage, entrepreneurial firm culture, SAAS

Download the case (PDF, English, March 2020), Download the case (PDF, Nederlands, March 2020) or request Teaching Notes

Teaching notes and case updates are available upon request for teachers only. The teaching notes demonstrate how the cases can be used in your course(s). They consist of questions for students, answers to these questions, and references to relevant academic articles.

The case updates include new developments based on a revisit of the case some years later. They can be used to compare ideas of students – based on their analysis of the case – with what actually happened.

Send an E-mail to info@ixa.nl and provide below information:

• ‘Subject’: requesting teaching notes + case update + case name
• exemplify in which course you plan to use the case
• your full name, your function (eg. teacher, lecturer, assistant/ associate / full professor etc.)
• name of your university/ WO/ HBO