Gatewood and Daugherty: Minding Their Own Business Case Solution And Analysis, HBR Case Study Solution & Analysis of Harvard Case Studies

Nathaniel Gatewood and Sean Doherty were MBA students at the University of Virginia's Darden Graduate School of Business Administration. Each of them held a strong entrepreneurial desire and headed back to school in mind. Gatewood knew that he wanted to buy a manufacturing company, but it is not clear how he should go about it. Doherty just wanted to work for themselves. The couple met in their area and quickly became friends. Within a short period of time, Gatewood and Doherty tossed around the idea of becoming partners and exploring a joint venture to purchase the company. After school started, they met another classmate and partner, Eric Anderson, who served as the catalyst for modeling acquisition plan in the business project Darden. At the time, Anderson was offered a position in the private equity group, where he interned last summer, and he abandoned the partnership. After some soul-searching, Gatewood and Doherty decided to continue without him. Couple took many steps in the due diligence process. They rated their personal skills and interview faculty, employers and graduates. Along the way they treated the concept of the search fund. As they came closer to the graduates, Doherty and Gatewood were forced to choose between providing fundraising and continues to look for acquisition or use of a high-paying job, as well as their classmates, and looking for a business to buy later. The case illustrates the development of the two businesses and serves as an excellent introduction to the concept of the search fund. It also contributes to the discussion on how to plan, manage and make decisions under uncertainty. "Hide
by Gerry Yemen, Gregory Fairchild Source: Darden School of Business 25 pages. Publication Date: August 16, 2001. Prod. #: UV1986-PDF-ENG