CASE: GS-84 DATE: 8/7/13
QUIRKY: A BUSINESS BASED ON MAKING INVENTION ACCESSIBLE We are not here to build a startup business, we are here to unlock the creative potential of the universe. To solve problems in the most unconventional ways. To find folks in the middle of an African village who have great ideas for how our lives could be better. That is the big idea. To Make Invention Accessible. Period. No Comma. Now, here’s the rub… We’re not a non-profit. We are a well-funded startup business with a responsibility to our employees and our shareholders.
—Ben Kaufman, founder and CEO of Quirky1
In March 2009, Ben Kaufman founded Quirky, a company that enabled anyone with a product idea to access an online network of people to help evaluate and improve the idea, and potentially bring it to market. Though only 22 years old when he founded Quirky, Kaufman was already a successful serial entrepreneur. While a high school student, he had started a company to make 1
Internal memorandum.
David Hoyt and Michael Marks, Lecturer in Operations, Information and Technology, prepared this case as the basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. At the time this case was written, Quirky was a private company, not subject to public disclosure requirements. The authors thank Ben Kaufman and Quirky for their extraordinary support in providing and allowing publication of data from internal documents and financial information. Copyright © 2013 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Publically available cases are distributed through Harvard Business Publishing at hbsp.harvard.edu and The Case Centre at thecasecentre.org, please contact them to order copies and request permission to reproduce materials. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, used in a spreadsheet, or transmitted in any form or by any means –– electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise –– without the permission of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Every effort has been made to respect copyright and to contact copyright holders as appropriate. If you are a copyright holder and have concerns, please contact the Case Writing Office at cwo@gsb.stanford.edu or write to Case Writing Office, Stanford Graduate School of Business, Knight Management Center, 655 Knight Way, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-5015.