Visit hbs.edu

Curated Insights | Mark Nunnelly

Introduction

Explore the latest insights from Harvard Business School’s research emphasizing lucrative long-term investment potentials in disruptive AI, digitization and innovative scientific pursuits, underpinning opportunities like Moderna’s triumphant COVID-19 vaccine development.


Insights

The Harvard USPTO Patent Dataset: A Large-Scale, Well-Structured, and Multi-Purpose Corpus of Patent Applications

By: Mirac Suzgun, Luke Melas-Kyriazi, Suproteem K. Sarkar, Scott Duke Kominers, and Stuart Shieber

Leverage HUPD for Investment Decisions

The Harvard USPTO Patent Dataset (HUPD) offers a wealth of information that can be used to inform investment decisions at Bain Capital. With over 4.5 million patent applications and 34 structured data fields per patent, the dataset can provide insights into emerging technologies, industry trends, and the competitive landscape. Utilizing NLP tasks such as patent decision prediction and IPC/CPC code classification, which have shown accuracies of 58-64% and 63% respectively, could provide a competitive edge in identifying promising investment opportunities.

Support Portfolio Companies

HUPD can also be a valuable resource for your portfolio companies, particularly those in the tech sector. It can help them improve their patent applications, understand the patent landscape, and potentially identify new areas for innovation. The dataset’s focus on applications rather than just granted patents provides a more comprehensive view of the patent process, which can be beneficial for companies at different stages of growth.


What Chandrayaan-3 Says About India’s Entrepreneurial Approach to Space

By: Tarun Khanna (in an interview by Clea Simon, Harvard Gazette)

Explore Investment Opportunities in India

India’s recent successful moon landing, despite limited R&D funding, showcases the country’s significant advancements in data and digital technology. As India is poised to become the third-largest economy in the world, it presents a ripe opportunity for investment, particularly in sectors such as space technology, digital infrastructure, and biotech, where India has demonstrated substantial growth and innovation.

Encourage R&D Investments

The article highlights that India spends less than 1% of its GDP on R&D, a ratio that has been declining over time, compared to the US which allocates 2.5% of its GDP to R&D. As a managing director at Bain Capital, you could leverage this insight to advocate for increased R&D investments in your portfolio companies, particularly those operating in emerging markets like India. This could potentially lead to groundbreaking innovations and significant returns on investment.


Case: Ribbit Capital and the Gauntlet Investment Opportunity

By: Shai Bernstein, Allison M. Ciechanover

Consider Crypto Investments

Ribbit Capital’s success in the crypto market, with 14 investments by 2018, demonstrates the potential of this sector. The crypto market cap has grown to $2T by 2022, indicating a significant opportunity for growth. As a managing director at Bain Capital, exploring investments in crypto infrastructure, DeFi protocols, and consumer crypto apps could be a strategic move.

Evaluate Opportunities in DeFi

Ribbit’s consideration of investing in Gauntlet, a startup offering tools for DeFi protocols, highlights the potential of this space. With DeFi’s total addressable market currently at $250B and Gauntlet’s revenue run rate at $20M with 20x growth in the past year, there is a clear opportunity for high returns. Bain Capital could benefit from exploring similar investment opportunities in the DeFi sector.


The Crowdless Future? How Generative AI is Shaping the Future of Human Crowdsourcing

By: Léonard Boussioux, Jacqueline N. Lane, Miaomiao Zhang, Vladimir Jacimovic, and Karim R. Lakhani

Invest in AI for Business Solutions

The research demonstrates that AI, specifically GPT-4, can generate quality business solutions at scale, with 730 AI solutions generated in under 2 hours at a cost of $0.037 per solution. This efficiency and cost-effectiveness could be a game-changer for Bain Capital’s portfolio companies, especially those operating in the circular economy.

Integrated Human-AI Approach

While AI solutions rated higher on value, human solutions were found to be more novel. This highlights a potential strategy for Bain Capital to leverage both human and AI capabilities for ideation and problem-solving. By integrating AI into the process, you can maximize the value of solutions while maintaining the novelty that comes from human creativity.


The Impact of AI on Developer Productivity: Evidence from GitHub Copilot

By: Sida Peng, Eirini Kalliamvakou, Peter Cihon, and Mert Demirer

Invest in AI Tools

The article presents compelling evidence of the significant impact of AI tools on developer productivity. The study found that developers using GitHub Copilot, an AI pair programmer, completed tasks 55.8% faster than those who didn’t. This suggests that investing in AI tools can significantly boost productivity in your software development teams.

Target Less Experienced Developers

The study also found that less experienced developers benefited more from the AI tool. This suggests that introducing AI tools like GitHub Copilot could be particularly beneficial in onboarding and training new developers, potentially reducing the time and resources required for these processes.


Circular Products and Business Models: Opportunities for Entrepreneurs, Managers, and Investors

By: Shirley Lu and George Serafeim

Invest in Circular Economy

The transition to a circular economy represents a multi-trillion-dollar market opportunity. In Europe alone, this transition represents a €230 billion investment opportunity with a €1.5 trillion value creation potential until 2040. As a managing director at Bain Capital, it would be beneficial to consider investing in businesses that are adopting circular economy models or technologies that facilitate this transition.

Embrace Collaboration and Education

The article emphasizes the need for multi-sectoral collaboration and education to accelerate the realization of the trillion-dollar opportunity on circularity. This could involve partnering with other firms, entrepreneurs, and governments to facilitate the transition to a circular economy. Additionally, educating teams on the fundamentals of carbon emission measurements, life cycle analysis, and strategies to reduce carbon footprint can create more engaged relationships with suppliers and place the company in a leadership role within the value chain.


A double exposure image of a woman in red and blue

Tech For All Explores Innovation in Women’s Health

By: Rem Koning and Noa Ben Haim

Invest in Women’s Health Startups

The article highlights the significant innovation happening in women’s health, a historically underserved area. Companies like Elektra and Niramai are leveraging technology to address issues like menopause and breast cancer. As a Managing Director at Bain Capital, investing in such startups could yield significant returns, given that 75% of women experience menopause symptoms and breast cancer is a leading cause of death among women.

Encourage Diversity in Innovation

The article points out that women inventors tend to identify problems that the medical establishment has ignored. This suggests that fostering diversity in the teams you invest in could lead to the identification of unique, underserved markets. This is supported by the fact that biomedical patents invented by all-female teams are 35% more likely to focus on women’s health.

Address Taboos and Social Norms

The article also discusses how social norms and taboos can hinder innovation in women’s health. As an investor, you could play a role in breaking down these barriers by supporting companies that are not afraid to tackle these issues. For instance, NextGen Jane is a startup that aims to use menstrual blood to provide insights into women’s reproductive health, a concept that has faced resistance due to societal taboos.


Detecting Routines: Applications to Ridesharing CRM

By: Ryan Dew, Eva Ascarza, Oded Netzer, and Nachum Sicherman

Leverage the Bayesian Nonparametric Model

The model developed in the article provides a unique opportunity to understand customer behavior on a deeper level. It separates routine usage from random usage, providing insights into recurring patterns. This could be instrumental in predicting customer value and behavior, which could be beneficial for Bain Capital’s portfolio companies in various sectors.

Utilize Routines for Segmentation

The article suggests that routines can be a useful tool for segmentation. Understanding the different types of routines and their respective values can help in creating more targeted marketing strategies and improving customer relationship management. This could be particularly useful for portfolio companies in the consumer sector.


Image of various recyclable items.

HBR: How AI Will Accelerate the Circular Economy

By: Shirley Lu and George Serafeim

Invest in AI and Digital Tools

The article emphasizes the role of AI and digital tools in accelerating the shift towards a circular economy. For instance, SXD Zero Waste uses AI to redesign garment mockups, resulting in zero waste and about 55% lower cost. As a managing director at Bain Capital, investing in companies that leverage such technologies could be a profitable and sustainable move.

Explore the Product-as-a-Service Model

The article mentions the success of the product-as-a-service model in extending the useful life of products. For example, SuperCircle developed a digital infrastructure that enabled circularity in the fashion industry, creating a customer experience that allows for goods to be returned for a credit or discount. This model could be a potential area for investment, as it not only promotes sustainability but also opens up new avenues for customer engagement and revenue generation.


AI Puts Moderna within Striking Distance of Beating COVID-19

This article is based on a Harvard Business School Teaching Case on Moderna and an HBR interview with Noubar Afeyan, Founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering. A more extended view of Moderna’s use of AI can be found in Competing in the Age of AI, by Marco Iansiti & Karim Lakhani, which features an updated preface (on Kindle) with a deep dive on Moderna.

Invest in AI and Digitization

The article highlights the significant role of AI and digitization in Moderna’s success. AI has the potential to increase success rates up to 50% and reduce time-to-market, which is crucial in the current pandemic situation. As a managing director at Bain Capital, considering investments in companies that prioritize AI and digitization could yield high returns.

Support Innovative Approaches

Moderna’s innovative approach to mRNA science has put them at the forefront of the COVID-19 vaccine race. This demonstrates the potential of investing in companies that are pushing the boundaries of science and technology. As an investment firm, Bain Capital could benefit from identifying and supporting such groundbreaking initiatives.


In Summary

Harvard’s latest research indicates significant investment potential in AI, digitization, and innovation-driven companies for longer-term gains. As a leader in Bain Capital, it would be beneficial to consider ventures integrating these elements, enabling potential higher success rates and accelerated time-to-market. Aligning investments with such future-focused and pioneering companies could be a monumental stepping stone for enhanced growth and sustainability at Bain Capital.

Engage With Us

Join Our Community

Ready to dive deeper with the Digital Data Design Institute at Harvard? Subscribe to our newsletter, contribute to the conversation and begin to invent the future for yourself, your business and society as a whole.