Husk Power Systems, founded by Manoj Sinha (MBA '09), used effectuation principles to become one of the most successful alternative power companies in India.
Haiama Beauty Co., an eco-luxury haircare brand founded by Allison Shimamoto (MBA ’19)
“Effectuation has had a major impact on how I run my business. Most notably: ‘Don’t make a slide if you don’t have to’. Having been in client services, I had that mindset that you do 30 iterations before you show it to a client. Being an effectual entrepreneur is making decisions with the bare minimum of inputs and acting quickly. You just go out there and try it. You take your product to the customers, and you look at how it does.”
- Allison Shimamoto, founder and CEO, Haiama Beauty
Rhoback Activewear, a high-end lifestyle activewear company co-founded by Kristina Loftus (MBA ’17) and Matt Loftus (MBA ’16)
“The two years I spent at Darden were two risk-free years to start a company. I had already taken the plunge to forgo a job and salary, now I just needed to execute on an idea and I had nothing to lose. And if Rhoback didn’t work out, I considered it an Affordable Loss since I would still have an MBA and an incredible experience building a company with my co-founders.”
- Kristina Loftus, co-founder and CEO, Rhoback Activewear
501 Auctions, a fundraising platform for nonprofit organizations (now GiveSmart, part of Community Brands), co-founded by Jon Carrier (MBA ’12) and Teddy Jones (MBA ’12)
“We drank the Darden entrepreneurial Kool-Aid, which is all about effectuation and making use of the resources at your disposal and really plunging into it without risking more than you can afford. I don’t think that I or my co-founder would have approached it that way — taking small bets and going in the direction of what people wanted — were it not for our experience at Darden and the wisdom imparted by folks like Saras Sarasvathy and Jeanne Liedtka.”
- Teddy Jones, co-founder, 501 Auctions (now GiveSmart)
