Founded by two former Sequoia Capital partners, Columbus-Ohio-based Drive Capital’s mission was to build a world-class venture capital firm in the middle of the U.S., an area historically overlooked by VCs. Drive faced early challenges of attracting investors, sourcing talent, and building entrepreneurial ecosystems, but by 2022, the firm had invested in over 90 portfolio companies and had assets under management of over $2 billion, making it the largest VC firm outside the coasts. In the Winter of 2022, cofounder and CEO Chris Olsen contemplated an investment into Forge Biologics, an Ohio-based gene therapy contract development and manufacturing company. The partnership weighed the pros and cons in the context of the fund’s overall portfolio and macroeconomic headwinds facing the industry.
In May 2014, Alex Frommeyer, cofounder and CEO of Kentucky-based Beam Dental, a seed-stage startup that developed connected toothbrushes that tracked brushing habits, needed to decide which strategy to pitch to a venture capital firm. The first pitch deck played to the founders’ strengths as engineers and requested funds to develop a market-leading, next-generation connected toothbrush. The second pitch deck requested capital to start a dental insurance company, an industry in which the founders had limited knowledge, that would distribute the toothbrush and offer premium credits for healthy brushing habits. This case is the first case in a two-part series (second case 723-356), and there are two supplements (723-374 and 723-375) for this case.
Early pitch deck (one of two). This case is a supplement to Beam Dental (A) 723-355.
See more research
Alicia Dadlani is the Director of the Mid-US Research Office (MRO). She works closely with HBS faculty developing case studies and supporting faculty research in the region. She also serves an important role in building and strengthening strong partnerships with companies and alumni in the region and supporting a wide range of initiatives across the school.
Alicia has extensive international experience in Asia, Latin America, and Europe. She started her career as a CPA for Ernst & Young (E&Y), working in the Midwest and Japan. After E&Y, she joined The Coca-Cola Company and held various leadership roles in Japan and the corporate office (Atlanta, GA) managing mergers and acquisitions and working on key strategic initiatives around the world. Upon graduating from Harvard Business School, Alicia joined McKinsey & Co, working in Atlanta and Europe with a focus in the consumer goods sector. Raised in Ohio, Alicia returned to the Midwest and lives there with her family.
Alicia received her MBA from Harvard Business School and her B.S. in Accounting from Miami University. She is also fluent in Japanese.