撮要

The case describes how Roman Khan and Jennifer Chen founded Linjer, a start-up with a limited budget, which successfully generated cashflows via crowdfunding. Linjer is a boutique design house in Hong Kong which offers minimally-designed leather bags and watches, which it sells online globally. Passionate about style and quality, the two founders started the venture in 2014 with a budget of US$20,000. Like most start-ups, Linjer faced limitations on access to traditional funding from financial institutions. As a result, the founders spent half the budget on their first crowdfunding campaign, creating video and photographs establishing Linjer as a classy, high-end brand, and more importantly, one whose products could initially only be procured through online crowdfunding. The rest of the money went to the production of prototypes of their first product, the Soft Briefcase. The case is set in September 2018, when Linjer’s management is deciding on next steps the company will take: (1) to continue the business as is; (2) to take funding from venture-capital investors; and/or (3) other alternatives including, but not limited to, selling the company.

學習目標

The case aims to deepen students’ understanding of corporate finance, start-up financing options, crowdfunding as alternate financing, determination of a company’s optimal debt/equity structure, business strategy, and digital marketing.