The library
Hundreds of business case studies, decoded for operators.
Every case is a real story with a move you can use. Read the setup here, then open it in CaseBook for the Crux and the AI coaching that ties it to your own company.
01 36 cases
Strategy & Competitive Advantage
Where durable advantage actually comes from.
02 28 cases
Marketing & Growth
How attention gets earned, not bought.
03 24 cases
Finance & Unit Economics
Read a business at the unit level.
04 24 cases
Operations & Scaling
Where strategy is won or lost.
05 24 cases
Leadership & Org Design
The invisible operating system of a company.
06 24 cases
Product & Innovation
What customers love versus what they tolerate.
07 16 cases
Negotiation & Deals
What a signed deal actually means.
08 24 cases
Decision-Making & Behavioral
How smart people get it wrong.
09 24 cases
AI in Business
The boom, the bottlenecks, and who gets paid.
10 24 cases
Business Models
How companies actually make money.
11 15 cases
Great Entrepreneurs
The operators who built the playbook.
12 18 cases
Design & UX
Where the product meets the person.
Strategy & Competitive Advantage
36 cases- Adobe Creative Cloud Adobe
- Alibaba vs eBay: Local Beats Global Alibaba
- Amazon Web Services Amazon
- Android vs. iPhone Google
- Apple and the iPhone Apple
- Apple's Ecosystem Apple
- ARM: License Everything, Build Nothing ARM
- Best Buy: Surviving the Showroom Best Buy
- Blockbuster vs Netflix Blockbuster
- Booking.com: Own the Demand Booking.com
- Coke vs Pepsi: The Discipline of a Duopoly Coca-Cola
- De Beers De Beers
- Disney Disney
- Ferrari: The Strategy of Scarcity Ferrari
- Google Search Google
- Honda in America Honda
- IBM Under Gerstner IBM
- Intel and the Strategic Inflection Point Intel
- Kodak and the Digital Camera Kodak
- Lego's Survival Lego
- Marvel Studios Marvel Studios
- Microsoft and IBM Microsoft
- Microsoft vs Netscape: The Bundle Play Microsoft
- Netflix and Qwikster Netflix
- Nokia Nokia
- Nvidia: The CUDA Moat Nvidia
- Sony Betamax vs VHS Sony
- Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines
- Spotify vs Apple Music Spotify
- Standard Oil Standard Oil
- Tesla's Secret Master Plan Tesla
- Trader Joe's Trader Joe's
- Warby Parker Warby Parker
- WeChat's Super-App WeChat
- Xerox PARC Xerox
- Xiaomi: Give Away the Hardware Xiaomi
Marketing & Growth
28 cases- ALS Ice Bucket Challenge: A Viral Movement ALS Association
- Apple's "1984": Launching the Macintosh Apple
- Burger King: Stunt Marketing Burger King
- Casper Casper
- Chevy Nova: The Localization Myth Chevrolet
- Clubhouse: Manufactured Scarcity and the Hype Cycle Clubhouse
- Coca-Cola's New Coke Coca-Cola
- Dollar Shave Club Dollar Shave Club
- Dove: Real Beauty Dove
- Dropbox Dropbox
- Duolingo: The Mascot and TikTok Growth Duolingo
- Glossier Glossier
- GoPro GoPro
- Hotmail Hotmail
- Liquid Death Liquid Death
- Mailchimp Mailchimp
- Michelin Guide: Content Marketing Before Its Time Michelin
- Nike Nike
- Notion: Community and Template-Led Growth Notion
- Oatly: A Polarizing Brand Voice Oatly
- Old Spice Old Spice
- Patagonia Patagonia
- Red Bull Red Bull
- Snickers: "You're Not You When You're Hungry" Snickers
- Spotify Wrapped: Your Data as Shareable Marketing Spotify
- Squatty Potty: The Viral Video for an Awkward Product Squatty Potty
- Tupperware: The Party-Plan Model Tupperware
- Wendy's on Twitter Wendy's
Finance & Unit Economics
24 cases- Allbirds: DTC Economics and the Profit Problem Allbirds
- Amazon: Reinvestment Over Profit Amazon
- Berkshire Hathaway: Capital Allocation as the Job Berkshire Hathaway
- Beyond Meat: Hype Valuation Meets Reality Beyond Meat
- Blue Apron: CAC, LTV, and the Retention Problem Blue Apron
- Carvana: Growth, Debt, and Cash Burn Carvana
- Costco: Membership Margins and Deliberate Discipline Costco
- Dell: The Cash Conversion Cycle as a Weapon Dell
- GE: Financial Engineering and Its Limits General Electric
- Groupon: Growth on a Broken Model Groupon
- MoviePass: Selling Dollars for Cents MoviePass
- Netflix: Funding a Content Moat with Debt Netflix
- Peloton: Demand Whiplash and Inventory Peloton
- Robinhood: Payment for Order Flow Robinhood
- Salesforce: Inventing the SaaS Model Salesforce
- SoftBank Vision Fund: the Cost of Too Much Capital SoftBank
- Spotify: the Gross-Margin Trap Spotify
- Stripe and Square: the Take-Rate Model Stripe
- Toys R Us: the Leveraged Buyout That Sank It Toys R Us
- Uber: Blitzscaling and the Road to Profitability Uber
- Wayfair: The Economics of Free Shipping Wayfair
- Webvan: Premature Scale and Cash Burn Webvan
- WeWork: Narrative Versus Unit Economics WeWork
- Zoom: Efficient Hyper-Growth Zoom
Operations & Scaling
24 cases- Amazon: Fulfillment and Robotics at Scale Amazon
- Apple: Tim Cook and the Supply Chain Machine Apple
- Boeing 737 MAX: When Cost Pressure Overrides Safety Culture Boeing
- Chipotle: Food Safety and the Supply Chain Chipotle
- Disney Parks: Engineering the Guest Experience Disney
- Domino's: The Turnaround Built on Honesty Domino's
- FedEx: The Hub-and-Spoke Model FedEx
- Ford and the Moving Assembly Line Ford
- IKEA: Designing Cost Out from the Start IKEA
- In-N-Out: The Limited-Menu Throughput Model In-N-Out Burger
- McDonald's: The Speedee System and Franchising McDonald's
- Ocado: Warehouse Automation Done Right Ocado
- Rolls-Royce: Power by the Hour Rolls-Royce
- Ryanair: The Ultra-Low-Cost Operating Model Ryanair
- Starbucks: The 2008 Operational Reset Starbucks
- Tesla: Production Hell and Scaling Tesla
- The 2021 Supply Chain Crunch: When Just-in-Time Broke Toyota
- The Mumbai Dabbawalas: Six Sigma by Hand
- The Shipping Container: Malcolm McLean and Globalization
- Toyota Production System Toyota
- TSMC: Manufacturing as Strategy TSMC
- UPS: Routing Optimization and ORION UPS
- Walmart: Logistics as Competitive Advantage Walmart
- Zara: The Responsive Supply Chain Zara
Leadership & Org Design
24 cases- Airbnb: Brian Chesky and Founder Mode Airbnb
- Amazon: Two-Pizza Teams and the Six-Page Memo Amazon
- Apple: Jobs Returns and the Power of Focus Apple
- Berkshire Hathaway: Radical Decentralization Berkshire Hathaway
- Bridgewater: Radical Transparency and Its Limits Bridgewater Associates
- Costco: Jim Sinegal and Paying People Well Costco
- Disney: Succession Done Wrong, Then Right Disney
- Ford: Mulally's One Ford and Psychological Safety Ford
- GE: Jack Welch and the Cult of the CEO General Electric
- GM: Mary Barra Leading Through Crisis General Motors
- GM: The Ignition Switch and Organizational Silence General Motors
- Google: Project Aristotle and Psychological Safety Google
- Haier: The Company as Thousands of Micro-Enterprises Haier
- Microsoft: Nadella and the Growth Mindset Microsoft
- Netflix: The Culture Deck Netflix
- Nissan: Carlos Ghosn, from Turnaround Hero to Fugitive Nissan
- Nvidia: Jensen Huang's Flat Organization Nvidia
- Patagonia: Values-Driven Leadership and the Ownership Handoff Patagonia
- PepsiCo: Indra Nooyi and Performance with Purpose PepsiCo
- Pixar: The Braintrust Pixar
- Southwest: Herb Kelleher and Employees First Southwest Airlines
- Uber: Toxic Culture and Its Cost Uber
- WeWork: Adam Neumann and Founder Hubris WeWork
- Zappos: Culture as Moat and the Holacracy Bet Zappos
Product & Innovation
24 cases- 3M Post-it 3M
- Airbnb Airbnb
- Amazon Fire Phone Amazon
- Dyson Dyson
- Figma Figma
- Gillette Gillette
- Gmail: The Invite-Only Beta and a Bigger Inbox Google
- Google Glass Google
- Instagram Instagram
- Nintendo Wii Nintendo
- OXO Good Grips: Design for the Extremes OXO
- PayPal: The Pivot to Email Payments PayPal
- Quibi: A Billion-Dollar Misread of the User Quibi
- Segway Segway
- Slack Slack
- Snapchat: Designing for Disappearing Snapchat
- Sony PlayStation: Winning Developers to Win the Console War Sony
- Sony Walkman Sony
- Spanx: Solving Your Own Problem Spanx
- Spotify Discover Weekly: Machine Learning as Product Spotify
- Superhuman: Engineering Product-Market Fit Superhuman
- Twitter: The Microblog Born Inside a Podcast Startup Twitter
- WD-40: The Product Named After 40 Tries WD-40
- YouTube: From Dating Site to Video Giant YouTube
Negotiation & Deals
16 cases- AOL and Time Warner AOL
- Broadcom and Qualcomm Broadcom
- Daimler and Chrysler Daimler-Chrysler
- Disney Buys Fox Disney
- Disney Buys Pixar Disney
- Elon Musk and Twitter Twitter
- Facebook Buys Instagram Facebook
- Facebook Buys WhatsApp Facebook
- Google Buys YouTube and Android Google
- Kraft and Cadbury Kraft
- LVMH and Tiffany LVMH
- Microsoft Buys Activision Blizzard Microsoft
- Quaker and Snapple Quaker
- Salesforce Buys Slack Salesforce
- T-Mobile and Sprint T-Mobile
- Yahoo Turns Down Microsoft Yahoo
Decision-Making & Behavioral
24 cases- Beanie Babies: A Manufactured Bubble Ty Inc.
- Bernie Madoff: Affinity Fraud and the Comfort of Consistency
- BlackBerry BlackBerry
- Charlie Munger: Invert, Always Invert Berkshire Hathaway
- Concorde Concorde
- Decca Records and the Beatles Decca Records
- Deepwater Horizon: Production Pressure and Ignored Warnings BP
- Enron Enron
- Ford Pinto Ford
- GameStop: The Meme-Stock Short Squeeze GameStop
- JCPenney: Ignoring How Customers Actually Think JCPenney
- Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers
- Long-Term Capital Management Long-Term Capital Management
- NASA Challenger NASA
- Pets.com: Story Over Substance in the Dot-Com Bubble Pets.com
- Sears: Denial and the Slow Decline Sears
- Survivorship Bias: The WWII Planes That Came Back
- Sydney Opera House: The Planning Fallacy
- The Big Short: The Contrarians Who Saw 2008
- The Cuban Missile Crisis: Fixing Groupthink With Process
- Theranos Theranos
- Tulip Mania
- Volkswagen Dieselgate Volkswagen
- Wells Fargo Wells Fargo
AI in Business
24 cases- Air Canada's Chatbot Liability Air Canada
- ASML: The Supplier Behind the Supplier ASML
- Big Tech Goes Nuclear
- Bubble or Boom?
- Caterpillar: Old-Economy Winner in the AI Boom Caterpillar
- Chegg: Disrupted Overnight Chegg
- CoreWeave: The Leveraged Shovel-Renter CoreWeave
- Duolingo and the "AI-First" Backlash Duolingo
- GE Vernova and the Gas Turbine Boom GE Vernova
- Getty, Adobe, and the Training-Data Fight
- Klarna: The AI Customer-Service Round Trip Klarna
- Nvidia: Selling the Shovels Nvidia
- OpenAI's Economics OpenAI
- Stargate: The Megaproject OpenAI
- The Circular Financing Loop Nvidia
- The Copper Crunch: Tracing the Supply Chain Eaton
- The Enterprise Agent Bet Salesforce
- The HBM Memory Supercycle SK Hynix
- The Hyperscaler Capex Arms Race Microsoft
- The Power Bottleneck
- The Publisher Traffic Collapse Stack Overflow
- The RAM Price Shock: Second-Order Effects
- TSMC: The Chokepoint Foundry TSMC
- Vertiv: The Unglamorous Winner Vertiv
Business Models
24 cases- Subscription and Recurring Revenue
- The Freemium Model
- Two-Sided Marketplaces
- Razor and Blades
- Advertising and Attention
- Franchising
- Direct-to-Consumer (DTC)
- Aggregation Theory
- SaaS: Software as a Service
- Usage-Based Pricing
- Licensing and IP Royalties
- Membership and Warehouse Clubs
- Loss Leaders
- Asset-Light and the Sharing Economy
- Servitization: As a Service
- Bundling and Unbundling
- User-Generated Content
- Vertical Integration
- Platform Ecosystems and Lock-In
- Microtransactions and Free-to-Play
- Dynamic Pricing and Yield Management
- Private Label and White Label
- Open Core and Open Source
- The Long Tail
Great Entrepreneurs
15 cases- Steve Jobs Apple
- Jeff Bezos Amazon
- Walt Disney The Walt Disney Company
- Sam Walton Walmart
- Estée Lauder Estée Lauder Companies
- Oprah Winfrey Harpo Productions
- Phil Knight Nike
- Sara Blakely Spanx
- Warren Buffett Berkshire Hathaway
- Ray Kroc McDonald's
- Coco Chanel Chanel
- Madam C.J. Walker Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company
- Akio Morita Sony
- Yvon Chouinard Patagonia
- Jensen Huang Nvidia
Design & UX
18 cases- The iPhone and Direct Manipulation Apple
- Dieter Rams: Less, But Better Braun
- Google's Homepage: Radical Simplicity Google
- The Nest Thermostat Nest
- Don Norman and The Design of Everyday Things
- Tesla's Touchscreen Tesla
- The TikTok Feed TikTok
- Stripe: Developer Experience as Design Stripe
- Airbnb: Designing the Whole Experience Airbnb
- Duolingo and Habit Design Duolingo
- Slack and the Power of Microcopy Slack
- iOS 7 and the Design Pendulum Apple
- Amazon 1-Click Amazon
- Dark Patterns and the Trust Tax
- Accessibility and the Curb-Cut Effect
- Perceived Performance
- Design Systems and Material Design Google
- Dyson: Industrial Design as a Moat Dyson
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