Abstract

The case describes the success of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) founded by Doreen Granpeesheh (Granpeesheh) in 1990. The case first touches upon the early life and education of Granpeesheh and how that led to the inception of CARD. The case then describes the growth of the company as a result of the treatment programs offered by her for curing autism among children and the exhaustive training program put in place for hired employees. This helped the firm expand to over 100 centers across the US by 2010 and over 181 locations in 2018. The case then describes the decision by the founder to sell her firm and its acquisition by Blackstone for US$600 million. Due to disagreements with the incoming leadership related to operations and changes in organizational values, she resigned as CEO in 2019 and from the board in 2022. Within a year after Granpeesheh moved out of CARD, the company filed for bankruptcy. The case then touches upon the reasons for the bankruptcy. Granpeesheh decided to step in and revive CARD by offering to buy out the ailing firm and help the registered patients and its employees. The question was whether the ageing founder Granpeesheh would be able to turn around CARD and what initiatives would help bring the service provider back to profitability.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Identify factors that influence the success of a health services startup
• Understand the challenges of a business growing too fast
• Assess the role of the founder in the success of a venture
• Recognize the problems associated with diluting the business model components
• Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of private equity firms acquiring and managing startups

Keywords

Turnaround Management; Entrepreneurship; Brand Revival; Private Equity Funding; Decision making; Women Entrepreneurship; Service Operations; Scaling up a Venture; Growth Challenges