Scalerator Founder and Director
Daniel Isenberg is the Scalerator founder and director. From 1981-7 and 2005-9 Dan was a professor at the Harvard Business School, and in the interim (1987-2005) was an entrepreneur and venture capitalist in Israel. From 2015-2017 Dan was an Associate of the Growth Lab at the Harvard Kennedy School, and from 2009-2024 a professor (adjunct) at Columbia Business School. He created and directed the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project from 2009-2018.
Dan has authored two books Worthless Impossible and Stupid (HBR Press 2013), published over 35 digital and print articles on entrepreneurship in HBR, and has been featured in the Economist, Forbes, Bloomberg, Quartz, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, etc. Dan is recognized as a global thought leader in entrepreneurship ecosystems and created the Scalerator and Scale Up Ecosystem methodologies. Between 2009-2013 Dan conducted World Economic Forum events at Davos, Africa, Europe, and China.
In 2012 Mikhail Gorbachev awarded Dan the Pio Manzu Award for “Innovations in Economic Development.” Dan created and directed the program, Driving Economic Growth Through Scale Up Ecosystems. Dan is an active investor in early and ventures and an LP in venture funds.. He holds the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in social psychology from Harvard University.
