The Jurofoon case follows the development of Jurofoon, a Dutch venture founded by three graduates of Maastricht University (the Netherlands). Jurofoon provides legal advice by phone to private clients. Jurofoon’s success depends a lot on good marketing. It needs to generate and maintain sufficient market recognition to provide a continuously growing stream of telephone calls.
The case describes a day in Jurofoon’s history when it is facing three major challenges. First, the founders will have a meeting with a consortium interested in providing an additional investment of 2 M€ in exchange for equity of Jurofoon. However, the consortium is only willing to invest this if Jurofoon adapts its business model in a way that will make it an attractive acquisition target. Second, one of the founders of Jurofoon and the only one of them with a legal background, has announced that he wants to quit. Finally, on the coming Monday a television program that addresses consumer problems will have a story on Jurofoon. The makers of the TV program have been monitoring the advice Jurofoon has been giving its customers. They will present their results claiming that most of Jurofoon’s advice is wrong…
Written by Gert Poppe and Wynand Bodewes from Maastricht University and Maastricht Centre for Entrepreneurship. Download the full case and teaching note at www.thecasecentre.org or request them from g.poppe@maastrichtuniversity.nl.
