Stories
Stories
The Making of a Movement
Photo by Nicole Pereira
As David Linn (MBA 2000) and his wife of five years, Jen Goodman Linn (MBA 1999), sat across a table for two at an outdoor cafe in Manhattan, they looked like any other young couple sharing lunch on a sunny spring day. But there was nothing casual about their conversation. They were on the verge of making decisions that could advance treatment options for patients with rare cancers.
Neither of the Linns worked in science or medicine. A few years earlier, rare cancers had not even been on their radar. Now it was possible their choices could change the course of humanity’s fight against rare cancers and affect millions of lives. How did they reach this crossroads?
The answer lies within a story that can be traced back to a chance meeting at HBS. In 1999, five months after enrolling at HBS, David crossed paths with Jen while walking through campus, leading to a long-term relationship and wedding in 2003.
Then life got very complicated. Less than twelve months after getting married, Jen was diagnosed with MFH sarcoma, a rare cancer of the soft tissue. For two years, she endured painful rounds of chemotherapy in her valiant fight against the disease. Finally, in 2006, doctors declared she was cancer-free.
While the Linns were relieved to win their battle, they could not shake their concern for other people who were in the midst of their own struggles with rare cancers, as there was an alarming shortage of treatment options available due to a lack of funding for research and clinical trials. The couple adopted the cause as their calling and organized a fundraiser to support the work of Jen’s doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) Cancer Center.
“Our idea, which came to be known as Cycle for Survival, centered around indoor cycling. Each team consists of at least four people who share a bike, relay-style, for four hours. Before the event, they line up donors to sponsor their participation. After Equinox instructors agreed to host the event, everything else fell into place,” David recalls.
Many HBS alumni played a significant role in the experience. “They filled Equinox with a spirit of celebration and hope,” David says. “Our former classmates made sure the event was fun.”
They also ensured it was profitable. The Linns hoped to raise $10,000. Instead, they raised nearly $250,000.
Unfortunately, the celebration didn’t last long. A short time later, Jen’s cancer returned. Throughout the rest of 2007, she endured months of especially difficult rounds of chemotherapy and painful side effects. Yet Jen refused to let her physical condition interfere with the effort to assist others. As she wrote in her blog that fall, “[David and I] have told cancer where to fit into our lives versus the other way around... I refuse to give in to this disease.”
Driven by Jen’s relentlessness and energized by the response to their first fundraiser, the Linns moved forward with Cycle for Survival in 2008. Again, the results exceeded expectations by almost tripling the original donation total.
With a second event complete, the two business school graduates at the helm were able to do a deep-dive analysis of their concept and forecast its future. From what they saw, it was positioned to grow rapidly in the years ahead. “When we studied certain metrics, like the number of repeat riders, we realized Cycle for Survival could have a bigger impact than anyone ever imagined,” says David.
Given their marketing and finance experience (Jen was Nickelodeon’s senior vice president of consumer marketing; David was principal at Oak Point Partners), the event’s cofounders seemed to be ideal candidates to scale it to those greater heights.
Yet, despite their passion for the cause, the Linns knew better than to make the commitment quickly. “HBS taught us to dream big while also using the strategic and analytical thinking necessary to achieve that dream. We knew we could not let our emotions dictate our decision. We had to objectively assess whether we were the right people for that role,” David observes.
And so began a conversation about the best path forward—a running dialogue that stretched from their high-rise apartment to the outdoor cafe. For hours on end, they reviewed, discussed, and agonized over the pros and cons of every option, from appointing a successor to starting their own full-fledged organization.
“We knew the decisions we were making could affect many people,” David says. “It was important to think things through.”
During their deliberations, the Linns also sought input from nonprofit leaders. “The advice that resonated with us most,” David notes, “was to evaluate what we could provide versus what already existed.” Through that prism, the question was not whether they could do it well, he says, but instead whether someone else would be able grow the idea even bigger and faster, and sustain it for longer.
The Linns decided the answer to the latter question was yes, and they believed the “someone” was MSK. Upon making that determination, they offered to let the famed cancer center step in and oversee Cycle for Survival.
“It’s not easy to let other people run something you’ve started—especially when you’re emotionally invested—but we knew this was the right decision,” says David. “We trusted MSK; our interests were aligned, and they had the experience, infrastructure, and network to accelerate and sustain the growth of Cycle for Survival in a way nobody else could.”
It wouldn't be the only time the couple put the mission ahead of themselves. During the leadership transition, they made two other altruistic decisions that helped spark Cycle for Survival’s astonishing expansion: They agreed to broaden the allocation of event proceeds from research specific to sarcoma—the disease Jen fought—to all rare cancers. The significance of that selfless shift was seismic. By loosening the link between Cycle for Survival and their own circumstances, the Linns gave millions of people with loved ones affected by other rare cancers a greater incentive to participate and contribute.
David and Jen’s other crucial decision was to cede control to MSK without condition and with only a rough blueprint for the next few years in place. The no-strings-attached arrangement granted MSK the freedom to lead Cycle for Survival through a period of rapid escalation and change without being hamstrung by preexisting promises. “We wanted to do whatever made it easier for MSK to receive more donations to fund more research and help more people,” observes David.
Photo by Jose L. Argueta
The results were transformative. MSK assigned full-time staff to manage the event, and Equinox formalized its role as a founding partner. In turn, the acceleration of growth became exponential, turning a family-run fundraiser into a philanthropic juggernaut. Cycle for Survival events have now taken place around the country. In 2019 alone, they attracted 36,000 participants and 245,000 donors. In total, the events have raised nearly $250 million.
The couple’s story continues to resonate within the HBS community as well. It has been used as a case study, and hundreds of alumni have participated in the events.
Tragically, Jen didn’t witness all of the subsequent outpouring of support and progress in person. After fighting fearlessly for seven years, she passed away in 2011. But MSK has taken steps to ensure her presence continues to be felt. At every Cycle for Survival event, for example, organizers designate a stationary bicycle as “Jen’s Bike.”
Ironically, though, David believes the greatest tribute to his wife’s impact is the extent to which the event does not revolve around her. “In 2012, I attended a Cycle for Survival event and realized most of the people there had never met Jen. And yet they were passionate and ready to ride, excited to support their own loved one,” he recalls. “It was exactly what Jen and I envisioned when we turned everything over to MSK. We didn’t want it to be about us. We wanted to create a platform for other people to honor their own Jens. We believed that was the most effective approach to raise a lot of money to fight rare cancers.”
Hundreds of millions of dollars later, there is no doubt that strategy has worked. Most important, those donations have had a tangible impact. “One hundred percent of the money funds rare cancer research and clinical trials at MSK, which has led to new and better treatment options for people today,” David observes. “Earlier this year, for example, the FDA approved a new treatment that resulted from research that Cycle for Survival donations helped fund. That was Jen’s dream. That was the goal that guided every decision we made.”
Editor's note: At the Spring 2019 HBS Reunions, David Linn joined Professor Das Narayandas in a case discussion around the reasons for Cycle for Survival's spectacular success. HBS alumni are invited to watch the video of this presentation.
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