The life of a startup in the video game industry can be full of many potholes and pitfalls. There will be mistakes and second-guessing. But through it all, the hope is that the effort will bring success and a return on investment for the owners trying to build a dream.

In the case of Curt Schilling, former Red Sox starting pitcher, the road for his gaming startup 38 Studios has had its share of ups and downs. Schilling funded the studio himself and so far has been unable to entice other investors into his company, despite having some prominent members of a development team creating a massively multiplayer online game codenamed Copernicus, and purchasing startegy gaming studio Big Huge Games from THQ last year.

Schilling and 38 Studios are part of a recently published case study by Harvard Business School professor Noam Wasserman, who teaches the class Founders' Dilemmas at the school. The study reveals many of the issues that Schilling has faced since 38 Studios was founded in 2006, according to an article on Boston.com.

Some points from the study: