Before MBA Protocol

Prior to working with MBA Protocol, I had spent 3 years in a rotational program at Texas Instruments, followed by 2 (now 3) years doing Project Finance for a renewable energy developer. In these roles, I gained awareness of a growing renaissance in hardware technology, a trend that is now widely discussed in the venture capital space and which has been dubbed by a16z as “American Dynamism.” The pivot I dreamed about was building a career that would ultimately land me in a venture capital role focused on these hardware innovations. As VC is notoriously difficult to break into straight out of an MBA, my goal was to spend my first few years in consulting to build the skillset that would later land me that coveted VC role.

Why MBA, why now

My post-MBA vision now is still to eventually land in VC (the dream would be to work for a16z). That said, while consulting is still my primary goal, I no longer see it as the only way to land that eventual VC role, due to a combination of career research, industry-relevant reading (shout out to the “Not Boring” and “Production Capital” blogs), and self-discovery resources provided by my MBA program’s Career Services Center.

Both of the aforementioned blogs signal that the capital needs of hard tech companies will likely call for the innovative application of old financing methods, such as Project and Asset-backed Finance. Given this, as well as my background in Project Finance, I am now considering the IB path, though with an emphasis on groups relevant to hard tech financing needs.

A major plot twist was thrown my way after completing a career assessment provided by my MBA program’s CSC, though. The report indicated that I would find my stride most in roles closer to the Product/Marketing side of things, rather than Finance, and I strongly agree with the report’s conclusions. While this doesn’t disqualify consulting, it indicates that IB should be a lower priority for me, and opens the door to roles within relevant companies themselves.

So, while my end goal has remained the same, the path there has changed a bit. My primary post-MBA goal is still consulting, but my secondary goal is shaping up to be Product Marketing roles within large tech companies, and the IB goal has been pushed to third place.

The biggest reason that I decided an MBA was the right path to make this pivot was due to spending ~2-3 years applying to tech companies, for roles I felt qualified for, but never receiving so much as a phone screen. Almost all of these job postings listed consulting and/or IB as preferred qualifications, and I knew that the best way to land these roles would be through an MBA program with structured recruiting.

Why MBA Protocol

I chose MBA Protocol due to my initial conversation with Brian. After bringing up my career interests, Brian demonstrated familiarity with the topics I was interested in. Given the niche nature of these interests, it felt important to me to have a coach that knew what I was talking about. Beyond his pre-existing knowledge, though, Brian also demonstrated a high amount of intellectual curiosity and a willingness to learn more about interests of mine that he was not already familiar with. This sealed the deal for me, as I knew I would be working with someone who would meet me on my level.

The work we did together

The biggest change was my storytelling ability. Going into the application process, I had no idea how I would represent my experiences in a way strong enough to gain admission into top programs. By the end of the process, I had a collection of essays and stories that represented some of the strongest storytelling work I’ve ever completed.

The MBA Protocol Coach Advantage

My coach’s biggest contribution was definitely his willingness to meet me on my level and ensure he understood my goals, no matter how niche they may have seemed. Brian already understood a lot more than I expected about my interests, but when he didn’t, he made sure to learn about it so that he could give me the best personalized advice that he could.

MBA Admission Results

Admitted to Booth, Kellogg (with a $15k scholarship), Anderson (with a $75k scholarship), and McCombs (with a $65k scholarship).