Alumni Friends Mentoring Program: Fill & Download for Free

Edit 1- I have moved to Circular Economy and Climate Change, got an opportunity to participate in an International Sustainability Program (Mentoring for ESD-Leadership) and now preparing for higher studies while currently working in a blooming UK based startup.Original edit (2016–2019) - I am working at Tata Communications, a very good Organization to work with if you have high and practical social aspirations. Some of my alumni friends have become entrepreneurs to solve challenging problems in an interesting way. Others are working in better Organizations like Goonj, Azim Premji Foundation, Centre Square Foundation and Yuva Parivartan.Some have also gone back to coding or taking up a PhD as planned. Three friends from the fellowship completed MBAs and MA in Education from Harvard and Stanford.Hence, it all depends on how you want to shape your life post the fellowship. The Placement Committee is incredible and gives it their best shot in placing you at a like minded Organization where you can grow in your field.

I have very few regrets...I wish I discovered meditation during college. Check out the meditation center now just outside New South.Instead of studying 4 years of business undergraduate, I probably would have done something more technical undergrad, then an MBA.You know. ..this is too hard because it was such a great experience...I'm happy with my career in consulting, with my wife I met the first week of freshman orientation, my study abroad, my academic success, my broad education, my great friends, the clubs I joined and started, internships I did, great classes, how much I got to see DC culture, and now I am the chair of the alumni mentor program. No real regrets!

There is a bias against MBAs in the NYC Web/Tech Startup community, as you can probably tell from the other posts. Some of the bias is probably deserved, but it also seems to be local to NYC. My Bay Area friends don't seem to have the same attitude towards Stanford MBAs.I have a computer science undergraduate background, several years of software development experience and a Columbia MBA, so I have a good perspective on both sides of the bias. Most people in the NYC tech community I've spoken with believe MBA = Investment Banker, which usually means a bad entrepreneur. A respected local angel investor recently, and famously, said something to this effect. There is some truth to this. There's also some truth that most NYC MBAs founders naively discount the value of a tech partner, which is probably responsible for creating animosity that eventually led to some of this bias. As a tech person, that always bothered me.However, I believe an MBA program does provide value to a potential entrepreneur. An MBA education will only augment the natural skills that an individual brings into the program. An investment banker may become a better investment banker, but an entrepreneur will always be an entrepreneur, and will very likely become a better one because of his MBA. He'll be exposed to a broad business education (finance, marketing, management, operations, accounting, strategy, etc.) and develop a multidisciplinary skillset that will be useful running a business. The mentoring programs at school can provide guidance during the initial years, especially around strategy formulation, product development and financing advice. Once graduated, the alumni network is a valuable source of advice, more mentoring and potential customers. All of these things are useful in a startup, when every little advantage counts.Now, please consider this... starting a company is something you have to be incredibly passionate about, and is a bit of a self-selecting activity. The earlier commenters on this thread are correct when saying that the best way to get into the scene is to pull a Nike and Just Do It. Pick up a RoR or PHP book, learn a tech skill and go hack something... NYC needs engineering talent.However, if you happen to find yourself in an MBA program when the epiphany strikes or if you get the bright idea a couple of years after you graduate, you'll be very well equipped to make it happen. Just don't expect that to be the primary path.... it doesn't work like that and you can't plan for it.