680 on the 3rd attempt too (managing a constant Q50 / V fluctuating)
[#permalink]
14 Jul 2021, 08:30
Hi,
Can an expert here be kind enough to provide a genuine review of my profile + GMAT journey over the past couple of years. Highly appreciate it!
GMAT - 680 (Q50, V32) || 680 (Q49, V 34) || 680 (Q50, V31) --> latest one (quite disappointed with the final verbal score as I specifically focused on Verbal for several months and built my confidence greatly, but couldn't manage to reflect a satisfying performance during the exam; was too fazed to manage the focus required during the test)
Undergrad - BITS Pilani, falls under the band of top 10 - 20 private institutions in India
Graduated in 2013 with a Masters in Mathematics (4 yr)
GPA - 6.5 / 10 scale (coursework in theoretical math was quite advanced, wondering if that would count to the adcom's evaluation)
Experience (has been in early-stage to mid-stage startups and global accelerators throughout the 7 years)
2013 - 2016 : Tracxn Technologies (BLR/SF), private market intelligence firm providing custom services and a data platform to global VCs and corporate development firms. Joined in as one of the first 10 employees in the firm - grew over a couple of years in my role to become a Senior Research Associate managing a team of 10 members for India practice area division. Towards the final 6-mos period, was involved in a couple of projects, namely an angel syndicate for the SEA market (a core team member to lead the expansion and development) and Tracxn Labs, a micro vc fund in which I got the opportunity to conduct initial business due-diligence of several startups in Indian market for investment evaluation
2016 - early 2019 : GrowthEnabler (London/India), joined in as the first employee in the firm to lead the setup of the research division in the market to serve C-suite executives of Fortune 500 corporations in UK and India. Was responsible for drafting the product strategy of the research intelligence platform that the senior executives could use to derive the best-fit startups for their internal business use-cases in an automated manner. Donned a multi-functional hat to work closely with the founders (ex-Gartner executives) along with the tech and sales team to get the platform solution off the ground. Worked on a range of market trend reports for corporations in healthcare/pharmaceutical industry (Amgen, Bayer and Abbott were few of the clients) and published several other technology-geography market watch reports on AR/VR and IoT. Eventually exited the startup after 2.5 years, the firm having failed to raise an institutional round of investment for further growth.
2019 - mid 2020 : Joined Techstars, the global accelerator firm based out of Boulder. Was part of the core team in India, where Techstars established as a GCC. Led the corporate innovation division, directly reporting to the Managing Director. Here, I was fortunate to have worked on several corporate innovation projects with global clients such as LBrands (Ohio), MAERSK (Denmark) and Falabella (LATAM), driving proof-of-concept deployments through corporate-startup collaboration and was the SPOC to CXOs and innovation heads across several business verticals in these firms. The combined impact, through the startup collaboration leading to solution deployment for their business problems, on the bottom line of these firms ranged in 100s of $Mn and several firms have even made strategic investments in startups selected through Techstars' corporate innovation division.
** Techstars exited several asian markets in the light of covid impact on the markets, August 2020. I've had a brief gap till Feb 2021 due to personal circumstances too (will this have a considerable impact on my profile?)
Feb - April : led a short stint of leading corporate innovation at a global consulting firm but eventually exited due to a mismatch in the expectations and the organization's culture.
April - (currently) : Heading the business / strategy team at an Indonesian FinTech startup, which is currently growing tremendously. In this role, I would working closely with the founders (as part of the Founders' office division) on go-to-market strategies for new business lines such as SME lending, digital banking applications, payments & financial services and several other new initiatives that we would like to implement and grow. The startup is YC alum, Series A funded and 150+ strong just in 2 years. Other responsibilities encompass business functions such as fundraising, M&A diligence, orchestrating potential business partnerships, and building frameworks for strategic investment opportunities in BFSI
Reason for B-school goals now:
- In spite of the breadth of startup experience I've had over the years, I think my undergrad in a pure science subject as Mathematics has greatly limited the scope of opportunities I could tap into. Want to give my profile a boost and gain a global experience, especially as I've always been attuned more to global clientele
- I'm not yet entirely confident on my business acumen and communication / leadership skills. I would like to go back to school and engage with a smart group of individuals to improve on these qualities.
- To move out of India, get global exposure and experience a different culture (as opposed to what one would miss in case of a vacation spending)
- A change; for better or worse, feeling too stagnated in the Indian market.
- Take finance/venture investments & business strategy courses : to build knowledge & skills relevant to corporate strategy / accelerator fund / venture capital roles (please let me know if this is too unrealistic to aim for, given my profile). I enjoy exploring business & strategy consulting cases from a professional standpoint and would love to get an opportunity in a line of work involving such functions if I can rise up to that
Target schools : NUS, University of Cambridge, USC Marshall, Rotman (Univ of Toronto), Haas Berkeley (I know UCB is very ambitious for my score/profile currently, but their coursework fits greatly with my post-mba aspirations)
Also, can you please recommend the universities that I should be realistically aiming for? At this point, I'm not too picky on the ranking / post mba compensation levels; I'm just looking to expand my growth opportunities and upskill through some academia (which I understand, I can do it even without a college education, but the market ain't playing that way, they look for degree!)
Please excuse the long post. Greatly appreciate anyone taking time to provide me with some feedback / suggestions in a more accurate direction to think ?
Thank you!
SB