krypt wrote:
Hey Sandy, looking for your opinion on HBS's 2nd question... I want to talk about my experience working on a side project as a startup that failed. I still had/have a fulltime job that did not suffer as a result. My basic strategy is to talk about the lessons learned in my failed startup and how that helped me perform better in my real job.
My question to you is, would HBS believe me? I mean at this point, there is no real way for me to 'prove' my claims on the startup. Website has been taken down/etc.
they dont care if it happened or not (well, dont say you are making it up, and try to have a grain of reality), they just care about what you did and how you could have done better, an essay like that works if the start-up idea was interesting, your role was interesting, your mistakes were dense and interesting, and you come up w. some BS lessons for why your role was ineffective, it helps if idea cld have been successful and wasnt, but that is also not necessary.
Trust me, I have read 100s of failed start-up essays already --
many fr. 2+2 kids who have NOW GOTTEN IN. Yup, actual kids who answered these annoying and ineffective questions have already been admitted (just yesterday as a matter of fact), and if your read their essays, you might be tempted to OCCUPY DEE LEOPOLD'S OFFICE at how beside the pt. so much of this essay set is.
But hey, being a good future business leader is
so much about just marching ahead LOVING these questions and doing your best. You don't complain, that is what I am for.
Anyway, to answer your actual question, you cert. dont need to prove that start-up existed, and they wont ask, just sound convincing, as to idea, place, duration, reasons for it going kaput and your role in that.