hyk wrote:
I know my school choices are super super long shots but I'd really appreciate an evaluation of my profile.
29/male/US citizen/asian/spent 10 years outside of the US in school and work (Tokyo, Taipei, Shanghai)/English native, Mandarin business fluent, Japanese and Spanish conversational
Undergrad: Psych with Management minor at top 50 univ. in US
GPA: 3.0 (Management classes average GPA was 3.5)
GMAT: not taken yet
WE: 7 years
1. 6 years in management consulting in China
2. 1+ years in company I founded and operate in US
I began my professional life in China after graduating. Joined a Big 4's consulting firm as an analyst, managed a change management module of a larger project successfully, worked my way into their strategy division (reserved mostly for MBAs and experienced consultants), assisting in multiple market-entry strategy projects.
Found my way into a consulting firm that allowed for immense amount of exposure to C-level clients, instantly began leading projects in market-entry and growth strategy for Fortune 500's. Project sizes increased each time, also expanding into international markets (Russia, Mexico, India).
Brought over to a consulting firm specializing in PE advisory, namely strategic and commercial due diligence for top PEs with activity in China, investment target evaluation, and market entry/growth strategy for PE portfolio companies. Led multiple project including a project for a top 2 IB's PE leg, another IB's PE portfolio company, several more, and wrote and presented several investment theses for the world's top PE firms.
Over the course of 6 years in China as a consultant, I've interviewed face-to-face over 500 Chinese business executives, managers, engineers, and government officials and visited hundreds of factories in Tier 1-2-3 cities across China.
Founded and currently operate a company in Silicon Valley in a green industry. Roughly 2-3 years deep exposure to this industry as a result of working with the PEs.
Industry expertise: industrial machinery and materials in renewable energy & green tech
Goals: Starting my own business has been a rough but satisfying experience with a lot of setbacks and barriers. I love what I do but I also have to be realistic in terms of growth. Long term I want to grow my company to be a nationally recognized and used brand in this industry, with the goal of truly making a considerable dent in the effort to curb global energy consumption. Short-term, I would like to work in a VC or PE that focuses on investments in green tech and sustainable energy and be based out of China (ideally find one that focuses on my current industry as I do have a strong network in this in China). I have a lot of experience evaluating companies financially and commercially but I would also like to play an operational role in one of the portfolio companies (really getting my hands dirty). Although I have the fundamentals of finance through self-learning, courses taken at Stanford, and through consulting and my running my own company, I want to further strengthen my knowledge base in finance to be able to truly excel in a PE/VC.
Recs: should be able to get strong ones. my question is, can past clients be recs?
EC: I honestly did not have much time with EC activities given my 80+ hour work weeks since day 1 of my career.
Schools aiming for: stanford, wharton, hbs, booth, haas, columbia.
Stanfordand
HBSare stretch programs, even with a high
GMAT.; they tend to prefer younger candidates and higher GPAs. If you earn an above average GMAT, you would have a better chance at the other programs on your list.
Yes, past clients can provide
recommendationand are good options when you own your own business.
Best,
Linda Abraham