You've built something genuinely differentiated. Most ROI calculators treat geography as an afterthought, but for a huge chunk of applicants (especially from Asia, Middle East, and increasingly Europe) the decision to return home or stay in the West is the single biggest financial variable. Modeling that properly matters.
The monetization challenge is real, though. The issue isn't that $14 is too high. It's that most applicants don't discover they need this level of detail until they're deep in the decision process, often after they've already used a free tool that felt good enough. By the time someone realizes the generic calculator missed their actual scenario, they've anchored on a conclusion.
Two levers worth considering: one is positioning this less as a calculator and more as a decision audit for people choosing between admits. That's when granularity has the highest perceived value. The other is thinking about who else has budget and incentive to get this right. Some employers sponsor MBAs and care deeply about retention and ROI modeling. Some career coaches or admissions consultants might white-label a version. You've built the hard part already.
What does usage look like so far?
michaellee518
I'm an INSEAD alum, spent the last few weeks building the MBA ROI tool I wished existed when I was applying. Every calculator I found assumed you were going to New York or London. Half my cohort went back to Shanghai, Singapore, Mumbai, Dubai — and none of the tools modeled what actually happens to those people financially.So I built it. Free to use for your first scenario. No signup. No email required to get a verdict.
Link: https://trade.pgintel.dev/mba-fit
What it covers:- 21 top programs across three tiers — European elite (INSEAD, IMD, LBS), US Top 15 (HBS, Stanford, Wharton, Booth, Columbia, Kellogg, MIT Sloan, Yale, Tuck, Ross, Stern, Haas, Darden, Fuqua, Anderson), Asian top (NUS, CEIBS, HKUST)
- 8 career tracks — MBB, Tier-2 consulting, IB, PE/VC, LDP, Marketing, Tech/PM, Startup
- 41 post-MBA cities including the ones usually ignored in Western tools: Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Mumbai, Bangalore, Bangkok, Tel Aviv, Dubai, Taipei
- Year-by-year comp progression using median promotion multipliers, not top-quartile — this is the #1 calibration error I see in other tools
- Lifestyle coverage — can your actual take-home comp fund an "affluent" life in that city (housekeeper, international schooling, decent apartment)
- Brutal insights with citations when the math says your plan doesn't work
The finding that surprised me most:An MBB Associate at McKinsey Shanghai clears ~$215k total comp. Same role at McKinsey NYC clears ~$275k. NYC pays 28% more on paper.But:- Shanghai on $215k = 115% coverage of "affluent" lifestyle (live-in ayi, international school for 2 kids, nice apartment in Jing'an district, regular travel)
- NYC on $275k = 46% coverage of equivalent lifestyle in Manhattan
That's not an expat package — that's local-hire comp (Chinese national returning from abroad, or an overseas hire on local terms). The purchasing-power gap is real and none of the existing tools show it.Same pattern broadly holds: LDP in Shanghai vs Miami, IB in Mumbai vs London, Tech/PM in Bangalore vs SF. Asia wins on immediate lifestyle; US wins on long-term wealth compounding. The tool tries to tell you which matters more for your specific case.What it honestly won't do:- Doesn't know your specific offer — uses school averages. Top-quartile performers beat the modeled trajectory by 1.2-1.4×; strugglers undershoot
- Doesn't factor H-1B friction for Indians staying in US (adding next week)
- Figures are directional medians — verify with your school's career office before enrolling
Free tier gives you:
One full scenario with verdict, promotion curve, life simulator, brutal insights, 10-year wealth arc. If you want to compare scenarios side-by-side, unlock the full engine + 8-page PDF report for $14 (early-bird — first 100 users). After that it's $19.I kept the price deliberately low because the honest feedback loop matters more than the margin right now.Why I built this:I wanted it for myself a few years ago. Writing the logic forced me to be honest about things I'd have rationalized away — tech MBAs to SF really do come out ahead long-term if you stay (but most people don't stay). LDP in Europe is comp-underwhelming but life-rich. IB in HK is brutal but the carry math is real.Happy to answer questions about methodology, data sources (INSEAD/LBS/IMD/HBS/Wharton/Booth employment reports, Transparent Career, Levels.fyi, WSO bonus threads, Numbeo for CoL), or why I made specific modeling choices.If you try it and think a number is wrong, tell me — I'd rather fix it than defend it.