Hello!
I would appreciate it if you could evaluate my profile -
1) Indian, Male, 27.
2) Graduated with a Bachelor's degree in technology from one of the 7 older IITs (GPA 7.2/10)
3) GMAT - 750 (Q49, V42)
I am targeting a few M7 schools - Harvard, MIT Sloan, Columbia Business School, Kellogg, and Booth.
Career so far -
Worked as a software engineer at a blue-chip software firm for a year and a half. During my time there, I was introduced to the wonderful field of product design. I realised that programming wasn't what I wanted to do, and that while I was passionate about technology (and still am!), designing software products seemed far more interesting to me. Took a leap of faith and started a design agency, that specialises in Product Design (UX/UI Design for Web and Mobile Products) and Graphic Design. We've grown well over the last three and a half years. I lead a team of 17 people. We've worked on designing interesting products (and other projects) in fields such as e-commerce, travel, fitness, finance, robotics, productivity, and we've even built apps for really young kids (this was a unique challenge). Designed lots of other stuff as well. For example, we are the go-to company for a lot of global messaging apps for designing content (emoticons
) specific to India. Some of our clients include - Facebook, Microsoft, Blackberry, The People Group (a large Indian Internet conglomerate), Flipkart (India's largest e-commerce company), Airtel (India's largest and the world's third largest telecom company). I've been fortunate to have got the chance to develop a fairly global outlook towards design - we've designed for users in Japan, the USA and several other countries.
Extracurriculars -
During my undergrad, I was the head of the placement committee for my batch, and my team (of 20) and I worked for a good year and half together, inviting companies for recruitment and organising all recruitment related activities on campus.
Was the head of the organising committee for the entrepreneurship summit at our college.
Was part of the core organising team for our college's technology summit.
Kairos Fellow (2012) - The Kairos Society is committed to recognizing potential global leaders, and building a network of entrepreneurs and like-minded people, who are out to solve challenging global problems.
I am avid runner (have run a few half marathons), and of late, have been learning Mixed Martial Arts and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Why an MBA and what after that?
Over the last year or so, I have increasingly felt that I want to move out of the services/consulting sector. As a services firm, you have little control over the kind of projects you take up, especially in a market which is very competitive. I've always been in awe of the tech sector and product companies in the USA. A top-tier MBA seems to be my best bet in landing myself a product management role at firms working on interesting technology products. I am keen on being on the East Coast - the hub of all activity for two domains I am particularly interested in - financial technology and blockchain (and it's applications) This is my short term goal. In the long term, (probably in the next 7-8 years), I want to start a product firm of my own. Designing products has taught me the value of understanding who you're building for, and what best serves their needs. If you're building a product for a global audience, you need a very global outlook. This is what I'm primarily looking for out of an MBA - being with, and learning from people from diverse backgrounds, and who probably have very unique, interesting experiences to share. I believe, being with very driven and very ambitious folks might lead to very exciting outcomes. Who knows? Maybe I'll find the future co-founders of my firm. I am also very keen on building on my own business experience, through an MBA's rigorous academic curriculum.
At this point, I do not intend to take up a role in consulting or investment banking, post the MBA (I've had enough meetings - wooing or presenting to clients, for one lifetime
)
Thank you in advance!