From MBA to Entrepreneur

Back to blogging after a long hiatus...

The ISB MBA was an amazing experience. The people, faculty, infra, campus life...was all I had hoped it would be. Got into ACC Limited at the end of my ISB journey and had a good General Management Profile, I always wanted.

However after 18 months in the job, the itch to do something on my own had become unbearable and I decided to become my own boss :)

I have had the Privilege or Stigma, call it what you will of handing in 3 Resignations letters in 4 full years of work-experience and hope that my ACC one was the last.

The idea was not so difficult to zero in on. I have always been interested in giving gyaan!! So got into a tie-up with IMS to start operations of a new centre in Bangalore in the Vijayanagar area. The operations started in Nov-2010 and have been on the slippery slope that is the 'Learning Curve' in MBA jargon. The first few months of anxiety are now history, while the next year will be critical in deciding whether my first dip into the waters of Entrepreneurship is going to be fruitful or no...

Wish me Luck...

Lead India??

Recently, the Lead India campaign has generated a lot of buzz and interest among the masses. The advertisements in particular have been quite thought provoking. I happened to see the ad where Amitabh Bachchan talks of India now waiting for a leader who can take us to our rightful place in this century and that we are eager to hand over the torch to this ‘chosen one’ who will guide us to greatness. This ad triggered a chain of thoughts in me…

What is our fascination with “Leaders”? Why do we always look out for someone to lead us? Is it ingrained in our psyche? Are we so deeply entrenched in mediocrity that we have no alternative but to follow someone’s lead? Is it really that difficult for an individual to lead himself (or herself)? Imagine an India where everyone is competent to lead himself! That would indeed be a true awakening of a nation. But is this a utopian thought or reality… I’ll let you ponder on this.

Finally, Lead India looks like a reality show given a jingoistic twist to entice the mind of the viewer in this era of mind-numbing reality series. Irrespective of what the promoter’s aim was, the subliminal message that we actually need a show to find a ‘leader’ in nation of more than a billion hurts the free thinker in me!

My path to the ISB

ISB was the only Indian B-School, I decided to apply to when I wrote my GMAT. The others being Kellogg, Chicago GSB, Ross and Duke. My plan was to apply to ISB in R1 and depending on its result apply to the US B-Schools in their R2. ISB being a one year course, definitely had its advantages and the fact that I wanted to work in India made it my preferred destination. As I had decided to apply in R1, I started my application in July itself. But as my GMAT was scheduled for August end, I had not worked on my application in full earnest.

The fifteen day period after my GMAT exam (24^th August) was the time when I completed my essays and the application and reworked them. When it comes to the application, there is one thing that I would like to mention: Diversity. Yes, I know it probably is the most abused word in the B-School lingo, but when you think about it for sometime it makes sense. How would you consider the profile of a person with 750+ GMAT score, good academics, 4-5 years of work ex in IT industry with a couple of years abroad, a couple of promotions and some social service to boot? At first glance, it appears as a very decent profile standing a good chance to get into ISB, but imagine a class having 400 such people!! Each one has basically done the same thing as the other and the takeaway from such a class would be minimal!! Now consider another scenario where you have a good blend of folks from diverse backgrounds, each having a unique skill set and experience that none of the others have. Imagine how much interesting it would be to learn about each other’s experiences and perspectives over the course of a year. Of course this is utopian scenario and the reality lies somewhere in between the two extremes. Anyways, the point that I am trying to make here is that you have to sell yourself to the adcom and the best way to do it is to prove to them that you indeed do possess a skill set and experience that is one of its kind. You have three essays (four if you choose to write the optional essay) and some other parts of the application where you can entice the adcom to give you an interview call. So make the best use of it. I am from the telecommunication industry with an experience of 2.5 years, which is definitely on the lower side. So, I made a conscious effort to talk about Nirav, the individual and not Nirav, the professional. In fact apart from one essay where they specifically ask about work, I used all the Essays to highlight other aspects of my personality ranging from my really esoteric interests to my contribution to my father’s business. And do ensure that your application is complete and has no mistakes; both factual and grammatical. I finally submitted my application on the 10^th of September. Unfortunately, I had to change my interview location from Bangalore to International at the last minute as I had to travel to Europe for work.

A month later, I got the e-mail for a telephonic interview. It was scheduled for the 2^nd of November but at a time not very convenient to me! So I asked for a change of time and they duly obliged, giving me a new date of 12^th November. It gave me sufficient time to prepare as well. A few years ago, I had walked in to an IIMA interview with no preparation and got my ass whipped!! This time, things were going to be different. I made a list of all the questions specific to my profile that I thought were important. I also wrote down a few points about some of the most commonly encountered questions as well and went through my application several times trying to think of questions that can be asked from it. Finally, the interview date had arrived. I called them at 7 A.M local Europe time. (I am at my best in the early morning, so had specifically asked for this timeslot) There two people on the panel; Hema from adcom and Joseph an alum. I had a pen and a piece of paper next to me and noted down their names! (I am very poor when it comes to remembering names) I was asked to speak for sometime on the word “curiosity”. I took my time to think about it and talked for a while about it. The first question was why I involved myself in so many different activities. I was prepared for this and answered it well, linking it to the ‘curiosity’ that I had to know different things! The discussion then moved to our family business and my contribution to it. We discussed some problems encountered and how they were handled. Then Joseph asked about the tussle for spectrum in India. (I expected this question and had prepared really well for it) I gave them a detailed explanation as to why the entire issue has come up and the steps being taken by the government. Then all of a sudden, the other interviewer asked me a question in French!! (I had mentioned in my app, that I can speak French) It was a simple question and I answered it without any hitch. Finally they asked whether I had any questions. I asked them a couple. Then the lady was about to say good bye but instead asked me why I wanted to pursue an MBA and what was I looking for post MBA. Well… again I had anticipated these questions and gave them a very detailed explanation of my ambitions and how ISB fitted in to the overall scheme of things. Finally after about 25 minutes of pleasant conversation we bid our good byes!

A month after that, the R1 results were announced and I had been offered admission to ISB!! It was not too much of a surprise, as I was expecting it! But it always feels good to have actually got in.

This has been my path to the gates of the ISB.

First Impressions @ ISB!!

After getting an admit in R1, I was keen on visiting ISB to see the place and feel the atmosphere for myself. As I am on leave till 31st December, I decided to make a little sojourn to the city of Nawabs!

After an overnight train journey from Bangalore, I reached Hyderabad at 6 A.M on friday morning. After a quick bath and some refreshments at my friends place, i took an auto to ISB. The 'auto-wallahs' in Hyderabad definitely test the negotiating capabilities of all prospectives MBAs as none of them run on meters and you have to fix the rate before getting in!!

I had spoken with the adcom and arranged to attend a class on "Branding" at 10:15 and had to report to ISB at 9:15 to be able to sit for the class. The auto dropped me off at the ISB main gate at 8:45. But, when I tried to get in, the security at the gate stopped me and informed that there were no classes that day due to some other festivities!! All my arguments failed to convince him. Luckily, I knew a current student and she came to my rescue. After a little reluctance the security guard finally let me through. :-) The walk from the main gate to the reception takes about 5 min along a winding road. There were a couple of "Peacock crossing. Drive slowly" signs which I found quite amusing.

The main building was buzzing with activity. There were two events scheduled for the day. The first: a symposium on Product management and the second: an annual get together of alumnus. My friend was a volunteer for the first event and I got my first glimpse of many industry bigwigs by just standing at the registeration desk for an hour! At 10:15 we went to attend the class on Branding. It was conducted by a Professor Sridhar Moorthy from Rotman and included a couple of case studies: the first one was about the apparel major Diesel and its sub-brand StyleLab and the second one was about "Cacheral" a big perfume brand reinventing itself. The lecture was also interspersed with some really amorous advertisements for the Cacheral brand! The class itself was quite interesting with a lot of interaction and excahnge of ideas.

After the class I had a little one-on-one with my friend to get a firsthand description of life @ ISB. Then after a quick lunch, I met up with some of my seniors from Engineering college. One of them took me around the campus, the student villages and also introduced me to other students and I had many discussions with them and also a few alums. Also met a turkish exhange student who has seen more of India in the 2 months of her stay than I had in my 25 years!!

After a really memorable day, I bid adieu to my new friends and took an auto to my buddy's room at 9 in the night. There was a party after 11 that night but I had other commitments so could not attend the same. (After April, I hope to be in all the parties! ) All in all the trip gave me a good insight into the life on campus and from what I saw, I can't wait for our term to start!

My GMAT experience

Of late, a few people have requested me to chronicle my GMAT experience and give an insight in to what effort went in to get a supposedly “great” score! So here it is…

The journey started in June 2007 when I decided to prepone my MBA plans by a year. The first thing I did was to book a date for GMAT. I selected the 5:30 P.M to 9:30 P.M on the 24^th of August. After that, began the initial research about what the exam was all about. After going through the GMAT website and a few magazines, I was fairly comfortable with the entire process and decided to start my preparations. I purchased 3 books for my GMAT prep: The Princeton Review, Official Guide 11 and the Kaplan 800.

Before starting my preparation I took a Kaplan mock GMAT and got a measly 580! I knew I had lots of work to do and decided to start off with The Princeton Review. For anyone preparing for GMAT from scratch, I strongly recommend this book. Although the level of the questions is considerably lower than the actual GMAT, it gives a first taste of what kind of questions to expect and I simply loved the anecdotes added on the side of a few pages. The book is accompanied with a CD and also allows you to logon to the Princeton website for 4 mock GMAT tests and some additional training material. All in all it is a really good package. I completed the book in about 15 days. After that, I moved on to the OG11. It is supposed to be the bible for GMAT as it contains only the ‘retired’ questions from the actual GMAT. It is supposed to be the closest thing to the actual exam and at the risk of being repetitive, I have to emphasize that it indeed is the closest thing you get to the actual GMAT! I did the two quant parts (Problem solving and Data sufficiency) first. Those who have not encountered DS before will take some time to feel comfortable with it. After quant, I sequentially completed the 3 verbal subsections (Sentence Correction, Critical Reasoning and Reading Comprehension). An important point is to keep all your answers in a safe place so that you can refer to them at a later date and can analyze the questions you get wrong. After this, I got hold of Manhattan SC and boy, was that a great help or what!! Really beautifully explained all the SC concepts. A Must for any GMAT aspirant. (I think the newer versions have spoilt the beauty, the older ones are better). Finally I did the Kaplan 800 and honestly, I do not think this book is of any help in GMAT preparation! The questions are unrealistically tough and you will not encounter them even if you end up with a score of 800! Once, I had gone through all the material, decided to use some online material that I had gathered by the GBs. Managed to go through SC/CR 1000 and continue to revise OG.

Once the books were done, I started with the Mock GMATs. I took 8 of them in all. As my exam was in the evening, I made it a point to take all the mock exams at the same time and also attempt the Essays. Concentration is a key element in GMAT and if you have not taken a full length mock exam in the same time as the actual one, then you are either a foolish or a courageous soul!! My score in most of the exams ranged from 720 to 780, so I was confident of getting around 750 in actual exam. A day prior to the exam, I took leave from office. I wanted to ensure that I spend the day in exactly the same way as I would spend the actual G-Day. So I woke up in the morning and did 10 questions from each of the 5 types of questions from OG11 and then in the evening I took the mock GMAT and got a 740.

Finally on the 24^th of August, I repeated the same routine in the morning. I reached the centre an hour before scheduled time and completed the formalities. I got to start half an hour before the scheduled time. After writing the essays, took my break and splashed some water on my face before getting back. The quant section was pretty straight forward and I was making a conscious effort to read every question carefully to avoid any silly mistake. Again took my break after the quant section and had a few biscuits. In the verbal section, I could feel my concentration dropping after the first 20 questions, so made it a point to take more time with the remaining ones.

When the exam was over and I finally got the score, it read: 780 (Q 50, V 47) I was a little annoyed at not getting a 51 in quant but the overall score was really good, so could not complain much. I took the unofficial score from the administrator and left for home with a smile of satisfaction on my face. It was an apt culmination of more than 2 months of effort.

Vindicated!!

The ISB results came out recently and I got an admit for the class of 2009! After the initial euphoria subsided, apart from the joy the only thing I felt was... VINDICATION

However, only six months ago, I was still pondering about my future. I knew exactly where I wanted to be ten years down the line and that I needed an MBA to get there. I am a supremely confident individual and back myself to get anything I set my eyes on. However three abortive CAT attempts had given my alter-ego enough ammunition to question: "Was I really as good as I imagined myself to be?" Was the potential ever going to turn in to something concrete? These perennial self doubt questions were intruding my consciousness, once too often for my liking. Though it was not threatening, the thought certainly was very annoying. It is against this backdrop that I decided to put to rest all the demons of uncertainity, once and for all.

I decided to go the GMAT way and so after booking a GMAT date for August end, I started with my preparation. Regular practice for two months made me really comfortable with the exam pattern and finally when I did take the exam, I scored a 780/800!!. The only aberration was a 4.5/6 in the AWA. It was definitely a good score but my job was only half done.

The next part was applying to ISB. I completed the application well in advance and wrote what I consider good Essays. I submitted my application a week before the deadline and sure enough a month later, I got a notification for a telephonic interview. I was determined not to repeat mistakes of the past. (I had walked into an IIMA interview with zilch preparation and goofed up big time!) This time I prepared well for the interview and the interview went very smoothly without a single hiccup! Exactly one month after that the ISB results came out and I was happy to find my name in the list of admitted students.

Though the awesome GMAT score and an admit to ISB do not necessarily mean anything great by themselves, they are a metaphor for what a man's will can achieve. On a personal level, they are a vindication of my faith and belief in my ability to think and act!! A smile of satisfaction suffuses on my face as I recollect the words that describe me most accurately: "I think therfore I am"