BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org)

Entrepreneurship and the MBA – A Discussion

Sanjay NathBITS Pilani ’90, Anderson (UCLA) MBA ’99Co-Founder and CEO, Loxodrome Solutions Inc.

BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org)

Outline

EntrepreneurshipEntrepreneurship

Successful entrepreneursSuccessful entrepreneurs

The MBA environmentThe MBA environment

Perspectives from a current MBA studentPerspectives from a current MBA student

Lessons Learned Lessons Learned

Discussion and Q&ADiscussion and Q&A

BITS Pilani Alumni Association (www.bitsaa.org)

Entrepreneurship Defined

“Entrepreneurship is the practice of starting new organizations, particularly new businesses generally in response to identified opportunities”

“Willingness to take the risks involved in starting and managing a business”

“The entrepreneur recognizes and acts upon market opportunities”

Other definitions?

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Successful EntrepreneursDriving force of an enterprise Enthusiastic vision, promoted with passionRecognize path to vision is flexible, fluid and will continually evolvePrudent risk takers

Persuade and inspire others to buy into the visionUsually positive thinkers and strong decision makers See the big picture and connect dots in ways that others can’t/don’tOpen to feedback – no such thing as “bad feedback”Thrive on opportunities and threats

In the words of ice hockey great Wayne Gretzky :

“Others go where the puck is…. I go where the puck is going to be”“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take”

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Three famous MBA-entrepreneurs

And those without MBAs? – the list is long!

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The “entrepreneurial” MBA environment

“Opens your mind” - broad, strategic, out of the box thinking

Rigor - question everything, accept nothing, probe deeply

Global mindset and connections

Importance of networking

Teamwork

Leadership

Step outside your “comfort zone” - continuous change

Dealing with pressure – “if you have 10 minutes to spare, you may be doing something wrong”!

Surrounded by highly driven, ambitious people

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What to watch out for

“Analysis paralysis”

Perfect or perfect enough?

Over emphasis on branding and prestige

Herd mentality

Realistic or unrealistic expectations?

Are you doing an MBA for the right reasons

Applying just enough or too much structure and rigor?

Can entrepreneurship be taught?

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Perspectives from a current MBA

Rajat Mathur

BITS Pilani ’91 London Business School / Columbia Business School Joint

Global Executive MBA Program – Current Candidate

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The MBA Core Leadership Development and OrganizationsAccounting – Managerial & FinancialFinance & Capital MarketsOperationsMicroeconomics Decision ModelsStatisticsMarketing Strategy International Economies & Macroeconomics(Based on Columbia and London Business School Global Executive MBA program – EMBA Global)

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MBA optionsFull time MBA Part time MBA Executive MBA

Differences in student body, the MBA experience, and expectations of jobs when you graduate

Differences in Business Schools – real question is not which is the right school, but the right school for you

Many MBA programs today have developed a core focus on Entrepreneurship (amongst the most highly sought-after classes include those by Bill Sahlman at HBS, Bill Cockrum at UCLA/Anderson, and Andy Grove’s guest lectures at the Stanford GSB, just to quote a few examples)

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The MBA cohort experience

Principal benefit is your peer group– Encourages discussion and issues in entrepreneurship – Culture of risk-taking – Someone who you can look to for advice (perhaps for the rest of

your career / life)

Top schools have excellent faculty to act as mentors

Several top schools want to encourage entrepreneurship – have venture funds of their own

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International Perspective

Cases from around the world

Learnings from other industries

Your colleagues teaching you about their cultures and operations in those cultures

Globalization and international perspectives in economics

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Lessons in LeadershipCreativity and personal awarenessOrganizational issues that impact you as a leader / Organizational CultureNetwork effects – e.g. “strength of weak ties” Structure – strategyNegotiations / BATNAEntrepreneurial opportunities in formal orgsDeveloping trust in networks – Efficiency and affiliation networks

Change management and turnarounds

Most importantly – asking questions for you to reflect on where you areheaded and why – and what is most important to you

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Example: Finance and Accounting

Basics extremely important on running a company– Income statement, balance sheet, cash-flow

How different types of financing can be used to your strategic advantage– Debt / equity ratios etc. – High leverage – high risk / Low leverage – low risk– Valuations!

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Lessons Learned and Discussion

Can entrepreneurship be taught?Successful entrepreneurs are driven, passionate and committed to begin with – however, the MBA can help them raise their game even higher, if applied correctlyMBA environments can nurture risk taking (last time you can afford to take a risk and “fail safely”)

Strongest contributions of MBA– Core business skills– Leadership– Teamwork– Ability to connect the dots (“go where the puck is going to be”)– Networks

Real question to ask is not “Is an MBA needed to become an entrepreneur (No), but “can the MBA help you become a better entrepreneur (Yes, absolutely)

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Discussion

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Sanjay Nath - Bio

Co-founder and CEO of Loxodrome Solutions (Co-founder and CEO of Loxodrome Solutions (www.loxodromesolutions.com)), a global , a global outsourcing company delivering offshore services centered around Electronic Content outsourcing company delivering offshore services centered around Electronic Content Management Systems (ECMS). We target mainly U.S. based mid sized and large Fortune Management Systems (ECMS). We target mainly U.S. based mid sized and large Fortune 500 corporations and provide a range of services including content processing services, 500 corporations and provide a range of services including content processing services, technology infrastructure services, and higher value-added knowledge driven servicestechnology infrastructure services, and higher value-added knowledge driven services

Previously a Principal in IBM Global Services’ Strategy Consulting practice and earlier a Previously a Principal in IBM Global Services’ Strategy Consulting practice and earlier a Senior Consultant in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) Management Consulting group, Senior Consultant in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) Management Consulting group, advising senior client executives on high impact strategic, organizational, technology and advising senior client executives on high impact strategic, organizational, technology and outsourcing related issues, on a global scale outsourcing related issues, on a global scale

Over 12 years of marketing and sales, management consulting and operational experience Over 12 years of marketing and sales, management consulting and operational experience in the Indo-US corridor, with a deep understanding of the cross borderin the Indo-US corridor, with a deep understanding of the cross border US-India services US-India services industry’s evolution and its major players; and has strong relationships with an array of industry’s evolution and its major players; and has strong relationships with an array of delivery providersdelivery providers

Holds an engineering degree from BITS, Pilani (India) and an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson Holds an engineering degree from BITS, Pilani (India) and an MBA from UCLA’s Anderson Graduate School of Management. Lives in San FranciscoGraduate School of Management. Lives in San Francisco

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Rajat Mathur - Bio

Solutions Architect with Patni Computer Systems, USA. Rajat focuses his work at Patni on leading the Storage, Computing and Networking design-consulting practice.

Before joining Patni, Rajat worked at Amazon.com and Mindspeed Inc (formerly part of Conexant Systems). Technology and business experience in compiler design, distributed systems, and storage-networking products.

Invited speaker at IIT techfest 2006, (IIT Mumbai) on “Product design at the bleeding edge”.

Undergraduate education majoring in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, and Biological Sciences from BITS Pilani (India) and The University of Texas at Austin. He received his Master's degree in Computer Engineering from The University of California, Irvine, and is completing an international business program at Columbia Business School and London Business School.