MBA For Engineers

2009-07-10T07:17:00.001-07:00

Private equity is a broad, loosely used description of an industry in which firms focus on investing money into privately owned companies, and, at times, invest and hold ownership positions in publicly traded firms. Depending on the types of private investments PE firms are focused on, the dynamics and qualifications for pursuing a career in private equity can differ enormously. Below we have segmented the private equity industry into 3 somewhat simplified groups, and have highlighted the different skill sets considered most important for each career path. Please keep in mind, while no Tuck student would be expected to have mastered all these skills, the examples should serve as guidelines to use when spinning your own career experiences in a manner that best resonates with the PE firm interviewing you.

Private Equity Firms: Buy-Out

These PE groups are typically involved in purchasing an entire company- or large ownership position in a larger company. Often debt is used to help fund the purchase of an entire company along w/ some equity that the PE group invests (LBO transaction).
Given the frequent desire to use debt, these PE groups tend to focus on more mature, cash-flow-steady companies that are larger in nature.
Given the buy-out nature of these firms, they tend to staff greater levels of junior and mid-level professionals than other private equity firms.
These PE firms typically leverage junior professionals to model out transactions, perform due diligence on transactions. Most PE firms hire former investment bankers and similar corporate finance professionals (accounting, commercial banking) since these professionals' backgrounds are well suited for such positions.
These firms also hire management consultants (from time to time) that have good strategy skills, and have demonstrated the intelligence to quickly pick up the finance and accounting skills that their background has lacked. Although, many times management consultants are hired in more senior positions at these firms.

Venture Capital Firms: Early Stage

These VC groups focus on giving start-up companies their first and second rounds of professionally invested growth capital/financing.
They tend to focus on specific industries (software, hardware, telcom, healthcare, etc.) since it's important to understand the dynamics and potential of a new company addressing a newly emerging market.
These VC groups tend to be small in nature, and the majority of their staff is at the partner level- they don't hire many junior level professionals, and even fewer mid-level professionals.
These VC groups like to hire professionals with operations, management and strategy experience in a given vertical industry upon which the VC group is focusing. This is generally a different skill set than the skill set for which buy-out type PE firms want.
Post MBA, early-stage VC positions are more difficult to find than a position at a PE firm, not that a PE firm position is easy in the first place!
If you find a firm that does hire junior level staff, keep in mind that they tend to hire folks on an "as-needed" basis, which is typically every 2-3 years and is not on an annual, routine basis like many investment banks and management consulting firms.

Venture Capital Firms: Mid-to-Late Stage

These VC groups focus on investing growth capital in later financing rounds to smaller companies that are evolving past the "start-up" phase.
These VC groups, like early stage investors, tend to focus on specific industries software, hardware, telcom, healthcare, etc.) since it's important to understand the dynamics and potential of a new company addressing a newly emerging market.
In many respects, these firms invest more like early stage VC firms, but do tend to hire more junior and mid-level investment professionals.
Please keep in mind, all of these statements above are generalities and there are always exceptions.

Harvard Alumni in Each Country

2009-07-08T15:36:00.000-07:00

Geography

Alumni by Country
Algeria	1
Andorra	1
Angola	1
Antigua and Barbuda	3
Argentina	233
Aruba	1
Australia	1,071
Austria	88
Bahamas	14
Bahrain	33
Bangladesh	8
Barbados	7
Belgium	240
Bermuda	17
Bhutan	1
Bolivia	11
Bosnia and Herzegovina	1
Botswana	3
Brazil	555
British Virgin Islands	1
Brunei Darussalam	2
Bulgaria	15
Cambodia	1
Cameroon	3
Canada	1,650
Cape Verde Islands	1
Cayman Islands	3
Channel Islands	14
Chile	148
Colombia	80
Costa Rica	29
Cote D'ivoire	6
Croatia	11
Cyprus	16
Czech Republic	28
Denmark	132
Dominican Republic	11
Ecuador	39
Egypt	102
El Salvador	11
England	3,096
Estonia	3
Ethiopia	2
Fiji	4
Finland	75
Foreign Phone Only	1
France	1,021
French Polynesia	1
Germany	776
Ghana	18
Gibraltar	2
Greece	101
Guadeloupe	1
Guatemala	16
Guinea	3
Haiti	4
Honduras	6
Hong Kong	468
Hungary	32
Iceland	8
India	599
Indonesia	77
Iran	5
Ireland	187
Isle of Man	2
Israel	221
Italy	339
Jamaica	29
Japan	1,338
Jordan	21
Kenya	23
Kuwait	44
Latvia	11
Lebanon	25
Liberia	2
Liechtenstein	7
Lithuania	1
Luxembourg	36
Macedonia	1
Madagascar	2
Malawi	2
Malaysia	279
Martinique	1
Mauritius	7
Mexico	427
Monaco	21
Mongolian People's Republic	1
Morocco	16
Mozambique	3
Myanmar	3
Namibia	9
Nepal	4
Netherlands Antilles	3
New Zealand	156
Nicaragua	11
Niger	1
Nigeria	222
Northern Ireland	28
Norway	181
Oman	26
Pakistan	72
Panama	27
Papua New Guinea	1
People's Republic of China	394
People's Republic of Korea	6
Peru	80
Philippines	240
Poland	65
Portugal	93
Qatar	8
Republic of Armenia	1
Republic of Azerbaijan	2
Republic of Georgia	4
Republic of Kazakhstan	11
Republic of Korea	231
Republic of Moldova	1
Republic of Uzbekistan	1
Republic of Yemen	2
Romania	31
Russia	112
Saint Kitts and Nevis	2
Saudi Arabia	104
Scotland	111
Senegal	3
Serbia and Montenegro	11
Singapore	635
Slovakia	9
Slovenia	9
South Africa	768
Spain	327
Sri Lanka	11
Swaziland	1
Sweden	249
Switzerland	845
Syria	1
Taiwan	128
Tanzania	14
Thailand	299
The Netherlands	418
Togo	4
Trinidad and Tobago	34
Tunisia	7
Turkey	123
Turks and Caicos Islands	1
Uganda	4
Ukraine	7
United Arab Emirates	114
Uruguay	12
USA	51,170
Venezuela	94
Vietnam	19
Wales	19
Zambia	8
Zimbabwe	25

Finding a PhD

2009-07-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

OK. Let me take a break for MBA stuff and post something on how to find a PhD:

The basic idea behind the following lines is that the PhD positions should be actively hunted for. The procedure is somewhat different from the normal job hunt. While searching for a PhD, please note that finding the (right) professor is the most important thing. Whether you are applying against an advertised position or you are trying to 'create' the opportunity, you should try to establish a communication channel with your potential PhD supervisor. Some professors give weightage to the research already done, some prefer the top notch of the masters class, some prefer specific personality traits along with the basics of the field etc. but one thing is common. They all want to know their future PhD students well in advance to make sure that the PhD with the candidate will be a worthwhile scientific adventure.
Here goes a pragmatic and proactive approach to find a PhD position:
First of all, target a country. Google for the link which can give you an exhaustive list of all the universities of the country. One by one, go to the website of each university and on the main menu, search for the link 'Research' (google page translators should of course be used if the websites are not in English). Each university has its own style of presenting its research. What you are looking for is the person(s) working in your (preferred) field. Do visit the researchers' list of publications to get an idea of their current research interests and the quality of their work. When finally you are able to discern who could be your potential supervisor, prepare a customized personal email based on the professor's current research interests and show interest in conducting PhD research work with him. Please note that you should be genuinely interested in his work otherwise even if you get a PhD, a lack of interest can be the killing point of your research career. Introduce yourself in full detail with a CV and Letter of Motivation LOM. Please note that in some universities you will not be able to find any research work relevant to your background or interest. However, if you do not find a specific person but there are remote chances that there might be some people working on something interesting, then it's better to contact the lab director. In this case, you have to show interest in a range of research topics in that lab. It does happen that the lab director forwards the email to the person concerned.

Points to consider for the C.V.
- The C.V. should never exceed two pages.
- Try to illustrate your capabilities/ achievements/ background etc. in short phrases.
- Mention two references along with their phone numbers, email addresses. Better to mention your last supervisor who can write a report/letter about your behaviour/ interaction/ ability/style of work in lab etc.
- If you have worked with someone well-known in a field, you can ask for an open recommendation letter which you can scan and send with your email. This letter can prove very instrumental.

Points to consider for LOM/Cover letter:

- A standard LOM/cover letter mainly contains three parts. In the first part, you should describe your achievements. In the second part, you've to tell the professor what do you want to do in his lab. In the third part, you've to convince him why it is important for him to hire you.
- The LOM / cover letter is a tool to gauge the candidate's level of motivation though the professors try to get some idea about it through the recommendation letter too. The LOM should therefore reflect that you are a highly motivated person.
- It's better to send the attached documents in pdf format. Download 'doPDF', a free software via google and you can easily convert your documents to pdf format.
- Design your CV + LOM in such a way that they are rapidly modifiable according to the requirements of different PhD positions.

Do not wait till the last date for sending your application. Professors usually do not wait for deadlines. As soon as they get the C.V. of a suitable person having a good background, they immediately ask him/her to visit the lab for an interview (if possible). So positions are usually filled even before the application deadline. While contacting a professor, it's a very good idea to ask him his contact number and availability for a telephone call. This demonstrates your seriousness and you offer him a chance to interview you, should any need arise.
Please note that the scholarship links are not included in this message as finding those links and using them as pointers is considered a part of the above mentioned generic procedure.
Kakulala
Quote: PhD research is like a test cricket match where staying on the wicket is more important than scoring runs.

2009-07-03T11:48:00.000-07:00

Met an engineer with an MBA working in my company as product manager. He did his MBA from HEC Montreal. He was saying that do't expect a salary increase of 90 % after MBA... And a reasonable increase will be 30-40 %. Well, if I have to spend 370 K dollars (As is the cost of Harvard MBA), how many years will it take me to earn this money back. About 15 years...

I guess, it is only my company who doesn't give any significant incentive to engineers and MBAs. Grass is greener in other companies....

2009-06-24T11:24:00.001-07:00

A lot of online research going on at my end...

A Few things to be noted:

1. Harvard claims to have an 18 months program but there timetable shows it to be about 22 months. I need to rectify the issue.

2. Most of other top US schools have 21 month MBA programs. Stanford has 20 month while wharton at 22 months...

3. INSEAD seems a much better choice. With only 10 months of program (and if you opt for internship, make it 12), surviviong woth a wife and kid is easier. And while salary of INSEAD grads is slightly lesser than harvard/stanford, h/w/s grads will have to spend atleast 10 yers to cover additional expeses saved at INSEAD. And we all know, afer 10 years of experience, your own contacts, your repute and relationship matter much more than from which university diod you graduate.

4. INSEAD required average 5.5-6 years of experience.

5. Harvard is all about leadership. Their grads are weaker at number crunching. Whoever applies to harvard should have "leadership" as his motto...

Back to work for DV weekly status meeting....

Good luck...

2009-06-19T13:48:00.001-07:00

I have been researching MBA career choices for Engineers...

One interesting option , I just found is "Partner" at a venture capital firm.

See below for some interesting links:

How To Get A Job In Venture Capital by Brad Feld , ditto by Seth Levine
A nice paper written by one of Jason Mendelson’s MBA students about VC careers and VC demographics
Questions from a reader of my b-school blog about getting into VC biz
How Fred Wilson got into the VC biz and my reply
Fred Wilson talking to some b-school and law school students about his career in VC
Kauffman Fellowship Program
Charlie O’Donnell’s thoughts on cracking into the business
Thoughtful post by VC recruiter Denise Palmieri
Charlie O’Donnell’s interview with Jim Robinson of RRE Ventures about VC careers

Entry Level VCs – how they act, what they do, what motivates them, and career path

Dealing with a junior VC (part 1 and part 2) by Healy Jones
AskTheVC post about analyst roles
Lee Hower’s thoughts on making a career in venture capital
Jeff Bussgang of Flybridge on the onramps to venture capital
Sarah Tavel of Bessemer defending the “young VC” and her post on the pre-MBA hiring process at her firm

Blogs and posts that focus on the mechanics of the venture business itself

Ask The VC
Get Venture
Venture Hacks (the entrepreneur’s perspective!) and an exhaustive archive of their posts
Vault’s VC career page as well as Wetfeet’s VC career page

Internship Stuff

Internship at my firm (L Capital) for summer 2009
A post (by me) that talks about which NYC VC firms had interns while I was at Columbia
PEHub’s MBA section and home of the yearly internship rodeo
Recent vSpring Capital internship posting (posted 2/11/09)

Recruiters who specialize in VC placements

Networking and Interviewing Tips

Advice on the dreaded “Cold Call”
Market sizing tips
Some stuff I was asked in an informational interview
A great video about business development that is also applicable to VC (after all, VC is alot like biz dev)

Venture Capital Jobs

Job posting for pre-MBA analyst role at RRE Ventures (posted 2/3/2009)
Associate at Zelkova Ventures
Analyst role at a life sciences VC (posted 2/7/2009)
Post-MBA associate role at Alliance Bernstein (posted 2/22/2009)
Pre-MBA analyst role at Firstmark Capital (posted 2/22/2009)
Pre-MBA analyst role at Saints Capital (posted 4/14/2009)
Pre-MBA associate role at Adams Street Partners (posted 4/20/2009)
Pre-MBA associate role at Norwest Venture Partners (posted 4/24/2009)
Pre-MBA associate role at Menlo Ventures (posted 5/21/2009)

Other Resources

Track VC fundings and M&A activity in real time through @vcdeals on Twitter
Matt Winn’s punctuative VC database
The LearnVC site

2009-06-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

Took my GMAT .. Scored 710... Q 49 V38

Enough for any school...

I am targetting INSEAD and Harvard...

2009-06-04T13:56:00.000-07:00

History for GMAT Tests Taken so far:

1. Kaplan GMAT: 560

2. Kaplan GMAT: 570

3. Untimed Manhattan Diagnostic: 640

4. Princeton Review: 620

5. MGMAT 1: 680 q48 v36

6. MGMAT2: 680 q47 v37

7. GPrep: 680

8: MGMAT3: 710 q48 v38

Last 10 days to go. I need consistent scores above 700 to make sure that I will get a 700.

2009-05-11T06:59:00.000-07:00

It is tough to do MBA preparation when you have a seven weeks old daughter... You need concentration... A lot of concentration... Yesterday, I tried 24 reading comprehension questions and it took me four hours... Because evrytime, I started to read the paragraph, baby will start crying...

Anyways, Enough of personal stuff...

My next blog will be: Why should Engineers go for an MBA ?

Stay tuned

It all started with a Bang

2009-05-10T00:49:00.000-07:00

3:49 AM... Registered myself for GMAT. Test Date 16th June, 1:30 PM... Target Score:700, Target School: INSEAD

Weaknesses:

Maths: Probability, inequalities involving mods and negative numbers.

Verbal: Reading Comprehension

Time : Given unlimited time,I believe I can score well... But how to manage the time is the issue.

Strength:

Maths in General

Critical Reasoning from Verbal Section