Evening & Weekend MBA Entrepreneur Aims to Be Patently Successful
The Berkeley MBA Blog
Evening & Weekend MBA Entrepreneur Aims to Be Patently Successful
The ability to “fail forward” is an essential trait for entrepreneurs. After Alexander Polyansky’s first business venture folded, he moved forward by gaining specific subject-matter skills on the job and by learning at Berkeley-Haas the pragmatic and strategic basics of how to run a business.
Following his undergraduate studies, Alex had first put his engineering background to work studying innovation and examining others’ inventions as a patent examiner at the US Patent & Trademark Office. In 2013, he enrolled in the Evening & Weekend Berkeley MBA Program.
Six months into his studies, a classmate introduced him to a patent attorney at UC Berkeley’s Skydeck accelerator. “Four hours later, we had the idea that became Nventi,” says Alex, the startup's co-founder and COO.
Nventi converts patent data (“a very rich source,” says Alex) into meaningful visualizations and analytics to help engineers and entrepreneurs navigate the technical design process.
Among this MBA entrepreneur's standout influencers: Dean Lyons for his commitment to the Haas commnity; Industrial Engineering Professor Lee Fleming for his research and contribution to Nventi’s proof-of-concept; Innovation and Design Lecturer Clark Kellogg for his approach to problem solving, creativity, and collaboration; Assistant Professor Yaniv Konchitchki for insights into how to set up and position finances; and Entrepreneurship Lecturer David Charron for his introduction to the business models and strategies used by successful entrepreneurs.
“I love being able to apply what I learned in the classroom at Nventi,” says Alex. “There is no better way to learn and benefit from your studies.”
Over the past year, Nventi has made tremendous progress and will soon deploy a functional web application at UC Berkeley and the UC system. Alex attributes much of this success to the outstanding team that he and his co-founder Saad Enam have built, his professors, the Haas Alumni Network, and the Skydeck startup accelerator.
“The entrepreneurial environment at Berkeley is as good as it gets,” says Alex.
Learn more about the resources available through the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program to MBA students launching ventures.
Following his undergraduate studies, Alex had first put his engineering background to work studying innovation and examining others’ inventions as a patent examiner at the US Patent & Trademark Office. In 2013, he enrolled in the Evening & Weekend Berkeley MBA Program.
Six months into his studies, a classmate introduced him to a patent attorney at UC Berkeley’s Skydeck accelerator. “Four hours later, we had the idea that became Nventi,” says Alex, the startup's co-founder and COO.
Nventi converts patent data (“a very rich source,” says Alex) into meaningful visualizations and analytics to help engineers and entrepreneurs navigate the technical design process.
Among this MBA entrepreneur's standout influencers: Dean Lyons for his commitment to the Haas commnity; Industrial Engineering Professor Lee Fleming for his research and contribution to Nventi’s proof-of-concept; Innovation and Design Lecturer Clark Kellogg for his approach to problem solving, creativity, and collaboration; Assistant Professor Yaniv Konchitchki for insights into how to set up and position finances; and Entrepreneurship Lecturer David Charron for his introduction to the business models and strategies used by successful entrepreneurs.
“I love being able to apply what I learned in the classroom at Nventi,” says Alex. “There is no better way to learn and benefit from your studies.”
Over the past year, Nventi has made tremendous progress and will soon deploy a functional web application at UC Berkeley and the UC system. Alex attributes much of this success to the outstanding team that he and his co-founder Saad Enam have built, his professors, the Haas Alumni Network, and the Skydeck startup accelerator.
“The entrepreneurial environment at Berkeley is as good as it gets,” says Alex.
Learn more about the resources available through the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program to MBA students launching ventures.
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Our MBA students’ Private Equity Club is hosting the 14th annual INSEAD Private Equity Conference – Value Creation in a World of Excess Capital – at our Europe campus on May 27. The event has grown to be Europe’s largest MBA-led private equity conference, and is open to anyone with an interest in private equity – from students to investment partners to C-level executives.
Early bird tickets for the event are available until April 8 here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/14th-annual-insead-private-equity-conference-tickets-20964292764
For the full schedule, please consult the IPEC website: http://mba-clubs.insead.edu/private-equity/conference-fbl
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Evaluate Your Communication Skills When Applying to B-School
The so-called hard skills of financing, accounting, supply chain management are widely available at business schools across the board, but it seems the soft-set skills, such as the ability to work with and through others, need a boost.
Recruiters have noticed that even students from the best schools can’t always communicate well, or don’t know how to express their concerns in a frank but non-aggressive way during presentations.
Clear thinking and effective communication are closely linked, and a new article in the Washington Post by , senior associate dean at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, discusses the importance of having those strong communication skills that employers are looking for in their new hires.
“Communication skills are fundamental in reaching an audience, influencing them, and sharing your message,” noted Arne Sorenson, president and chief executive of Marriott International, in a recent talk given at the Smith School.
“If you’re a master at running a spreadsheet or a financial model, but really don’t have the ability to understand the assumptions that are in it, or debate the assumptions in it,” Sorenson said, “then you’re not going to go as far as you could go otherwise.”
If you’re applying to business school in the fall, you’ll impress the admissions committee right out of the gate if you can demonstrate that you already possess strong communication skills. But if you need to do some work in this area, don’t fret.
There are many ways you can improve your listening, speaking, and writing skills, so take a long at the original article for Russell’s tips. Also, reach out to mentors or supervisors whose communication skills you admire and ask for advice on how they read their audience, navigate meetings, and how they have cultivated their own interpersonal abilities for business success.
Fortunately, opportunities to communicate present themselves on a daily basis, and it’s an area we can work to improve for our entire lives.You may also be interested in:
Recruiters Seek Specialist MBAs with Soft Skills
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An excerpt from “You Should Totally Get An MBA”
Then one day I got a letter that changed my life. It set me on the course for solid corporate employment in the middle run, affluence in the long run—and amorous success in the short run. In fact, the evening I received said missive, I told a very attractive woman about it. She was so impressed that she consented to make smooshy-face with me in the bar parking lot. (We were in a bar. Did I mention that?) Twenty years later, I’m financially secure, and have beautiful children and a gorgeous wife. (Winky emoticon.)
You’re probably thinking, “Tell me, Paul—what was this letter that so impacted your life? Was it your Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes notification?”
No.
“Was it your Herbalife distribution franchise permit?”
No.
“Was it the fashion modeling contract you so richly deserved?”
No. Unfortunately the modeling contract didn’t work out. It turns out that Ford Modeling Agency doesn’t actually have a “Husky and Balding” division, as I was led to believe by my “model development liaison” at Barbizon.
But even though the letter didn’t take me to the world of fashion, it did lead me to the land of The Beautiful People (well, The Semi-Beautiful People anyway). Before I tell you about the letter, let me ask: would you like to get a letter that changes your life? A letter that sets you on the path to a great career and financial solvency? A letter that leads to parking lot smooshy-face with an attractive smooshy-face partner?
By the way—why am I asking all of these rhetorical questions? Am I trying to be mysterious? Am I trying to heighten tension? Am I trying to get you to sign up for a cult or something?
Well, kind of, yeah.
Because what I’m talking about here is business school, which you should already know from the title of the book (if you didn’t know what I was leading up to, then you’re not very bright and should stop considering graduate school of any kind).
The letter was my invitation to join the Class of 1997 at Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business. It was a by-product of me getting off my lazy post-college ass and actually doing something to get my career going in the right direction.
The letter represented a yearlong quest to get myself admitted to one of the top MBA programs in the country. It meant that I had hurdled the GMAT, survived the on-campus interview and passed the mental probe of the application essay. It was my golden ticket to the financial chocolate factory, and—as I’m sure you’ll agree—chocolate money kicks Ramen’s ass.
Of course it wasn’t the letter itself that changed my life. It was what the letter represented—the doors that were now open to me. Doors that represented amazing career and life opportunities, should I choose to walk through them with some purpose, punctuality and acceptable personal hygiene.
Now, with almost 20 years and a great career (including stops at Yahoo!, Facebook and the Improv) between business school and today, I find myself reflecting on the business school experience with immense gratitude, and also with a great deal more perspective.
I can see now that I should have had better career direction right out of college and, perhaps, wouldn’t have needed business school to focus my energies. But knowing that now is somewhat moot and does little good for the 25-year-old me who could barely afford to get the Ramen stains dry-cleaned out of his TJ Maxx neckties.
I can see now that I probably would have succeeded without business school because drive and ambition have played just as big a role in my success as any academic credential. But I know that I’m far better off—both personally and professionally—with the skills, standards and personal network Tuck provided. (btw,“personal network” is how MBAs so warmly refer to “their friends”).
I can see now that—at 46—I can’t actually see as well as I did when I was 25. But what is very clear is that I was enormously, wildly fortunate to attend Tuck and to have had the great career that followed.
My work mission today is to use humor to help others find success and joy in their work lives. I’m beginning this mission where I began my career: with business school. It is my hope that the book I’ve written provides you, kind reader, with a better framework with which to approach business school, some catalyzed reflection, and—most importantly—hearty laughter to help you during the stressful process of considering, applying to and working your way through a top MBA program and your post-graduation career.
Comedian & author Paul Ollinger
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