Why I Love Entrepreneurship

I really started thinking about entrepreneurship when I was in undergrad. I went to Stanford, where there was a great culture of entrepreneurship fueled by the surrounding Silicon Valley businesses and startup activity.

During my senior year, I decided I wanted to check out venture capital in-depth, so I took a class specifically about venture capital, private equity, and the whole ecosystem surrounding the birth of new products and ideas. It was really amazing stuff and being able to see the practical framework of how businesses get funding really pulled me in to the entrepreneurial process.

For one of my first jobs out of undergrad, I decided to put my knowledge of entrepreneurship and new business funding to use. I signed on with a company that specialized in investment advising. We helped people plan and manage their pension plans, endowments, and venture capital investment.

For that job, I really had to dig down deep and understand the underlying details of each client’s portfolios and their different strategies. Being able to see the entrepreneurial process firsthand from the perspective of investors really gave me the skill sets I needed to commit to entrepreneurship as a long term aspiration.

After working for in investment counseling, I went out and started working for a startup. So even before going to Booth for my MBA studies, I had experience with entrepreneurship in general and startups in particular.

When I came to business school I already knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be an entrepreneur. I wanted to work with other intelligent business leaders to bring the ideas of tomorrow into reality. Through my analytical skills and ability to see the entrepreneurial process in all of its stages, I wanted to change the world.

That’s what it means to be an entrepreneur.