BYU MBA

On the first day of orientation last year, BYU’s MBA director Jim Stice said the he didn’t think we came back to graduate school just for an MBA; but believed that there were three other letters that were probably equally important to us: “BYU”. Before coming back to school I visited a number of other schools and started to appreciate how different each school can be. BYU’s MBA program is especially unique because of its Christ-centered mission, and small community feel. However, the quality that most surprised me about the Marriott School is how supportive it is for budding entrepreneurs.

Perhaps the most striking quality of BYU is that the Marriott School has a number of faculty who basically donate their time. Typically, these are alums that have built and harvested successful businesses and now are seeking a way to give back. Without giving names, I can think of eight off the top of my head that I’ve been fortunate to associate with or take classes from. These teachers are fantastic and they genuinely care about their students. Some of them are members of local Angel networks and they have a history of investing in student-run businesses. I’ve found them to be very free with their contacts and very blunt with their counsel.

In addition to their time, some of these faculty members also provide scholarships to students to encourage them to start their own business. I felt pretty fortunate to receive a full-tuition scholarship my first year, but I almost felt guilty about receiving an entrepreneurial scholarship my second year because the tuition was already so affordable. I was chosen to participate in the Entrepreneurship Center’s “Mind Your Own Business” scholarship program. About 10 students were selected and paid to build their business over the summer in lieu of an internship. One of the requirements was to meet weekly with a mentor who provided terrific feedback. The center’s philosophy is “Learn, Earn, Return” and they have several alumni who have done just that and lend continued support to the center.

BYU has other programs like the annual Business Plan Competition and the Student Entrepreneur of the Year competition that encourage those of us with entrepreneurial leanings to take the plunge. The school was – literally speaking – built by entrepreneurship. The legend is that when BYU’s President Rex Lee was approached about constructing a building for business education he responded ‘you’re entrepreneurs, you figure out how to raise the money and then we’ll build it.’ Not surprisingly, its one of the nicest buildings on campus.

Another advantage of BYU’s MBA program is that it is located in a small, but vibrant technology center. Last year I did a demo of my technology to a seasoned startup executive in Silicon Valley to ask him questions about how best to proceed. He commented that I was very fortunate to be in Utah where the market was less mature. He told me that nowadays it is virtually impossible for an entrepreneur to build a business now in Silicon Valley unless he or she is already well-connected. Gone are the days, he said, when an entrepreneur with a great idea get something off the ground; now it’s all about who you know. Contrastingly, here at BYU everyone seems supportive a good idea and are happy to make helpful introductions. Even if I decided to discontinue working on my business, my network of contacts has grown considerably through the process enough to make effort worthwhile.

Another major advantage of BYU’s MBA program is the low-cost tuition. When I was preparing to attend the Wharton School I was anticipating a debt load of $150,000. Just thinking about that expense makes me nervous. Now that I’m approaching the end of my MBA experience, I feel very grateful to have a modest debt load. I’ve been able to do things I never would have considered with a student-loan mortgage to pay off.

This summer I decided to forgo a traditional internship and opted instead to work on a business (Evolving Web) with three other MBA students: Mike Reall, Eric Nicholson, and David McKnight. Boy, did the summer go fast. We sequestered the MBA lounge as our unofficial office space, hired an intern to help us out, and dined prospective business partners at the “corporate cafeteria” outside – otherwise known as the Marketplace Café. We worked really hard, played a lot of foosball, and decided that being in business for ourselves was as much fun as it is work.

As I already mentioned, the highlight of my summer was taking a trip to South Korea to pitch our software to giant SK Telecom. Peter Yoo is another 2nd MBA student who will return to SK after graduation and made the trip arrangements and company introductions. Despite my sincerest desire to learn some Korean before our trip, I never even mastered a simple “Thank you”. I had a fabulous time, but felt a bit like a little child walking around a big city with my escort father. Apparently, the feeling was mutual as some locals went out of their way to help the dumb American survive. For instance, one evening when Peter and I went out to a movie I had a headset for translation. I didn’t really feel like hanging the translation box around my neck, but as I began to unhook the connecting strap the gentleman next to me concluded I couldn’t figure out how to use the contraption and promptly reconnected the strap for me.
Another fun memory was touring the Presidential Palace (the “blue house”) with some little children and being the only one in the group who couldn’t follow directions. It was amusing most of the time, but in the middle of presenting to a room of 20 Korean managers I wished I had spent more time learning the language and culture. Once, for instance, I was chided for not presenting my business card with both hands; I was too busy trying to remember to bow to everyone. Before the trip I had read that it was very important to stop and read each person’s business card. I was very conscientious of this and made a point to stare at the unintelligible Korean characters before me – it wasn’t until after our most important visits that Peter showed me that on the other side of each card was an English translation. I just hope I didn’t look too stupid pretending to read the Korean names and titles. Peter was an absolutely fabulous host (couldn’t have been better) and showed me enough of Seoul that – given the opportunity – I would absolutely love to return. We presented to a couple of other organizations, piqued some interest, and began – what we hope – will lead to some business going forward.