starting my internship on Jan 2

My part-time internship starts on January 2. I didn't mention this before, but I will be working with Chart Venture Partners, a firm based here in New York. They focus mostly on early stage investments in dual-use technologies (civilian/government) but dabble in other areas as well. One of the managing partners is a CBS graduate.

reading what I read

I just added a widget to the upper right side of the blog. I am now using Google Reader to organize my RSS feeds and now when I tag any RSS entries as shared, they will show up in the box. As you might imagine, I'll be tagging stuff that is VC and tech related, but some random stuff is sure to show up, too. So now you can read what I read (or not!)

Leveraging your LinkedIn network

Yesterday while I was home with my family I spent about an hour on LinkedIn searching for people at interesting startups and venture firms where I might like to work.

Since I started using LinkedIn a few years ago I have been able to amass over 500 connections (these are by and large people I have worked with or people I have met via phone or in person at least once) which I am now leveraging in a big way as I use it to reach out to folks who are 2nd and 3rd degree to me.

If you have a LinkedIn account but don't use it that much, I highly recommend that you try to build out your network. You never know when you will need it.

Also, I haven't seen it used this way, but there are a TON of MBA students on LinkedIn, and I think it would be a good way for applicants to search for folks who came from or want to get into the same industry, or just to find students at specific schools to chat with.

In fact, this is something that I did not do when I was applying, but very easily could have. I know alot of folks know people who attend their target schools through friends, past jobs, etc but this is definitely a good way to expand the breadth of MBA students you might be able to reach.

I'd be interested to hear if any of you have tried this in the context of your application process, and how it worked (works?) for you.

Happy Holidays

Happy holidays to all you readers out there. I hope you are enjoying some relaxing time with friends and family. If you have any suggestions on blog post topics for the new year, please share them with me, and I will see what I can do.

GMAT Class Scholarship Contest

Manhattan GMAT sent this to me today. Might be a way to get yourself into their prep classes for free.


Dear John,

The team at ManhattanGMAT would like to tell you about an exciting scholarship opportunity that may be a great fit for you!

ManhattanGMAT is now accepting applications for our 2008 Social Venture Scholars program. Developed last year, this program provides full tuition scholarships for up to 25 individuals in the New York metro area. Selected scholars will receive free admission into one of ManhattanGMAT’s intensive 9-session GMAT prep courses (a $1440 value).

These competitive scholarships are open to individuals who:
(1) currently work full-time in an organization that promotes positive social change
(2) plan to use their MBA to work in a public, not-for-profit, or other venture with a social-change oriented mission, and
(3) demonstrate clear financial need

The Social Venture Scholars will all enroll in a special course beginning on Monday, January 28, 2008, and will be taught by ManhattanGMAT’s founder, Zeke Vanderhoek, at our New York City center. View Zeke’s biography by clicking here: http://manhattangmat.com/staff-vanderhoek.cfm

To learn more about this program, and for details on how to apply, please visit the following web site: http://www.manhattangmat.com/svs.cfm. Applications must be submitted by January 17.

If you fit the criteria above, we encourage you to apply today and get one step closer to an MBA! Or if you have a friend or associate that might be interested in this opportunity, we hope you will pass along this information.

Feel free to contact us with any questions at 800-576-4628 or via email at svs@manhattangmat.com.

Warm Regards,

The Team at ManhattanGMAT

I am getting boring in my old age

Tonight was the end-of-semester bash at a club in Chelsea. I had bought an advance ticket and was planning to go out with a friend first and then hit the party. However, said friend ended up having to work late and at that point I had lost pretty much all motivation to get off the couch. :)

Lots of great marketing internships

Here are the companies who are coming to interview 1st years for marketing internships in the next month or so:

December 18 – American Express, Marketing Manager
December 18 – Merck, Marketing Summer Intern
December 21 – Colgate-Palmolive Company, Global Marketing Development Program
January 2 – Diageo, Marketing (MBA) Intern
January 2 – Johnson & Johnson, Various Positions
January 3 – Honeywell, Marketing
January 7 – Google
January 7 - Ely Lilly, Marketing Associate Intern (International & Domestic)
January 7 – Pepperidge Farm Inc., Summer Internship
January 8 – Novartis, MBA Summer Intern
January 8 – The Dannon Company, Marketing Internship
January 9 – Coach, MBA Summer Internships
January 14 – Unilever, Brand/Product Management Internship
January 15 – Reckitt Benkiser, Marketing Summer Intern
January 18 – PepsiCo, LDP Internship

Being unconventional

One of my J-term classmates, Ryan, did a video cover letter for his Yahoo! application, and was selected for the interview because of it. I thought it was a really cool idea and a risk that paid off in differentiating himself from other applicants.



If you want to learn more about Ryan, definitely check out his blog at playthegameoflife.org.

Scored a VC internship for next semester

Had a great meeting this morning with a local venture firm and they offered me an internship for the spring. Really great team and I feel like I'll get along with them well. Not sure what space(s) I will be investigating yet but there is a good chance I'll be looking at stuff in enterprise softwware. Also will be a good chance for me to look at deal flow coming in.

Yeah baby!

Media 'learning teams'

The Media Management Association (student club) recently set this up to help students land jobs in media. Here is a description of the program from a recent email to the MMA mailing list. I wonder if other clubs will follow their lead, or are already doing this informally (or formally)?


Learning Team FAQs

What are Learning Teams?
Learning teams are groups of students with similar interest that share information relevant to their media specific career goals.

Learning Team Goals?
To enhance employment prospects for MMA members by helping them to develop in depth market knowledge related to their unique interest and to foster friendship and cooperation amongst MMA members.

How do MMA Learning Teams work?
MMA members are matched with students who have very similar career goals, both industry and function. These students form an e-mail distribution list and are responsible to share at least one 1 article per week with their learning team.  Learning teams are also encouraged to attend industry focused networking events, share job info, and exchange contacts.

Additional Learning Team benefits
The MMA Education and Careers team is planning events just specifically for learning team members.  Early next semester, we will hold an event where learning team members will sit down with media executives and develop 5 and 10 year career plans.   Joining a learning team makes it easier for us to help you.

Done with finals

Just emailed in my advanced corporate finance final. Now I'm done with my finals. Just two more items on my plate (a couple of papers) and I can start enjoying my vacation. Very nice.

One down, one to go

Just finished my entrepreneurial finance final and emailed it in. One more to go (Advanced Corp Fin)...

J-term holiday party pics

These pictures were taken by one of my clustermates at the J-term post-Follies holiday party. Bonus points if you can identify the DJ in the pictures at the end (which were not taken at the party). Enjoy!

Breakfast w/my old company

I can't believe it has been a week since my last post. Time is flying. My "senior" year is almost over...

This morning I had breakfast w/the gentleman who runs corpdev at my old company. Really nice guy, same age as me, and seemed excited to chat. At the end of breakfast he asked me to come out to meet the rest of the team in California, which is obviously a good sign.

The group does M&A as well as business development deals, so they are looking for flexible folks with multiple skill sets. And I wouldn't be surprised if they get into some early stage investing at some point in the next few years, which is obviously another area of interest. I like the diverse job responsibilities as well - I tend to fancy myself as a jack-of-all-trades, more than a specialist in one area.

I'm trying to get the interview to dovetail w/the Silicon Valley trek so I can minimize my travel. That would be nice if it worked out - and would also probably mean that they'd pay for my ticket! :)

Today I'm going to get going on my Entrepreneurial Finance take home final. It's a pretty meaty case with alot of moving parts. I have one other takehome final (Advanced Corporate Finance) and then I am basically done with finals (aside from a couple papers related to my independent study). I am looking forward to some R&R before my job hunt kicks into high gear.

Stay tuned for my next post where I plan on talking about Follies!