WCNC Event: Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0

I managed to make it to the WCNC Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0 event last night held at Wharton West: "Does Web 2.0 + Enterprise 2.0 = A Business Equation?"

It was attended by about 30 people, which was a pretty good sized crowd for a WCNC evening event during the week. The event started off with dinner in room 529 and a presentation by Sajjad Jaffer, WG01, who is the CEO of Mercatrix. Sajjad was entertaining and had some pretty good slides on Web 2.0. (I even saw Prof Kent Smetters wander by wondering what was going on.) Crowd was pretty subdued and mellow, probably from the food coma everyone was in.

After the presentation on Web 2.0, we had about 45 minutes for the Speed Networking event. You get in two lines and then you have 10 minutes to give your "elevator pitch" and exchange business cards. Then you rotate people and move down the line. It's a great way to meet people and everyone seemed to be asking "how can I help you?". I met a few Wharton FT grads in industries from PE to hedge to entrepreneurs raising capital to our classmate Ambal. It was good for making some contacts and putting some networking "skillz" to work. Most of the folks I met were very very helpful and friendly. My suggestion if you ever go to one of these: bring a big stack of business cards, and make sure you have some water.

Here's the link to the WCNC website blurb about the event:
http://www.whartonclub.com/article.html?aid=672


-Chairman P

Goodbye from Murat

Let me introduce a guest blogger: Murat K. Our Turkish classmate is one of the five WEMBA Class 32 students who are transferring to the Wharton Full Time program in Philadelphia. We'll miss Murat, Jennifer, Alice, Avery and Peter. Chairman P's note: our male to female ratio just suffered a severe adverse supply shock. I think we are down to about 10% women and 90% men. Let's go talk to John to see if the guys can use both restrooms on the fifth floor! :)

Good luck, and keep in touch! We'll try to visit you when we travel through Philadelphia.

-Chairman P

Murat's goodbye email is here (I have obscured his cell phone # so he doesn't get spammed with text messages). I can't say I know what all the digs or rants are referring to:
----------------------------------

Now that I am officially done at Wharton West (after such a painful homework, this weekend) , I can write my “I will miss you..!” letter…

I hate good-byes and never understood where is the “good” in goodbye! (even in Turkish, there is a “good” part in the word. -- is Spanish the same?)

Well, Just so give you all some recent updates, I am headed to NYC instead of London during the summer (will be working for a hedge fund) and will be in Philly next year. I am sure some of you will visit the area for various reasons and please feel free to give me a ring. I would be happy to get together!

I am planning to leave Bay Area in a week and probably stop by school on Friday evening. if we can’t see each other, take care. Hopefully, will see you in Brazil / Argentina.

Now, I know what I need. I need more hellos!

Cheers & Kind Regards,

Murat

Cell: (obscured, but it's 800-976-SEAN will get you the real number) :)

------------Some Random Rambles:-----------------

I had many great times and friends at Wharton and I want to thank specially, in no particular order:

I know some of you consider me irresponsible since I am leaving such a great, fun person behind--my mentor and best buddy, and future-best-man---Sean, love, promise I will *try* to stay faithful *until* I find a better looking girl-friend! (your stupid, kidding)

Nichole, hey baby! you should have mentioned that hot-tub waaayyyy earlier!

Garry, f#uk that, we will start our own!

Alejandra, what a sense-of-humor... I am still laughing at the jokes you cracked back in Philly..

Mike, dude, dude! -- back room is mine, I don’t care who sleeps on the sofa! --

Bolaji, designated driver of the crazy nights!

If it was not my buddy, I don’t know whom else I would have competed –pool tables, classes, girls…-- I will certainly need a last-minute-study-buddy over whiskey bottles, Clay!

Judy, am I drunk?

Malika, stop bluffing on the poker table..

Loren, now I can pick stock for you! (caveat emptor)

Charles, no cigarette to you my friend, you don’t smoke, you eat, o.m.g.!

Jonathan, call him doctor Usuka !

Roger, wait for Fortune magazine, May 2020 edition!

Rob, what is rattle?

Eve, all I know is pi is an interesting movie!

Sam, the last I heard, Joe Ryan started teaching at a community college down!

Raghav, you are a…!

Gagan, well, you might think you have taught me poker, but, full disclosure, Mike & I love taking your money on the poker table and spending over drinks...!

Ariel, no I don’t want to drink a half-liter whiskey-shot from a horn, wine is fine! (I still have a hangover from that night)

Sridevi, promise, I will be your guide in Istanbul, next time!

I will miss Kip a lot! His great logistic support during the exams was unforgettable. I promise, I will finish Wharton without buying any calculator or whatsoever!

Another logistic support, very important, a pen during the exams, from Michele! Thanks a lot Michele, you know which pen I’ll use!

Deepak, Ken, Peter, Preetam, Zach thanks a lot for letting me ramble in group-projects!

Keith, Frank, Charles, Eve, Clifton, Eyal, Amir, Kim, Adam (both of you), Brian, Nihal, Chris, Zia, Ron, Tyler… Good times

Avery, Peter, Jennifer, Alice, see you all in Philly

Last but not least, If I did not mention your name until now, that simply means my hands are freaking tired at this point – think Useem’s final!

Salute for the second year..!

WHCP Grades are Posted Now

Looks like WHCP (Communications class) grades are posted at Penn InTouch now...

More Advice to Class 33: More Stuff to Buy

Here's some thoughts on some additional useful stuff that I forgot to mention on my last post:

• Roller briefcase. Those WEMBA bulkpacks and books get really heavy, and having a roller briefcase is great. I think I was one of the first, and pretty soon there were quite a few of us with one. Highly recommended! I bought a Samsonite #933295, which has a collapsable handle, wheels, a compartment for a laptop, a compartment for papers, and an "executive" compartment for overnight trips. It's big enough to fit two notebooks or a heavy accounting textbook or two if you have to. Sure beats trying to jam all of it into the Wharton bag, and you can actually tell which bag is yours.
• Poker chips. Scratch that, as you can use mine if you ask the belldesk at the Le Meridian. Just remember to send me 1% rake fees :) Gagan charges 2%, so go with mine. You know they are mine because they have a metallic insert in the middle of them. Legend has it that each WEMBA West class passes the chips down from generation to generation.
• Digital voice recorder. There's not that many of them in class, and I don't actually use one. I do have one, so maybe I'll try it sometime. Some folks say that they are useful if you have the time to listen to them after lectures.

-Chairman P

Welcome Class-33. Few tips for you

Dear Class-33,

First and foremost, CONGRATULATIONS! on getting admitted to the best Exec program on the planet. Good news is that you have proved that you are capable of getting Wharton MBA, bad news is that you have to earn this prestigious degree.

Many of you have been asking questions on term-1 and some words of wisdom. Rather than answering separate emails, I am writing this blog to touch on various subjects:

General tips:
• WEMBA is a life style change. It does require good 20 hrs to 35hrs commitment. This number depends on what you want to get out of the program and what your capabilities are. You need to alter your life style to fit WEMBA in your life. Reality is that life does not stop for WEMBA, you just need to learn how to juggle studies, work and life. So start working on your individual plan to fit this time commitment.
• Don’t get behind. One key for me is to stay in the game. If you fall behind, cut your losses and move on.
• Don’t look at WEBMA as burden, look at positive side. WEBMA is painful but you can find enough things in program to make it fun experience (your classmates, San Francisco city life, restaurants and many bars around school and hotel)
• Don’t get scared by looking at your books. These books are there as study aid, you don’t have to read everything.
• Math classes in morning are recommended for people who are not inclined towards math/numbers. I did not attend as I did the Math CD.
• For people who have no accounting background, I strongly suggest to go through the accounting binder (small) before the first class.
• Spend more time to know your classmates. You will discover huge talent pool right next to you. I wish I can do more of this.
• Start building your network. I use linkedIn and you can reach me at nikul(dot)patel(at)intel(dot)com

Parking/Travel:
• Hotel parking is $25 a night. But for two days weekend, you can pay 25$ total. For three days weekend, you can get away with $50.
• Open parking near school is $14 (weekday) and $5 for weekend.
• Many people use BART to get to school. Embarcardero station is closest to school. It is just 5-10 min walk from there.
• Taxi fare (typically $6-$7) to and from hotel is reimbursed by Wharton. • For people who commute via plane, you should be able to use Oakland airport or SFO airport. From there it’s a cab ride.

Micro Econ. class:
• This is a very good class. Great concepts which will help you through out the program.
• Kent Smetters is a great professor. He is very funny. I am sure you will enjoy his class.
• Best way to prepare for this class is to spend 15-20 mins before lectures to go over his notes. This will help you with what he is talking in class. No need to read the book. His notes are sufficient. He will give out problem sets after every lecture. You should do them to stay ahead on your studies. His exams are quantitative in nature.

Accounting:
• Rick Lambert is also a very good professor. His notes, Bulk Pack, slides, eRoom and previous exams are very organized.
• Book is very good too. I had to read first 4-5 chapters as I had no background in accounting. After that I was able to follow his notes in the bulk pack.
• Before you are comfortable with Wharton, you will have a first mid-term. This will get you in the groove.
• There are two mid terms and one final.
• This is a good class which will make you comfortable with financial statements and footnotes in the reports.
• I would pay close attention to Cash Flow topics. This is slightly confusing area and will be needed in future as well.

Management of people at work:
• Good class – For many engineers with hard core technical skills, this will be too soft. Welcome to the world of management. Very qualitative class. Cases are good, insight is good. Try to put yourself in the shoes of the case character and you will appreciate problem and challenges even more.
• You will have a new professor so your experience may vary.
• Field Application Project (FAP) is a time sink. So plan for it ahead.• This class will test out inter workings of your study group.

And few words about Chairman P: He is not a self proclaimed chairman. Our study team did role playing for one of the management class. We simulated a board meeting and Ron took role of Chairman Park. We started calling him chairman P and guess what, it jives very well with his personality too:)

I hope this blog helps you. Good luck and welcome to the Wharton family.

Google Analytics Statistics

Ok, after almost a year of blogging about the Wharton WEMBA program, here's the breakdown for Google AdSense revenue on my blog:

• Page impressions: 6,221


• Clicks: 205


• Page Click Through Rate: 3.30%


• Page eCPM: $29.03


• Earnings: $180.60

The graph above shows visits per month.

Stay tuned, as I'll be throwing a end of Year 1 party for Class 32 with the proceeds!

-Chairman P

Climbing the Mountain of Lore

Here's my attempt at some bad poetry (what do you expect from a CS major), but hopefully you find it a little funny. I think I've been studying too much this week.

In the beginning, WEMBA was cool.
Marginal cost, management strategy, and a stock expense rule.

Term 2 brought us to Philly, to visit the East,
With LPs, leadership, macro and statistics the Beast.

Alas in Term 3, it’s become quite a chore,
To continue a climb up a Mountain of Lore.

Products, brand equity, and pricing, we know,
Marketing is too important to leave to the slow.

SABRE consumed a lot of our time,
And lenses for chickens fill eyes full of slime.

The speeches we gave were too late at night,
After six lattes, it just wasn’t right.

Now I’m plodding along the Efficient Frontier,
Alpha and beta, with many a tear.

Valuation of stock, CAPM and cash flow,
Calculation of debt, portfolios and rho.

Cost accounting has put me in such a state,
How do I calculate overhead rate?

When finals are over, we’ll be half done,
I just cannot wait for some golf in the sun.

-Chairman P

The Fine Art of Networking

The Fine Art of Networking is an important thing to perfect while you are in B school, and Wharton is no exception. Metcalfe's Law, as applied to B school, implies that the value of your degree is proportional to the square of the number of business cards in your rolodex.

For the Class 33 newbies that are starting the program next month, or the Class 32 folks that need to get yourself in gear, here's my set of suggestions for perfecting your networking skillz:

• Sign up for LinkedIn. I think about this one as continually building my LinkedIn network. It takes some time but it is well worth it. LinkedIn is like MySpace for professionals. I'm up to over 300 right now through professional and academic contacts. As a WEMBA student, you get ~90 classmates for free, so you might as well connect to as many of them as you can. One of my classmates recently went from about 25 to over 200 in about two months, which was highly positively correlated with his job search and interest in what the heck he was going to do after WEMBA.
• Join the Wharton Club in your local area. I signed up for the Wharton Club of Northern California, which has events going on at least once a week, like Speed Networking, Networking Lunches, and Happy Hours in SF or the Penninsula. Speed Networking for Entrepreneurs, where you have to give a 3 minute pitch on your company, fund, etc. It's a great way to meet other Wharton alumni that are starting businesses, funding businesses, or looking for job in an entrepreneurial company.
• Join the Churchill Club, which is a Silicon Valley business and technology club. Many of us that live in the SV have joined the club. There are often a number of renowned speakers that speak to the club.
• Join the Asian American Multi-Technology Association. One of our Asian classmates invited those of us interested in Asia-Pacific issues to join, and they often throw some good networking events. In case you think you need to be Asian to join, that's not the case. Warning: most of us are Asian though :)
• Join the Wharton career clubs of interest to you back in Philadelphia. You can find them on Spike. There's usually a nominal charge to join, but you'll get emails and messages about events of interest. I joined the VC&PE club, as well as the entrepreneurship club.
• Get some Wharton business cards. For you career changers, it's valuable to have a card with the Wharton brand on it.
• Check out the career resources on Spike at Wharton. They have a free subscription to The Vault, which has some great guides to "classic" MBA careers along with advice on salary negotiation, interview questions, etc.
• Join your alumni group. Maybe it's just me, but I've had so many jobs at public and startup companies in the Silicon Valley that there are a number of really good groups to join. You'll hear about jobs, personal updates, and events through the network, which is great. The Oracle alumni list has about 25 posts a day. wharton-west-alumni@yahoogroups.com allows WEMBA students to join, which is also a good group to join. (UPDATE: Click here to go to the WW alumni website.)
  

-Chairman P

So You Want to Go Into Venture Capital?

Check out this funny link from my buddy Mark whose company just raised a B round:

http://www.blueprintventures.com/holiday06.html

Advice to Class 33: Stuff to Buy

Dear Class 33,
Assuming you got the admission letter, you are about to embark on a fantastic voyage on your way to getting a Wharton MBA. I couldn't resist taking a few minutes to write down a few of my thoughts about some advice I've been giving the dudes that have been visiting our classes in Term 3 that are trying to make decisions on which program to attend.

Some common questions I get:
1. Are you that "Chairman P" guy that writes the blog? Answer: Yeah, well, that was me before I started the new job in Jan and stopped blogging for a while.

2. Should I accept Wharton or Berkeley-Columbia or UCLA? Answer: Well, if you don't want an MBA lite and you want to be in the #1 EMBA program (see ranking links to the side, as well as my thoughts last year on why I chose WEMBA), then Wharton is for you. It really is the best. Just make sure you know what you are signing up for; it is a TON of work.

3. What stuff should I buy before I start WEMBA? Answer: Here's a top 10 list of stuff that I found useful to buy this year.

Top 10 Things to Buy Before Starting WEMBA:

10. Buy a Laptop or a USB Drive. A laptop is not as necessary as you think it is, as most professors ask you not to have your laptop open during class. For a while, I got excellent mileage out of carrying a 1GB USB drive around and just plugging it into the computers at school and work. Guess you could say that you could "Go Bedoin" for a while. If you aren't familiar with the term, here's a link to a most excellent blog about the recipe for it from my old CTO: link to Going Bedoin. The deal at the Penn Computer Store isn't as good as you might think it should be, so shop around. You'll learn why when Smetters talks about price discrimination.

9. Buy a Business Calculator. Your handy dandy HP 17bII+ business calculator that Wharton recommends. BTW, f you have an old HP scientific calculator from your undergrad or grad days, you probably don't need to buy one.

8. Buy a Scanner. If you are a frequent traveler, then there is no way you can take all the papers and books with you on your trip. So if you have an administrative assistant, then have them scan in all your stuff. If not (like me), then a scanner will save you some papers to carry around on airplanes. I have a small text scanner for the handouts and my notes that scans document text into an MSWord file. It's great for cheatsheets.

7. Buy a Case of Red Bull and Subscription to Pete's Coffee Delivery. You'll find yourself drinking at least two additional Red Bull's and 4.56 cups of coffee per day. Might as well drink Pete's.

6. Go On a Quality Vacation. Go on a long vacation way before you start the program. Oh yeah, and make sure you do the pre-term reading before you start, otherwise you will be a big hole for Term 1. The first week is a killer BTW because of all the stuff that is crammed in all at once.

5. Find Some Loans. If you find yourself in need of some capital, you'll need to shop around for the best deal. The official orientation isn't that useful, as they can't really recommend anything for individual circumstances nor give data on what other students have done. I ended up with a combination of a small student loan and Prime-1.01% HELOC.

4. Cancel Your Newspaper. You won't have time to read them, so you might as well save some time recycling them.

3. Buy an Extra Duffel Bag or Suitcase. It is highly useful to keep a bag with some extra clothes in long term storage at the Le Meridian; that way you don't have to lug all your stuff every class session.

2. Get a Smart Phone. Blackberries are the weapon of choice while sitting in class, as you can read email while looking like you are sitting there paying attention. If it has IM, then even better. I have the Blackberry Pearl, which sucks for typing but has a small form factor and is a decent phone. Professors are more tolerant of typing on your Blackberry while sitting in class, and your boss will appreciate the fact that you reply to selected emails on Fridays that you have school.

1. Buy a Duplex Laser Printer. If you have one at work, then you don't need to worry about it. If you don't have one at work, then I recommend getting one. Here's why: your notebook will be filled up with all the bulk pack readings and slide notes that you have with all the classes, and by the end of the term you can't fit all the paper into one notebook unless you use duplex printing and two or three pages per sheet page layout. I bought the HP Laser 2605dn, which is better than the printer that my startup has.

-Chairman P