Back at Wharton West!

Well, numerous Facebook and Twitter posts have let some of you know by now that I'm back at Wharton West. (Well at least Dan P, that dude noticed my Facebook post about five minutes after I posted it. The Facebook machine continues to grow, and I'm now a fan of FB for Blackberry.)

Why am I back at WEMBA? This time it's to audit Prof. Siggelkow's class, MGMT 701, Strategic Planning and Control. It's purely because this was one of those classes I wished I could have taken, plus it's only 3 weekends as a .5 unit course. The biggest reason is that it's free for alums!

There are FIVE Class 32s in there (I'll leave out last names): Frank, Mike, Charles, John, and I. One of us has a cool boss, one of us is his own boss, one of us is in between jobs, and another told his boss that he needs to repeat Term 5. Guess which one is false? And no, we didn't hang out at the Old Ship or Le Meridian afterwards. Nor sleep in the poker rooms. After after the ridicule that Raggy got from KFC when he posted a message to our email list that he was auditing a course, none of us admitted we were also heading back. I wonder who else is in MGMT 806 with Raghav. I know you 32s are back at work wishin' you were hanging out with us in the back. It's nice to live here in the Bay Area.

I gotta admit, it's kinda weird being back at WEMBA. This time I'm much more tan, relaxed, and able to concentrate. Larry still remembers me, although the look on his face made me think that he was thinking "what is wrong with that guy?". Since as auditors we are banned from talking in class, it's entertaining watching the unpreparded 33s get cold-called. I found myself thinking of former cohort classmates as certain people in the class responded to Siggelkow's questions....

As I recall, this was about the time last year that all I could think about was the one month break between the first weekend and the next real one. With the international trip in between (they are heading to China), I told a few relieved 33s that it's all downhill from this point on. And it really is.

Anyhow, it's off to sleep to wake up early to head over to class again tomorrow morning.

-Chairman P

GOLF 720 Trip to Callippe Preserve GC

What do WEMBA grads do after we finish the program? GOLF 720 is in full session, thanks to Thomas and Zia. Eight of us (Bolaji, Keith, Adam, Zia, Cameron, Thomas, Haitao and I) played on Sat 7/12/2008 at Callippe Preserve Golf Course, which is a nice new golf track in Pleasanton. It was my 10th time golfing since we finished WEMBA, which is a nice contrast to the 3 rounds I played the entire year before!

Here's some pics from the outing. We'll be doing a golf event about once a month so let us know if you are interested next time!

-Chairman P

Class 32 golf champ Cameron studies his 30 footer birdie attempt on #18. His putt wasn't good, but he managed to shoot a 77 after making a par on the last hole! That was easily better than anyone else....I shot 89 and let's just say there were lots of scores in the triple digits...







(Left to right, like my ball flight: Zia, Thomas, and Bolaji on the 18th at Callippe.)
















Adam chips onto the 18th green. Hint: this wasn't to save par!



















Bolaji is looking, looking, and looking for his ball in the hazard. It was a one stroke penalty plus a free drop!

Graduation At Last!

Graduation was a fantastic experience, and it was a time to celebrate with friends, family, and classmates. Words can't really describe it so I have decided just to post a few photos.

This post signals the end of the Wharton MBA Journey. Not this blog, mind you, just the part where I chronicle what it's like being in the program itself. From this point on, it's all about what happens after graduation.

-Chairman P









Herbst Theatre graduation ceremony ...here's what it looks like when you graduate from WEMBA West!




























A celebratory kiss from my wife, who is very happy that I am done. Now I start on the "honey do list".

Graduation Loometh Ahead!

Graduation looms ahead on Sunday 5/11/2008. Here's a picture of our announcements.

-Chairman P

Twittering About GOOG and Social Networks

My startup is going fully Google these days. Instead of going for an Exchange server or a hosted email solution, we went with the Google apps solution for our own domain. We are talking mail, docs, calendar, chat and news. There are no SLAs or a human that will answer your phone. But they seem to have fixed the compatibility issues between running Google Apps and Gmail for personal use at the same time. Also, there's a new Blackberry sync for Google Calendars that is quite nice. I've got Outlook syncing with Blackberry desktop and also with Google Calendaring on Google Apps. Nice. I'm liking the Gmail UI quite a bit; it's very fast and intuitive to use. The filters feature gives you more productivity than using Outlook calendars, and I can say that now Outlook is relegated to a backup IMAP client. It is still the source of truth for contact information, for the time being. If the GOOG is listening, they should be working on Contact/Address Book sync and Task sync as well.

Finally, two thumbs up from me for Google Reader. It's nicely done. Be sure to subscribe to my blog if you use it! :)

With all the extra time, I've been surfing around quite a bit. On the social networking side, it seems that Facebook is gaining a lot of momentum in our age group. Apps like Texas Hold Em are doing pretty well. It doesn't compare to playing in the lobby of the Le Meridian, but hey, WEMBA is over now. If you get some time, check out www.friendfeed.com and www.twitter.com. They both seem to have some steam behind them. I just signed up for MyBlogLog and put a badge on the side...let's see how it does.

And finally, here's an interesting article on diffusion of innovation from Harvard:
http://tinyurl.com/4s3ssl

-Chairman P

Wharton Alumni Beer Mug

Graduation is now only one week away; it's next Sunday at 10am at the San Francisco War Memorial, Herbst Theater.

Our cap and gown bags had this plain glass beer mug wrapped in bubble wrap that I wasn't sure what it was for until I poured some Boddington's into it. Then I saw the engraving: "WHARTON ALUMNI, University of Pennsylvania, CLASS OF 2008."

I of the black Ogio Wharton bag as costing me $75K, and the beer mug pictured to the right as another $75K. Let's hope we put it to good use.

See you all at graduation!

-Chairman P

Awards and Island Attire Day Aka Robert Y Day

Here's a picture from Zia from our last weekend at Wharton. It was fun heading to school in Hawaiian shirts.

A big congrats to Robert for winning the Benjamin Franklin award, and to Clifton for winning the Dean's Leadership award. You guys deserve it!

I'm honored to be the recipient of the Dean's Spirit award this year; thanks everyone!

Raghav is our graduation commencement speaker. Congratulations! I'm really looking forward to his speech. He promises to make it short and sweet!

For graduation, they have the concept of "'row leaders" who are the top students for each row of graduates...congrats to all of you as well.

The Palmer Scholar is the top student in the cohort. I must confess that I have no idea who the Palmer Scholar is; I'm sure it'll be down to the wire for the few that are in contention. I know for sure it's not me though! :)

See you all at graduation!

-Chairman P

Thoughts Right After Sending the Last Assignment

I just hit the "send" button for my last two assignments for Prof Wessel's class in Venture Capital and the Finance of Innovation. Great class, totally recommend it. I give him some props for keeping our interest for the second half of the last term. He really tied together all the finance concepts we learned in one half term course.

Here's a link to another book he wrote on valuation (already ordered a copy for my bookshelf):
http://www.amazon.com/Valuation-Measuring-Managing-Companies-Finance/dp/047170220X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209104817&sr=1-2


And now I am really done! Here's some thoughts....

One thing that you learn on Day 1 at Wharton is to measure everything. And I mean everything! We learned a ton of acronyms and frameworks, as well as how to measure them, and then to convert them to log scale and run regressions on them. My classmates will smile as I rattle off the following terms and acronyms from our first year: MC=MR, two-part pricing, T accounts, B/S, I/S, SCF, R^2, t-stat, PVLR, IS-LM, Fisher relation, PPP, linear optimization, the Newsvendor Model, 5Cs and 4Ps, STP, conjoint, and perceptual maps. Oh yeah, and there’s the good ole Greeks: alpha, beta, gamma, rho, sigma, tau. And before I forget, there’s some of the second year stuff: integrative and distributive negotiations, DCF, NPV, cost of capital, WACC, CAPM, currency exposure, IRP, Fama-French, Multi-factor models, APV, LBO, multiples, Section 144A, post-VC valuation, participating preferred, liquidation preferences, entrepreneurial marketing and new product development, and real options. There’s also: bricolage, kumbaya, the Saddu, Porter’s 5 Forces, total leadership, “strategery”, and synergy. We met and learned from CEOs and ex-CEOs, renowned venture capitalists, successful entrepreneurs, and the ex-minister of finance from Argentina that pegged the peso to the dollar. Bernanke wrote our macroeconomics book. (By the way, if you want to see the picture of one of my classmates unwrapping the plastic off of it right before the final, see me for more details.)

I’m sure I’m forgetting about 100 other terms that we could have talked about. For those of you who didn't get an MBA, I’m sure I lost you a while ago in the alphabet soup, but hopefully this gives you a bit of an idea of what we learned in class over the past two years.

But the Greek letters, management frameworks, and formulas will soon start to fade away; it’s what we learned outside of class that really mattered. And I think that this is much harder to quantify.

The Wharton MBA Program for Executives was also very much about learning to juggle the intense demands of a job, family, and school at the same time (and sometimes dropping more than one ball), learning how to help each other, the importance of getting to know the people involved, and figuring out that the team is indeed stronger than individuals. It's nothing short of amazing that I didn't get fired, divorced, and/or fail out of school. I know a lot of my classmates felt the same way. We learned how to think differently, to think outside the bun (er, I mean box), and to apply the tools we learned in the classroom in a world of uncertainty. And these tools and the intuition behind them will help us navigate the real world. They certainly have helped me to look at our bear stock market (worst in five years), the Bear Stearns bailout, and the sub-prime mortgage meltdown through different lenses.

But the events I will remember aren’t those from class but those outside of it, and I’m sure many of my classmates will agree. For example: the conference calls (for most of us that made them), the endless IM chats, the countless emails that made me laugh, the week long trip to Philly, standing on the top of Christ the Redeemer monument in Rio, trekking on the glacier in El Calafate, going to the Old Ship for a nightcap after 12 hours of WEMBA, playing poker, the NCAA basketball pool, the prom, our fantasy football league, travels to Philly, Las Vegas, and other places, the picnics, dinners, and parties we went to, getting pizza for a late night snack in North Beach, and countless others.

To my classmates, I leave you with some thoughts:

Whew, it’s over. It’s been a lot of hard work, sacrifice, and investment in time and money. This definitely wasn’t an MBA-lite; this was the real deal. When they say that it’s the same curriculum as the FT program, they weren’t kidding. I still remember thinking after the first week of Term 1 the following: “Oh my gosh, what did I just get myself into? This is going to be way more work than I thought.” I know that there were many others in our class that felt exactly the same way that first week.

But we made it to graduation! It’s been a tremendous experience; you are an incredible group of talented people that I am blessed to have crossed paths with.

Many of us have switched jobs already or are in the process of doing so. Some of us are staying put. But irrespective of what lies ahead, the future is bright.

We sit at the tip of the Silicon Valley, the center of the innovation for technology. One of the reasons Wharton West was established was to tap into the talent and creativity here. Our last term at Wharton kind of brought it all together for me with the classes on entrepreneurial marketing and venture capital. In thinking about starting my own company someday, I ran across some advice from Guy Kawasaki, founder of Garage Technology Ventures and an ex-Apple Fellow. Not everyone is in technology or is thinking about entrepreneurship, but I think Guy’s advice applies to way more than starting a company; it applies to life.

I’d like to share his top 10 list now:

So You Want to be an Entrepreneur? (from Guy Kawasaki's speech)

10. Embrace the unknown.
09. Don't ask people to do something that you wouldn't do.

08. Focus on implementation.

07. Don't be paranoid.

06. Pursue entrepreneurship for the right reasons.

...Happiness is temporary and fleeting. It should not be the goal of entrepreneurship.

Joy is the right goal. Joy, by contrast, is unpredictable. It comes from pursuing interests and passions that do not "obviously" result in happiness. It comes from building a great team, from family, from friends and inexpensive if not free things.

05. Continue to learn.

04. Be brief.

03. Obey the absolutes.

02. Play to win.
Play to win and don't let the bozos convince you to do anything less. Indeed, the more bozos tell you that you can't succeed, the more you may be on to something.

Playing to win is one of the finest things you can do. It enables you to fulfill your potential. It enables you to improve the world and, conveniently, develop high expectations for everyone else too.

And what if you lose? Just make sure you lose while trying something grand .

01. Enjoy your family, friends, and colleagues before they are gone.

That last one is key, and I’d like to encourage you all to think about it carefully and what it means. Enjoy your family, friends, and colleagues before they are gone. Now we have the time to reconnect and to re-examine our priorities which have been so skewed toward school for the past two years. On a personal level, I know my wife Cindy has a list of “honey-do this” stuff that I’ve been putting off for two years, and from what I hear from my classmates, we all have a bunch of catching up to do on a lot of levels. It will be nice to get our lives back.

Peace out! Gotta get to those honey-dos.

-Chairman P

Clear Admit Best of Blogging Nominee for 2008

Clear Admit has just let me know that this blog is in contention for a Best of Blogging Nominee for 2008 (link). Looks like there are a number of top MBA program bloggers in contention. The nominees will be rating each other blogs and then the winners will soon be announced. From my very quick scan, it looks like I am the only exec MBA type in contention, which is cool.

-Chairman P

It Is Finished... Post-WEMBA Thoughts

It is finished. WEMBA is over! We are free....the transformation is complete.

I'm feeling kinda strange today on the first day in The Chapter After Wharton; it's a combination of happy, sad, elated, disappointed, exhilarated, and exhausted all rolled into one. It was weird checking out of the Le Meridian yesterday and having the hotel employees all shake my hand and say congrats as I drove out of there. I mean, I'll be there again in three weeks for graduation but that's a bit different. We also got our Wharton caps and gowns, and I put mine along side my diploma frame when I got home. I also took a long look at the bookshelf in my office filled with all those MBA books and thought "was it really worth it?" I decided that I was too tired to give it serious thought so I'll get back to it later. I am pretty sure the answer is a resounding yes for me.

Some very out of the ordinary things I did today: slept in, read the Sunday newspaper, washed my car, went to the bank, took my daughter to lunch, surfed the web, went shopping with my daughter, and sent some personal email. I NEVER did all these things on a Sunday during the program so it's kinda strange starting to get life back again. Tonight we are heading out for a family dinner to boot.

A few classmates have asked if I'll keep blogging now that we are done. The short answer is YES! I'll keep blogging as I think this will be a good place to update each other on what's happening with after the program. I think of it as an electronic version of class updates in the back of the Wharton alumni magazine.

I'm looking forward to graduation and playing a little golf with some classmates over the next few weeks. We're gonna play some hooky for the GOLF 720 final.

I seriously think that I'll need to find a new hobby/addiction with the big void of WEMBA gone from my life. A bunch of friends that have traveled this road have said that after an exec MBA you need to train for a marathon, travel the world, and/or take up some new hobbies with all the free time. For now, my new hobbies are sleeping in and watching TV. That should work for the next few months at least.

-Chairman P

Class Gift Fundraising - Entrepreneurial Marketing

We've started a very effective entrepreneurial marketing campaign (Lodish would be proud) that is now posted in the restrooms at WEMBA West.

Here's what is on the wall in the men's restroom.











Here's what's below.


You get the idea. Mallika tells me that the women's stalls have a "Don't just sit there...donate" message in them. :)


Hope I didn't disturb your lunch.

-Chairman P

Robert Y Day at Wharton West

Tomorrow is First Annual Island Attire Day aka Robert Y Day at Wharton West! Wear your Hawaiian shirts to the last day(s) of class. Here's what I am going to wear. -Chairman P

Group Think: Facebook, LinkedIn and GoogleGroups

It's time to get rid of using those temporary Wharton email addresses and to start using the ones that look like this: first.last.wg08@wharton.upenn.edu. It's also time to make sure you are connected to the networking groups out there!

Facebook:
Those of you not on Facebook should sign up; there's quite a few of us out there now. Looks like Class 34 has a Facebook group instead of a Yahoo Group, which is a sign of the state of Yahoo and the rise of Facebook. The Facebook machine has sucked me in. I find myself spending more and more time on doing mindless things like poking people, taking crazy surveys, and yes, playing Texas Hold Em.

Here's a link to our Facebook group (Wharton Exec MBA (WEMBA) 32 West) if you aren't on yet:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15636591214

Thanks to John K, who's Mr Facebook for our class. Oh yeah, and there are more Wharton related groups out there: Wharton School of Business, Wharton Entrepreneurs, WEMBA West, I Support Grade Non-Disclosure, and others. For you bloggers, there's also PicApp. Quick shot out there to our classmate Eval Gura, the CEO of PicApp. He will gladly give you a sticker to put on the back of your laptop. I had one but got a new laptop (a sweet Lenovo X300 with the solid state drive) so I gotta get another one.

LinkedIn:
The professional social network of choice also has some Wharton groups, such as Wharton Executive MBA Alumni, and Wharton Technology Network . There's a new Class 32 LinkedIn group I just started. Me and Guru are out there now, all by our lonesomes. :)

Here's a link if you are interested in joining the newly created Class32 LinkedIn group:
http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/69698/2560DA67EBAF

Google Groups:
"Kumbaya" is a group for Class 32 entrepreneurs that Gagan and I started for those interested in discussing startup company issues.

Here's a link to join:
http://groups.google.com/group/kumbaya


-Chairman P

The End of the 24 Month Long Tunnel

Looks like the end of the twenty four month journey is in sight! A week from tomorrow and our classes will be done!

Here's what I've posted on my wall at work to keep track of where we are.

It will give me great pleasure to cross off the last month on the academic calendar....whoooohooo!

-Chairman P

Project Manager / Planning Needed?

If anyone is looking for a project manager / event planner, our WEMBA graduation planner Simone is looking for job opportunities. Just wanted to pass this along.

Contact info: four one five- 577 291 zero

Prom Night Recap

It was a fun and eventual night! Our WEMBA Class 32 "prom night" was held last Sat evening at a restaurant called Circulo in the Mission district of San Francisco. The class got $10K to blow on a party / night out for the venue of our choice, and we sure partied the night away. There was a real prom photographer and everyone got a 5X7 photo of themselves and their date. Depending on who you asked, the recommended dress code was either casual (Lorenesque jeans and a nice shirt) or sophisticated evening wear (Nichole-esque short evening dress). I split the difference myself, as I must say Loren did as well. There were a bunch of small plates and appetizers, which was perfect for the type of event we had.

Congrats to the following class award winners:
Eve = MVP, class member you'd most want to have on your team (tied with Robert Yi)
Jonathan = MIA award
Kevin = Most likely to sell his grandmother for $50
Clay = Drunken Warriors fan award
Charles = Racing cars award
Adam = Biggest bootie award
Sam = angriest dude award
I can't remember the rest....:)

There were a ton of pictures taken as well. Here are some that people have shared:

Adam's prom pics:
http://picasaweb.google.com/adambedard2677/WhartonPromAndOthers

Photos from the professional photographers:
http://flickr.com/photos/66499233@N00/sets/72157604415279097/

Sri's public prom photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/hyflyer/DonTCallItPromNight

Anshum's slideshow from our past two years (thanks - must have been a lot of work):
http://www.shardafamily.com/friends/Wemba/Wemba32_0001.wmv

Sri's last session memories (hey, some of us still have another session):
http://picasaweb.google.com/hyflyer/2008WhartonLastSessionMemories

Apparently, there was a bit of drama at the end with the paramedics being called; glad there was no serious health issues. I hear we went through the $5K open bar pretty quickly, and that there were many inebriated WEMBA students staggering around into cabs at the end. Michelle was apparently one of the caretakers as was Frank "the cabbie".

The aftermath? Lots of emails afterwards from folks asking for missing awards/items (Sir KFC, Eve, Gagan, ....). Hope everyone found what they lost, although I suspect that they didn't.

And finally, muchos gracias to Nichole "class awards queen", Loren "resident foodie", Sean "too drunk to tell us about the class gift", and Clifton "class gifts man".

-Chairman P

Blog Reorganization

I just reorged my blog a bit by adding a new Most Popular Posts section...I realized that after posting over 100 times the past two years, this blog needed a summary section in addition to the Past Posts area.

Enjoy!
-Chairman P

Elective Selection Wisdom

Elective class selection is pretty important at WEMBA for the second year (Terms 4 - Term 6). The list is shockingly similar from year to year as it seems that the same classes get voted in. A number of people have asked me about my suggestions, and I told them that I would write a blog article about the electives. So here we are at the end of Term 6 (two class days left), and here’s my article…read on. Hope this is useful for the classes in the future.

My overall suggestions on elective selection:

• Be ready to switch if the class doesn’t pass your sniff test. I attended a number of classes to test them out. Don’t be afraid to switch if totally doesn’t interest you. This is where using your digital voice recorder along with a friend in another class can help.
• Keep the requirements for your major in mind. Note that everyone gets the same MBA degree; your transcript will have your major(s) on it if you qualify. I decided on becoming a finance major because: 1) finance was more interesting to me and 2) I wanted to concentrate on a subject that I didn’t have a lot of previous experience in. I thought of my major as going short against my technologist/entrepreneur background. They say that you can never go wrong with finance at Wharton, and I think that it is right. For the record, I took a fair number of management and marketing classes to round out my education the last term.
• 1 cu classes are somewhat easier. Maybe it’s just me, but I like the 1 cu electives better, perhaps because they are spread out over a longer period and not so rushed. Of course they are much more in depth.
• LT avoidance. You can’t LT classes that have less than 20 people in them. I know some folks (no one you know) that selected classes so they wouldn’t get Das Boot.
• Art of the Pass/no pass. The art of the pass/no pass should be used to maximize your focus on those classes that really matter for your major. It’s a nice option to use your second year. Too bad we couldn’t use it our first year! Those really must have been the days when everything was Pass/No Pass.
• Look at the past course ratings. Difficulty and instructor rating are the two key metrics. Some classes just aren’t that great in one or two areas.
• Use the scan to PDF function. I scanned in all my bulk packs and then traded them with folks that had other classes. You never know when you’ll need some article from some class you weren’t able to take.

Term 4: Summer 2007 electives

FNCE 731: International Finance. This was probably my most favorite class at Wharton, and to take it I forewent taking MGMT 801 (Entrepreneurship), which was a bummer. It helped me to figure that I wanted to be a finance major as I loved the spot rate, currency hedge, and trade agreements material. My rationale was that my day job at a Series B startup had given me enough info on what the startup world was all about, so I took Bodnar’s International Finance class. Bodnar was a great lecturer, well-organized with excellent PDF handouts, and had an extensive website with lots of examples on it. Text book is useful. It was a heavy 1 cu course, and was easily the most difficult class in Term 4. Highly recommended.

IS 899: Independent Study. I went independent study after taking a look at Marketing Research and the OPIM product development classes. It turned out to be way more work than anything else I could have done, yet I am glad that I did an IS with Prof. Kent Smetters on open source software strategy and pricing. My 80 page report was valuable for my firm, and the company makes it mandatory reading to help them come up to speed. Don’t do an IS if you don’t want to work though. I did get an A. Recommended.

REAL 721: Real Estate Finance. This class was an interesting one but it was way too short and too quick due to the schedule constraints. We had a good guest speaker on REITs at the end, and the final project is to do a REIT valuation report. My book still has the clear plastic wrap on it. Recommended.

Classes I didn’t take but heard good things about: Total Leadership. I looked like a “grade your diary” class to me that I could do on my own. I heard that the utility you get out of it depends on who you get paired with as a partner to critique your stuff, as well as how much you are able to put into it.

Term 5: Fall 2007

LGST 806: Negotiations. This was a great class, and one of those that wasn’t preparation intensive. What made it unique was that you did a bunch of in-class real life negotiations with and against your classmates. I learned a lot about myself and my classmates, and I’m glad I took the class. You can’t audit it later after graduation, so that pushed me over the edge to take it. Notes aren't that great, book is useful. Highly recommended.

FNCE 726: Advanced Corporate Finance. My team (gasp!) LTed this class, which I thought was totally unfair, as we didn’t sign up to do a presentation as there weren’t enough slots. I thought the lectures were interesting, but Oded has you do the cases before the lecture material which I didn’t think was so hot. The lectures are high quality, the notes are below average, and the book is not the greatest. Perhaps I am just bitter. But I really wish I took MGMT 806, Formation of Entrepreneurial Ventures. I heard from my classmates who took that class that it was one of the best. I wasn’t that psyched about it, but you kinda have to take it if you want the finance major. As the syllabus says, take it only if you like ambiguity.

FNCE 720: Investment Management. Geczy’s class is about running tons of regressions, and then some more. I learned a lot about IM and liked the class, but I had one small complaint: I thought that the class was a bit research-y. Great lecture notes and great lectures. Highly recommended.

Classes I didn’t take that I heard good things about: Sigelcow’s Strategic Management and Control Class, and Pottruck’s Org Change class.

Term 6: Spring 2008

MGMT 804: Venture Capital. Raffi and Collum teach a pretty good class on VC. There’s a ton of material crammed into the class, and I liked this class quite a bit. Some of my classmates didn’t like it as much, but I liked it because it helped explain the Silicon Valley startup world that I live in. Massive bulkpack, no text. Highly recommended.

MKTG 754: Pricing Policy. I audited this one as I didn’t need the units, but it is a great class. Proj Raju is going to be chair of the department next year, and we can see why that is the case. Top notch class with good lectures. Homework isn't that long or hard, but it will make you think. Highly recommended.

MKTG 753: New Product Development. This class overlaps quite a bit with the next marketing class, MKTG 781. It’s interesting and useful, especially to a guy who heads up the products and engineering functions for his firm. If I had to do it again, I would have taken either this class or Lodish’s class. But my rationale is that I was so heavy on finance classes that I wanted to balance it out a bit, so I took both. My teams did different venture projects, so I ended up learning a lot anyway. Recommended.

MKTG 781: Entrepreneurial Marketing. Lodish has impressive credentials and brought some top-notch speakers into class, which was valuable. It’s a 1 cu class, which is good your last term. Most of your grade relies on a project for a venture idea that you work on the whole term. If new ventures aren’t your bag, then don’t take this class. But I thought it was useful for someone considering starting a company down the road sometime. Surprisingly not that much reading. Highly recommended.

MGMT 811: Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition. Chalfin’s class was a refreshing practical “street smart” type of class that I really liked. It has a 40% participation aspect to your grade, and I think he took that into consideration after talking to a few classmates who weren’t the most vocal unfortunately. The final is a big case study that will take you a while to get through, but there’s no homework along the way which is nice. Highly recommended.

FNCE 751: Buyouts and M&A. Buletkin’s class is an interesting one. I audited since I didn’t need the units. Some interesting cases on RJR Nabisco, really interesting guest speakers, and good lectures. This course is all case studies, and it gave me a good perspective on LBOs and M&A. If I had to do it over again, I would have taken this class for a grade and blown off ACF. I heard that the final in this one was a killer. Both text books are thick.

FNCE 750: Venture Capital and the Finance of Innovation. This class is a really good one, and I like Wessel’s teaching a lot. He brings together a lot of concepts and I can see how the ideas all tie together, which is cool. Too bad it’s at the end when we are all totally burnt out. There's a thin textbook and organized presentations. Highly recommended.

Classes I didn’t take but people said good things about: Derivatives (Gibbons) – supposedly a lot of work but Gibbons is a famous guy in this area…

The profs should be happy I didn't give out LTs....

Hope this helps,

Chairman P

Check For $113 from Google

Even though it doesn't even make a dent in my tuition loan, it was nice to get a check for $113 from GOOG today for my blog for the past three months.

Here's my blog visit and page view stats for the past 12 months. I guess my recent increase in posting frequency has had a good effect...

-Chairman P

Survey of the Social Networks at Wharton West

By popular demand from those who voted on my blog poll, this post is my take on the various social groups at Wharton. We now have only four more class days and two more weekends to go. Plus a "Prom" in between. We're long past the early days of our cohort, which felt like starting college or high school all over again from a social networking perspective. But I write about the groups that have been formed since the early days of WEMBA.

I'd characterize myself as one of those people that is able to relate to a lot of different groups, perhaps because of my fourth generation Korean-American background. (And no, Loren, I am not a twinkie.) Or my interest in poker. Or red wine. Or perhaps getting the distinction as the guy who most often got the mean on the exams. :) Anyhow, please take these characterizations lightly, and if you are offended by stereotypes then don't read on....

Some of the main social groups at WEMBA can be characterized as follows:

The Smokers. These are the hard core, I smoke a pack a day types that stand outside on the balcony or by the front entrance to the building. I didn't manage to make it into this group, except for a brief stint while in Argentina when I had access to some Cubano stogies. After Wharton started, they smoked two packs a day (consumption increase!) and made RJR Nabisco very happy. You can tell them by the smokey smell.

Your First Year Study Group. The first year study group experience at B-School is like no other group experience; it's what happens when 5-6 Type As get into the room at the same time. One of days these someone should do a reality show on B-School study groups...now that would be interesting! There are various characters such as the Slacker, the "Total" Leader, the Socialite, the Genius, the Silent One, the Never Calls In Guy, the Traveller, the Millionaire, the Know It All, and the Procrastinator. Not all of these are mutually exclusive either. You'll find out.

The Drinkers. Party party party! These are the hard core alcoholic enhanced types that hang out at the Old Ship bar late at night. To be a card carrying member, you must do one of the following: know the bartender by first name, regularly skip Sat class to get a burger and beer in the morning, break a table while drunk, and/or drink the incredibly expensive Zain's Liquor fifths with a Red Bull in the back of class at the end of a Fri/Sat. These guys and gals have livers of stone.

The Various Racial and Religious Herds. I guess I can say this since I'm in the Asians group, but we do seem to have some groups that aggregate by race at Wharton from time to time. It's not too bad most of the time, except when there's too much yammering in some foreign language. There's the Asian-Americans (from the Orient) as well as the Indian Asians, the Latins, the Europeans, the WASPs, and the Jews. Oh yeah, and there's the Ebonics Society, founded by Clifton A. The Mormons are in there as well; I think we have four of them. There's SIX (correction from the original post; it was FIVE before) Koreans in our class, which I'm sure is some sort of record. One funny story that Nicole told me was that her friends that met some of us in Brazil were wondering why everyone at Wharton was Asian. I'm sure I'm forgetting some more groups here but I better stop before the slippery slope gets steeper!

The I Hardly Show Up Team. There's a couple of guys and gals that rarely show up for class. It never fails to amaze me that they managed to get through the program, but a few have proved that it is possible to miss lots of school and still graduate. This is NOT recommended for the average person, however. I think I made it to 50% of my undergrad classes but that didn't work for me at WEMBA. This team is either made of geniuses or huge donors to the school.

The Sports Fans. I'm a proud member of this one, having commished the Whartun32 Fantasy Football League the past two years. I also teach Golf 720. Azar has also run the NCAA Men's Basketball Pool the past two years as well. You will know if you are in this group if you are caught lobbying for Sports Management elective in Term 3. We weren't successful in getting it, thankfully, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The Runners. There's a group of morning runners that get up early almost every Sat to go for a run before class. Charles, dude, thanks but no thanks, I'll see you in class. This one was not for me. It was a popular group though, and if I had done it I would have reduced the weight gain portion of the Costs of Academic Distress. Doh!

The Scholars. There's a small group of competitive students that I assume are vying for the Palmer Scholar award. First term pretty much took care of me so I can't tell you from personal experience. You know you are member if you finish your assignments before the term even starts. 100% attendance at all the TA and office hour sessions are part of it as well, but if you qualify for that and get good grades then you might be something that starts with a B and ends with an R.

The Team. There are a number of Intel, Oracle, Cisco, and HP students in every class. Ours seems to have a high percentage of Intel and Oracle folks. Or at least when we started Wharton....hehehe :) Change that to "seemed", past tense.

The Nerds. We're at Wharton, so I think almost everyone qualifies for this in some way. But there are some extremely nerdy folks at Wharton, and these types seem to attract each other for Dungeons and Dragons night. We are talking outliers here. And if you know what one is before Stats class, then you might be one.

The Impressives. There are a few select people in our class that I admire quite a bit for their achievements, be it in business, as an entrepreneur, or in their personal lives. It really is great to get to know some of these really impressive people on a very personal basis. That's one of the truly great things about the program.

The Family Guys/Gals. These types don't socialize that much, usually bring their families to school, and are good old fashioned family types. There are lots of these in our class. Frank and Adam qualified after having twins in Term 3 or so. Twins are not recommended, but it can be done.

The Socialite-Gossipers. These types compare what everyone is wearing, who's hot and who's not, know the latest dirt, and are pretty well connected to what's happening after class. Usually single, although occasionally married, they are always ready for some sort of social event. These types have IM always running, are always getting text messages, and just are in the know. There is a fine line between being a socialite and being that guy/gal who shows up to all social events whether you are invited or not.

The Commuter Groups. This one is usually by geographic location. I'm in one of the carpools from the Penninsula area, and I meet up with 4-5 classmates to carpool to school. Saves gas, saves parking at the hotel, and the best part is the conversation on the way there and back. There are other groups: the SoCal airplane team, the South Bay carpool, and the Sacramento commute triad. Nikul just told me that the Sacramento guys only just figured out in Term 6 the optimal way to commute from Sacto after taking BART for 1.5 years.

The Poker Players. Texas Hold Em is the game of choice in our class. I'm a card carrying member, at least before I changed jobs. (For the story of how much changing jobs affects your time to play poker, I'll have to write another blog post.) You'll know the really hard core poker types because you will get email when they play on Facebook, particularly in class. My recommendation for WEMBA is to get a privacy screen on your laptop; thanks goes out to Kip who showed me how useful it was way back in Term 1. BTW, Gagan and Kevin seem to be the top Facebook poker players in our class based on the notifications. On a somewhat related note, I recently only just cashed in my PartyPoker.com chips and got a real check, believe it or not. I think I floated those guys about $500 for two years, which was an interest free loan. Just totally forgot about it while at WEMBA.

One last thing: Gagan and I both keep our chip sets at the Le Meridian in permanent storage, so you Class 33 and Class 34's are welcome to use them. We've both decided that part of our class gift is to permanently leave our poker sets at the Le Meridian for all time. The chips with the metallic centers are from me, Chairman P. The other ones are from Gagan. Just ask for the poker set at the concierge desk. Enjoy!

I'm quite sure I missed some more groups. Maybe I'll have Gagan create a social groups app online so that people can do it on the web....

Grades Available for MGMT 811 and MKTG 753

Penn Portal has our grades posted for Chalkin and Hutchinson's classes.

Now I Take the Career Leader Test! Doh!

The mad blogger stikes again! Only two more weekends and four more class days til we are done done done!

We're nearing the last mile. Not that I have ever run in a marathon, but I'm sure it feels like I feel right now: every step of the last mile is painful. I can't wait til it's over, especially after seeing my classmates last weekend do some cartwheels when they had finished. (Roger, I am jealous)

One thing to pass on: I just took the Career Leader online test through the career management office. Now I take it! Doh! Guess it's better late than never. I can blame not taking it either on laziness or not having a Class 31 blogger to light the way. Guess which one I chose? :)

The test took the good part of an hour and a half, and it was totally worth it. All web-based, totally cool. I wish I had taken it earlier! Wharton grads have three months after graduation to take it, so if you are reading this and haven't taken it, go check it out. Otherwise, it'll be too late. For you first years, go do it now!

There are three parts to it:
1. Business Career Interest Inventory
2. Management and Professional Rewards Profile
3. Management and Professional Abilities Profile

My results weren't surprising, which I guess is good.

Here's my results:

Best Career Matches Section:

Very High Match: Entrepreneurship (oh gee, really?), Finance in Corporate Settings (validates my major), Investment Management (shoulda paid more attention to Geczy...)

High Match: General Management (that's why they call me Chairman P, baby), Management of New Product Development (ok, I shouldn't quit my day job), Private Equity Investment (why oh why wasn't I awake in the RJR case?), Venture Capital (Raffi and Wessel's class are good if you want to head this direction), Class Blogger

Low Match: Rock Singer (tonedeaf), Professional Athelete (no hops, although fantasy football skills are high), Male Model (especially for hats)

To give you a feel for what you get, here are some snippets from my Career Leader Professional Report (sorry, too lazy to reformat the badly formed text, but you will get the idea):

Interests You have a notable interest in three core elements of business work:
Counseling and MentoringEnterprise ControlTheory Development and Conceptual ThinkingYou are strongly interested in Counseling and Mentoring, one of the elemental activities in business work. You enjoy developing relationships -- and people -- and view this activity as an integral part of business work. A strong interest in Counseling and Mentoring is often expressed through a desire to manage groups and lead teams. The emphasis is more on the "people management" side of things than on managing processes, projects, or strategy.
With this core interest, you're likely to be highly attuned to your company's mission and culture. You may also gravitate toward organizations that:
place a high value on worker developmentreward managers who focus their energy and the company's resources on personnel development"do good" through their products, services, and missionYou'll probably also prefer work environments in which you feel you're adding value to the business endeavor specifically through teaching, mentoring, and coaching fellow workers and others. In addition, you may feel pulled toward working for not-for-profit organizations at some point in your career.
You also have an elevated interest in Enterprise Control, one of the central activities in business work. You enjoy setting strategy and seeing it carried out. You want to have ultimate decision-making authority for complete operations; to make the decisions that will determine the direction taken by a work team, a business unit, or an entire company; and to control the resources that will enable you to actualize a business vision.
In the workplace, you'll enjoy activities like:
taking the lead on implementing important strategic decisions"owning" deals and negotiationsparticipating in meetings in which strategic issues are on the agendaleading project teamshaving full responsibility for the profit-and-loss performance of an enterprisebeing involved in all aspects of a business enterprise (marketing, finance, sales, operations, etc.)acting as a "rainmaker," bringing in new clients and customersThe "enterprise" you control can be big or small, or short- or long-lived. You might want to control an enterprise that you believe will exist for your lifetime or even beyond. On the other hand, you might prefer being in charge of much shorter-lived "enterprises"; for example, "doing deals" that you know will close in only a few months or weeks.
With a strong interest in Enterprise Control, you may be eager to run something now. You may find it difficult to be patient during the early stages of your career, when you're learning and proving that you're qualified to be captain of the ship. If you feel frustrated, resist the temptation to switch to another company too early. Impatience can get in the way of your success if you let it force you off your career path too soon.
Lastly, you also have a notable level of interest in Theory Development and Conceptual Thinking, one of the fundamental activities in business work. Whether as a business professional or aspiring businessperson, you enjoy solving business problems through conceptual approaches, exploring abstract ideas and the "what ifs" of a business or industry, and considering broad economic and social trends.
You're likely to enjoy work activities such as:
developing economic theorycreating a model that explains competition in an industryanalyzing a company's competitive position in a particular marketdesigning a new process for product development or distributionconsidering the value proposition of a merger or acquisitionYou will probably be attracted to careers that provide opportunities to work closely with ideas. These may include positions in strategy and knowledge-management consulting or academia, and work in a "think tank." This is especially true if this is your only very strong interest.
Of course, having strong interests in Counseling and Mentoring and Enterprise Control and Theory Development and Conceptual Thinking doesn't necessarily mean you have the skills you need to succeed in a career in which those activities are a predominant part of the work. But people often develop abilities where their interests lie. So don't let a lack of training or prior experience as a coach, counselor, or mentor or with leadership activities or with theoretical work keep you from gaining the knowledge or strengthening the skills you'll need to express these interests.
Your interests strongly resemble the interests of entrepreneurs that distinguish them from other business professionals. This doesn't necessarily mean that an entrepreneurial venture you're involved with will succeed. Nor does it mean that you should run right out and start a new business. However, it does suggest that you would be happiest in an organization (or in part of a larger organization) that has a decidedly entrepreneurial culture -- even if you aren't the founder. (Many CEOs of entrepreneurial companies didn't set up those companies, but they are most definitely entrepreneurs.) Remember: There is no such thing as one "entrepreneurial type;" different entrepreneurs exhibit different styles in leading their organizations. Your interests are the single most important factor in your happiness and success. Organizational Culture You would feel most comfortable in an organization that places a premium on trying new approaches: "If it isn't broken, see if you can make it better anyway." People who work in such companies, departments, or teams are willing to take risks in the service of possible improvements. They're intellectually venturesome and greatly appreciate new ideas and creativity. These are typically relatively "flat" organizations, where a person's job title matters far less than the quality of his or her ideas. Your tendency in this direction is relatively strong, so pay close attention to this aspect of any organization you consider working for. For tips on how to examine an organizational culture in this regard, click here.
You would be happiest in a work culture marked by a spirit of cooperation, interpersonal sensitivity, a tendency to assume the best of people, and perhaps a degree of altruism in the organization's mission. In such organizations, departments, and teams, people tend to make decisions by consensus (when possible) and to minimize conflict and internal competition. Your tendency in this direction is very strong, so pay close attention to this aspect of any organization you consider working for. For tips on how to examine an organizational culture in this regard, click here.

Abilities You have a number of strengths, including:
Comfort with Risk: Takes risks when appropriate, isn't afraid to innovate and experiment.
Creative Thinking: Able to think creatively, generating new ideas and approaches to situations.Flexibility: Adapts easily to changing situations and is able to adopt new approaches when necessary.Gaining Trust: Inspires other people's trust.Sensitivity and Tact: Sensitive and tacful: promotes an atmosphere of good feeling and mutual consideration.Sociability: Socially venturesome and self-assured; forms new relationships easily and works to maintain them.Strategic Thinking: A strategic thinker: able to grasp the big picture and think long-term.Teamwork: A team player: cooperative, works well as part of a group.Work Ethic: Has a strong work ethic, willing to make sacrifices to achieve important goals.

Hope this is useful.

Until next post,

-Chairman P