It's Officially Ridiculous


Now I'm ready to come clean:



I'm not whining. This is a matter of fact.

Please Don't Call On Me...


My excuses:




- Confidently state an opinion.
- State that my calculations were different than his.
- Do my homework for the next class.

Good News from the Darden Innovation Challenge

My team made the international top 10 for the Darden Innovation Challenge case competition. We get to compete in the final round in Charlottesville, VA in a few weeks. Woot!

The competition is fairly straightforward - the sponsoring companies provide a "problem", typically a marketing/product problem, and charge the participating teams to come up with a concept that addresses the problem with an innovative product, marketing strategy, etc.  The "innovating" is the hard/fun part...

Our first round problem came from Whirlpool. In a nutshell, we needed to figure out a way to help the company drive demand in the 18-27 age demographic. Luckily, the company provided us with a number of product concepts to get the ball rolling.

Our concept turned out to be a new line of funky, pseudo-upscale dorm appliances marketed by Whirlpool under a hip vanity brand. We weren't completely thrilled with the final idea - (I actually fought pretty hard early on to kill it - shows what I know!) - but the concept brief was strong and (I think/guess) had the right mix of creative positioning and "innovative" ideas balanced by meat and potatoes operational concepts, reasonably defensible financial/market justification, and digestible sales projections.

The final round will require that we prep new concepts for American Express and Hilton Hotels. We'll put forth our best effort in hopes of impressing the corporate sponsors/recruiters and, more importantly, winning the cash money pay day that goes to the first place team.

Our team, "Kenan-Flagler 16:47":

From left - Kami, Jen, Yan, Nicole, Eric

Asking Better Questions

I just got (moderately) punked by my macroeconomics professor and learned an important lesson in the process.

We were looking at quarterly GDP data over the past 6 years and noting that consumer spending remained strong during the 2000/2001 recession. I asked the following question:
What does the strong spending imply about savings?

...and got the following (paraphrased) response:
Well, by definition, savings is the income that you don't spend - so there really isn't any saving.

Doh! I set myself up for that one with an overly ambiguous question that didn't really ask anything. Luckily, the professor kept going and addressed the broader context of my question by talking about the implications of low savings in the US economy.

For what it's worth - I thought his answer to my question was fantastically sarcastic!

Eric = (1/8)*MBA




More to ride/wife is here. :-)

A Billion Dollar Write-Off

We've been talking asset impairment in Prof. Mark Lang's accounting class, so the news of EBay's $1.4 billion write-off related to its Skype acquisition is pretty timely.

(Thanks to the class discussions and Prof. Lang's habit of beginning every class with a video, I actually know how a write-off works and how I would explain it to Kramer.)

The NYT post makes some insightful observations regarding the situation, particularly by couching the EBay/Skype fiasco as a warning sign for the pending Microsoft/Facebook transaction.

Career Fair

Kenan-Flagler hosted ~50 companies for the annual MBA Career Fair today. These things are always great for comedy. You just can't beat being within earshot of so many awkward conversations...

Lots of good companies showed up, but only a handful remotely aligned with my Internet/software career interests. As I had hoped, the shortage actually worked in my favor. I spent ~15 minutes with each of my 3 target companies and was able to deliver a pretty salient story regarding my interest in their internship programs. Here's hoping they noticed and return the interest.

For others, the Career Fair will be a full day spent talking to as many of the attending companies as possible, all of which are completely diverse. I felt strange bouncing from a conversation with a marketing consultancy to another with a media software company. I can only imagine having to change gears from J&J to Blackwater to XYZ real estate developer, all the while keeping a straight face as I express my interest in the company. Guess you gotta find your way somehow...

In Search of the Summer

I can't believe how quickly the summer disappeared. Just a week or two ago, it was 110 degrees outside, school had just gotten underway, and I was still buzzing from the post Italy and China afterglow.

A round of midterms and a few football games later, it's autumn. It is still warm outside, but "pleasant" warm instead of "gates of hell" warm. Instead of enjoying the novelty of being in school again, I'm knee-deep in the stay up late, wake up early, can't put it down drudgery of actually being a student.

(Not that said drudgery isn't both extremely manageable and enjoyable, by the way.)

Despite the significant task at hand and the impending doom of finals, everyone here - me included - already seems amazingly fixated on next summer. Nearly all of my classmates are eagerly running the company presentation gauntlet in search of the ideal summer internship. Everyone shows up in suits and spends their lunch and dinner time listening to whatever it is J&J, GE, Deloitte, McKinsey, Lehman Brothers, etc. have to say. Some are going to 2 and 3 of these presentations a day. (Insanity if you ask me.)

I haven't attended any of these presentations (and probably won't), but that doesn't mean that I'm not hiking my trek toward summer internship Shangri La. I've got a number of irons in the fire and, excluding a Kenan-Flagler sponsored VC fellowship program, all of them are individually driven and outside of KFBS' career services machine.

It is mildly frustrating that I don't have the institutional support of my classmates.  However, I must admit that I enjoy the underdog/individual effort aspect of my internship search, as well as the freedom from the company presentation grind. Plus, my internship search is a great primer for the job search that I'll start this time next year.

As much as possible/appropriate, I'll update The Boggs Blog with my search progress and lessons learned.

Rankings Don't Matter. Oh Wait - Yes They Do!

Kenan-Flagler ranked #6 in the WSJ's annual MBA program rankings, up from #8 last year. Good for us!

MBA rankings are a fickle beast. Administration and staff have to pretend like they don't matter, yet does anyone wanna bet that Dean Jones and the MBA program staff aren't slapping high-fives this morning?

Students must say that they removed "rankings" from the decision-making process and instead focused on other variables, such as "fit". It is just amazing how Top 5 schools seem to "fit" a little bit better and how my classmates are and will continue to be abuzz about the new rankings.

Here's my brief assessment of the WSJ survey:

1. Recruiters like us because they can pay us less. KFBS has the lowest starting salary of the schools in the Top 10. Until we get pizzaid like a Top 10 program, I'm not buying the Top 10 distinction.

(Note - The article points out that the "what's in it for me" attitude similar to that which I just indirectly expressed caused Kellogg and Michigan to drop considerably from last year's rankings.)

2. We're eager. Which I presume relates to #1. We're a consensus Top 20 school. But, with regards to the Top 10, we're a bit of an up-and-comer, a scrappy underdog, if you will. Everyone loves an underdog - especially, it seems, MBA recruiters.

3. We don't have an "MBA attitude". KFBS does an amazing job of filtering out the jerks.  I can honestly say that I haven't met a single person here that rubs me the wrong way - which is pretty amazing considering my Jerry Seinfeld-esque sensitivity to jerks.

On the contrary, I visited a consensus Top 10 school in the Northeast this past February and decided not to apply because of the surprising number of abrasive personalities I encountered. It was a recruiting visit! Aren't you supposed to be nice to me!?

KFBS would do very well to continue this trend and steal some of the "collegial MBA program" market share away from Tuck and Kellogg.

4. Our test scores are weak, but getting MUCH stronger. The survey reports an average GMAT score of ~660. This is for the class of 2008. My class has an average score of ~690.

Hopefully the test scores and other improvements will continue to push Kenan-Flagler up the rankings, which of course mean nothing and everything.


I spent some time talking to a second year KFBS student on my way to an Accounting review Friday afternoon and he offered me a brief anecdote about his first year Microeconomics professor. My re-telling:
Bob Connelly told his students on the first day of class that the single most important formula that they should learn from his class is as follows:

"P = MBA"

He went on to say that if students are stressing about grades, then they just aren't getting it. Except for those keen on a finance gig on Wall Street, in which case grades DO matter, he suggested that students make sure to learn the material REALLY well, but spend their time exploring the numerous social, personal, community, and career opportunities that KFBS offers, not killing themselves for an "H".

His anecdote inspired me to skip out on the review session - (I already had the "P" in the bag.) - and caused me to reflect on the "P = MBA" concept. A few thoughts:

1. My Micro professor has written lots of formulas on the board, but none as relevant to reality as "P = MBA".

2. It is easier said than done. I'm a competitive SOB and I can't help it. For me, to "accept" a "P" is to accept defeat. This is probably why I've had so many late nights trying to stay ahead of the game with my coursework...and probably why I'm so tired all of the time.

3. It can be a timely excuse. Case in point - I'm pretty sure that I botched said Accounting exam for which I skipped the review session. (Note - I still studied quite a bit at home...)

But, you know what? I'm certain that I passed. I'm certain that I got most of the questions mostly right. Plus, I'm certain that some students did MUCH worse on the exam than I did. Most importantly, I'm certain that I know the material well enough considering my career aspirations.

So - while I might stink at Accounting - I'm not going to beat myself up over what will probably be a less-than-stellar grade. After all, P = MBA!

Courses related to my background and career interests will be a completely different story I'm sure...

A Busy Week...

Kenan-Flagler first years have 2 midterms and a paper due this week. Good times!

Our profs have mentioned numerous times that they work together to try to spread the load as much as possible and, to their credit, they've done a good job so far. I've been busy, no doubt, but it hasn't been the living hell that others had me believe that I would encounter.

(I might be singing a different tune at the end of this week...)

It is worth mentioning that the week won't totally suck. My first flag football game since undergrad kicks off Tuesday at 8PM and Jason Isbell blows up the Local 506 Thursday ~11PM. Can't wait.

Discrimination at Kenan-Flagler






That said, I don't like it when the following happens:






- Calendars distributed via the CalDAV standard.
- The disappearance of the assumption that we all use Outlook.

MBA In A Page

Guy Kawasaki hit a nerve with his "MBA in a Page" post.

Check the comments. Some pretty funny stuff. My favorite:

I was in an investment bank office one day - a $10 million check on the table. It was pulled away because the CEO of my main competitor was a Harvard MBA. The investor thought that was a more important qualification than my Caltech PhD and significantly greater understanding of the issue both companies addressed. Kleiner Perkins felt the same way.

So Guy, are telling me that you would have given us the money? Are you saying that you don't invest when too many MBAs are involved?

I see this as kind of hypocritical. You speak disdain for the MBA but your herd gives it more weight than almost any other criteria.



Let me be subtle. All things being equal, any VC who picks a Harvard MBA over a CalTech PhD for a tech company is someone you don't want money from.



For the record, I'm an MBA student and I agree with Guy's sentiment in the post:

MBA trons suck.

(My classmates that will soon be falling all over themselves to get 30 seconds of face time with the McKinsey, Bain, BCG, etc. recruiters only to ask an asinine question "company culture" may have different opinions.)

If I'm the CEO of an early-stage venture, an MBA student would probably be the last person I would seek to hire for a very early position.*  Despite our eagerness and ambition, we're expensive, 2 years gone from reality, and, by the time we graduate, we will have been told how great we are about 129,384 times.  Not the right mix for an important early hire if you ask me.

*Unless the MBA student were me.

A Big/Small Kenan-Flagler World

First day of orientation was great. Good times, good programming, good food, and, of course, GREAT people. People from all parts of the globe with all kinds of backgrounds, work experiences, and personalities.

Funny thing, though. Of all the different people from all over the world, the following happen to be my classmates:

Troy - my backyard neighbor.

Dan - a former pharma rep that serviced my Aunt Rhonda and Father-in-Law Carl's clinic.

Michael - my 2nd cousin and childhood friend.

Small world, huh?

First Day of School!

Orientation starts today.

My pencils are sharpened.  My snappy new lunchbox is packed.  I've donned my "first day of school" attire, as selected by Kelly and as displayed over night by the little man I fashioned out of the clothes in the floor beside my bed.

I'm ready to ask lots of questions.  I'm ready to have a locker again.  I'm a little bit nervous.  I'm wishing that Kelly would hurry up so that we could leave already.  Heck - I'm even drinking coffee from a Kenan-Flagler mug!

Game on!

The Calm Before The Storm

I'm so excited/nervous to be so close to officially becoming a Kenan-Flalger MBA student. I have a "Welcome Session" tomorrow, a week's worth of orientation next week, and then classes kick off the next Monday.

I'm excited because I know that I'm going to have a great time as a student again. I'll make tons of new friends, play lots of basketball, and - of course - learn a lot about business and hopefully more about myself.

I'm nervous because I don't think I've ever been so unprepared for something. I'm not the world's greatest "preparer" as it is - however - I've really outdone myself this time. Instead of ASW - Kenan-Flagler's accounting/finance/statistics pre-term tune-up - I opted to travel to Italy with Kelly and to China with John and Ben. (More blog posts coming for each trip...promise.) Plus, I've spent the last ~2 weeks since I've been home reading, watching movies, playing basketball, doing chores, and catching up with friends when I probably should have been re-learning accounting and statistics. (Which I started doing today, by the way.  Ugh.)

My summer of travel and lazing about the house, while undoubtedly an enjoyable experience and much needed time to recharge, essentially means that I'm WELL behind my classmates that attended ASW and nowhere close to being ready for the impending deluge of very difficult MBA coursework. It also means that I get to suck it up and accomplish something very challenging, which in its own strange way is an exciting reward. (At least that's what I'm telling myself.)

Game on very soon. Can't wait.

Experience Weekend Recap

A few quick observations from the event thus far:

- Deloitte sponsored a dinner last night and had a handful of recruiters working the crowd. I don't start classes until August, yet I'm already shaking hands with a recruiter from a major consulting firm. That's just funny.

- Johnson & Johnson sponsored breakfast this morning and had a small kiosk of bowls with Tylenol, Motrin, etc. A well-received remedy for my low-grade hangover headache and an economical branding experience for J&J.

- My plans to build an intramural basketball dynasty are slowly taking shape. I've already identified 2 key recruits from the incoming MBA class, one of which spent a brief term as a walk-on at Ole Miss. That, my friends, is the kind of ringer talent that wins championships.

- I'm really glad that I chose Kenan-Flagler.

All in all, its been great fun. The real party starts tonight with dinner, drinks, and bluegrass on the Latane Plaza and will end with beers at P-Bob's.

Kenan-Flagler Loves the Boggs Blog

Folks - Boggs Blog Fever is sweeping the nation. For example, consider this (roughly transcribed) conversation that I had with Sarah - whom I'm never met - tonight at the Kenan-Flagler Experience Weekend:

Eric - Hi. I'm Eric.

Sarah - Hi. I'm Sarah.

Eric - Nice to meet you. (Pleasantries, etc.)

Sarah - Umm. You might think this is strange, but I've read your blog.

Eric - (Uncontrollable laughter.) How did you find my blog?

Sarah - I Googled "Kenan-Flagler gay" because I was trying to get a sense of Kenan-Flagler's reputation as a gay-friendly school. You had just written a post about that NBA basketball player a day or two after you had written a post about being accepted at Kenan-Flagler. So I guess it made sense that it showed up in my search results.

Eric - (More uncontrollable laughter, followed by a 10 minute soliloquy on the virtues of blogging, the Long Tail, the Kenny George situation, and internet marketing - all of which was largely ignored by those around me.)

I'll post more about Experience Weekend tomorrow.