Stanford: New All-Time High For MBA Startups

Of course, many students are attracted to Stanford because of its location in the heart of Silicon Valley, not far from Sand Hill Rd., where  there is the largest concentration of venture capital firms in the world. “Despite an uncertain economy, more of our students are willing to take the risk of starting up new enterprises to solve problems, address unmet needs and positively impact society,” added Sanghvi. “It is a sign of hopefulness and opportunity for the U.S. and the rest of the world.”

The school said that its graduates describe the ideal business culture as one that is flat, non-hierarchical, encourages risk-taking and has a strong culture of mentorship. “Growth potential and early responsibility are increasingly priorities for students while money and job security are lower priorities,” Sanghvi added. “A look at the career choices recent alumni have made demonstrates that GSB graduates gravitate to places where they can make change.”

“It’s part of a broader generational story that is now taking on clear dimensions,” says Sanghvi. “I firmly believe that this generation of students are going to be remembered as one of the great transformational generations that has come out of Stanford business school. So many of them have been influenced and shaped by the economic trends in the past decade.”

MORE MBA STUDENTS ARE LESS EAGER TO COMMIT IN THE FALL TO TRADITIONAL MBA RECRUITING

A greater number of students, says Sanghvi, are less eager to commit to companies during the typical fall recruiting season when the big MBA hirers come to campus. Instead, they’re holding out until the spring before graduation to pursue different types of opportunities, often with smaller companies and startups.  “They don’t want to take themselves off the market so soon,” says Sanghvi. “More students feel confident in letting some of the traditional offers go in the fall. They’re leaving those behind and walking into the unknown in the spring. We’ve been seeing this sharply at Stanford for many years. Other schools are also seeing a market shift in this direction.” 

To satisfy that demand, Stanford’s Career Management Center held what it called “The Fewer Than 300 Event,” inviting 32 companies with fewer than 300 employees to campus to meet MBA students. Sanghvi took over the main boardroom on the fourth floor of the school’s Bass Center last April and brought in couches to create the event.

“Many of the companies had buzz that they might go public over the next year or two,” said Sanghvi. “Eight of them were on Goldman Sachs IPO list. It was a networking event, not a job-sourcing event. A lot of the companies had no hiring positions open when they came, but after meeting our students, changed their minds.“

Traditional corporate recruiters, meanwhile, are adapting their approach to students and reassessing their offering so that they are in closer alignment with shifting generational motivations, says Sanghvi. For example, some companies are offering opportunities for early responsibility and the flexibility to work on ideas and projects that appeal to the employee. Other sectors have seen shifts in interest that reflect graduates’ entrepreneurial spirit. In the financial institutions sector, graduates are migrating to jobs in investment management, particularly private equity and venture capital, where they can play principal roles.

“It is important to recognize that as the field of opportunity available to graduating MBAs has broadened, it hasn’t made the more traditional opportunities like consulting less attractive,” adds Sanghvi. “It has made the traditional paths even more attractive because as the field of competition has increased, the traditional firms have put even greater emphasis on early exposure, responsibility, ownership and mentorship. Our students have very good choices in front of them.”

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