Meet Columbia’s MBA Class of 2017

Louis Aronne

Columbia Business School

Hometown:  New York City, NY

Undergraduate School and Major: Georgetown University, BSBA, Finance and International Business

Employers and Job Titles Since Graduation: New York Stock Exchange (now ICE), Director, Sales & Relationship Management; Meet Hank, Startup mobile accessory business- Co-founder; L&L Productions, Special events production- Co-Founder

Recalling your own experience, what advice do you have for applicants who are preparing for either the GMAT or the GRE? First off, lighten up – you have to take the test regardless so try and enjoy it! I found several things particularly useful outside of the standard tips while prepping for the GMAT.

First, if game day stress is a concern for you, lower the external pressures by keeping your test date to yourself. It becomes stressful when friends, family and coworkers keep asking you about your progress. While they are trying to support you, you, and only you, will be taking the test. Think of the surprise on their faces when you unexpectedly tell them about your 740!

Learn to say “no” in two ways. First off, you must learn which GMAT subjects are your weakest and which questions you should guess on. Second, in order to maintain focus and momentum, define a period during which you can fully commit yourself to exam prep so that you can confidently say “no” to social invitations. Living in New York City, it is hard to say “no,” but the short term sacrifice is well worth a solid outcome.

Based on your own selection process, what advice do you have for applicants who are trying to draw up a list of target schools to which to apply? In my opinion, applicants shouldn’t fixate on a particular school list without first defining their personal values, academic and extracurricular priorities, and post b-school goals.

In my case, I wanted an MBA program with a reputation for producing consumer goods startups, a location where I could most effectively leverage and strengthen my current network, and a student atmosphere with a strong sense of community.

New York and California were natural fits because of my current strength of network and desire to operate in those geographies following business school. After creating the geographic school list I looked up the extracurricular programs at those target schools that catered to entrepreneurship with a focus on retail and consumer goods and reached out to students who were listed as board members of those organizations (their emails are usually listed but you can also uses resources like LinkedIn).  Based on their responsiveness and subsequent meetings and phone calls, I was educated on the strength of the clubs, academics and network within my interests and (more importantly) the students’ sentiment towards their school. In my opinion, your ultimate school selection should be about your gut feel and fit, and the enthusiasm and knowledge or lack thereof from the students/alums from those organizations will give you a strong idea of how the programs actually stack up for you.

What advice do you have for applicants in actually applying to a school, writing essays, doing admission interviews, and getting recommenders to write letters on your behalf? It is easy for you and others to tell if your application is genuine or not. After defining your goals, story and target school(s), try to find a current student who can rally around your enthusiasm for their school, particular program, or passion and ask them to be your application mentor (in one way or another). Current MBAs are very busy people. If they love their school and recognize your passion, they will certainly support you by giving valuable application feedback and accelerating your intra-school networking, in turn giving you the genuine depth of knowledge to write a stellar application (or conversely informing you why not to spend time on a school’s application).

Recommenders too can notice your level of interest in a program. In order to illustrate your interest and why they should spend their valuable time writing a recommendation, send a formal email to your desired recommender three months in advance of the due date with a guide attached clearly stating your goals, accomplishments, and any important deadlines and submission instructions. No matter how formal or casual your relationship is, recommendation letters take a lot of time so make the process as easy as possible for your recommender and get them as excited as you are about that program!

What led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA? After working nights and weekends on two different startups outside of work, I wanted to get my MBA so I could develop the business acumen and relationships needed to succeed as an entrepreneur in the consumer products and experiences space.

In looking at the different entrepreneurship programs, I quickly realized that CBS’ brand of entrepreneurship was not just tech-focused. Instead, there are a wide range of new ventures in consumer goods (Thursday Boots), hospitality (Block Party Suites) and travel (Sailo) among others coming out of CBS every year. These startups have effectively tapped into the CBS network and local NYC community for early product feedback, marketing reach, and potential investment opportunities. Given my interest in starting new ventures and my overwhelmingly positive interactions with a wide range of CBS entrepreneurs, the school felt like a great fit and still does today.

Networking velocity was also a huge factor.  While applying to CBS I was introduced to individual members of the Columbia Entrepreneurs Organization and Retail and Luxury Goods Clubs.  After my initial conversations with these students, I was quickly connected to a string of very relevant students within CBS with similar goals.  This sort of networking velocity cannot be underestimated in starting a new venture and it became apparent that Columbia was the right place for me.

What would you ultimately like to achieve before you graduate? Among my many aspirations here are a few priorities:

• Use my skills learned in the classroom to evolve Meet Hank into a line of well-designed wireless charging mobile accessories and get into the Apple Store all the while.

• Become an InSITE fellow and member of the Dorm Room Fund (please let me in!).

• Travel to my 50th country (at 35 now).