Roberto Aguayo Diaz 

University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business

“Diehard sports fanatic, Co-Founded sport complexes building and operating company, Partner LatinX oriented VC fund.”

Hometown: Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico

Fun Fact About Yourself: I was actually born in the US, but have spent most of my life living in Mexico, 26 out of 28 years.

Undergraduate School and Major: Tecnológico de Monterrey Campus Sonora Norte, Major in International Business

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Partner at VC Fund LEAP Global Partners

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: My biggest professional accomplishment has been to see the evolution of my participation in the VC Fund, LEAP Global Partners. I started as a member of an investment club focused on addressing the many underfunded great LatinX founders. After a lot of work, we managed to evolve the club into a VC Fund that now has 26 investors (13 in the US and 13 in Mexico) as well as some major institutions that have trusted us to manage their money and resources.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? Generous and Inclusive. Each of the McCombs classmates I have met so far has shown me that they really have a sharing community and ecosystem mindset. My fellow classmates are willing to go out of their way in order to help others. A good example of this was at the Consortium OP Company Fair. I had a classmate who literally took 15 minutes out of her tight schedule to introduce me to people from other companies she had already met and thought I should meet. This was great from both a human perspective as well as a professional.

What makes Austin such a great place to earn an MBA? Austin is one of the most vibrant cities in America, and The University of Texas has a major influence on the city. Austin has emerged as a powerhouse in rankings relating the best cities to live in America. The economy has been positively impacted by the number of companies (especially tech) that have settled here. Everybody talks about how great Austin is and this happens more often with Austin than with any other city I have ever known.

Aside from your classmates and location, what was the key factor that led you to choose this program for your full-time MBA and why was it so important to you? I really like the cultural fit. Throughout my professional career, my trajectory has been basically in an entrepreneurial role, so I really want to get more “hard skills” relating to accounting and corporate finance, which is the language that I believe a company or corporation speaks. So, McCombs really has a lot to offer in the corporate finance area as well as in entrepreneurship.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? I am really looking forward to participating in regional economic development programs and initiatives that UT has. One example is the IC² Institute at UT Austin, whose main objective is to explore the economic, technological, and human factors that drive economic development in global regions. These topics are the same that I have been trying to address during my professional career. So, having access to an institute with this vision, resources, and all the experience in this subject that IC² has is something I am really looking forward to.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? I consider the simple “Why you want to study at this particular school?” to be a really challenging question. The challenging part is to really get to know the program that is interviewing you in a deep enough level that it will differentiate you from the other hundreds of students who are trying to get accepted. So even though it is one of the easiest questions to answer, the fact that almost everybody could answer it and also that most of the applicants get their input for the answers from the same places (websites and blogs) makes it challenging. Also, this usually is considered one of the most important questions in the interview, which makes it really unique and challenging opportunity to really set yourself apart.

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? I want to get a good job in a company that shares my values and objectives.  At the same time, I want to maintain and enrich my part-time participation in LEAP Global Partners and Fairplay Park where I currently play the entrepreneurial roles of Partner and Co-founder respectively. I believe the next two years at McCombs will be crucial in order to help me achieve my true potential. It will put me in a much better position of taking advantage of the opportunities that will present to me in the future.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? USC Marshall, UCLA Anderson, Stanford Business School, MIT Sloan.

How did you determine your fit at various schools? First, I did the usual rankings research. Not only did I review the ranking, but I also actually tried to understand in which areas did each school thrived. Then I tried to tie the schools that were better in those areas to my medium and long-term vision of myself. The most important thing I did is that even though I was in Mexico, I took the time to visit each school and sit in on a class. This led me to a deeper understanding of the school and how my fellow classmates thought and expressed themselves about the program; this experience was really important for deciding where to go and why.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? My defining moment was three years ago when I was invited to a tech-oriented trip to Palo Alto, California. In this trip, we toured some of the world’s largest companies and got to know some of their top employees and executives. I got really inspired by the level and knowledge that the executives showed. I really had never seen people so capable and prepared. This opened my mind to a new set of limits that I should set for myself.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? In 10 years, I see myself as a successful and involved McCombs alumnus. I also see myself being regularly invited to participate in McCombs related faculty or student-led events. I say this because universities usually invite alumni that have reached a certain amount of success in whatever they are doing. I think this success will be related to my professional career or it might be about something totally different. Still, I consider that if your former university invites you to participate, you are doing something good.