Meet IE Business School’s MBA Class Of 2020

P&Q: The MBA program was launched by entrepreneurs and weaves a startup mindset throughout the programming. What are some of the resources and activities that you devote to aspiring founders? What have been some of your biggest success stories?

JE: “Many students come to IE Business School because they have decided to start or continue their entrepreneurial journey. With courses that lay this foundation such as “Entrepreneurial Mindset” to kick-starters like the intensive Startup Lab incubator experience, the MBA program includes activities that enable aspiring founders and intrapreneurs to experience the challenging and fulfilling path of an entrepreneur. We encourage the continuation of this journey with electives such as “Venture Lab” and “Knowledge Incubator” where their ideas can transform into MVPs towards real businesses post-graduation.

In terms of resources, we expose students to the tools they can use to validate and pivot their ideas. This includes exposure to the minds and mentorship of 40+ experienced entrepreneurs, investors and industry experts during the Startup Lab and even more industry experts during Venture Lab. The Labs are also connected to more than 20 incubators, accelerators, and similar entrepreneurial programs in Spain, which we link with IE startups when students choose to continue their entrepreneurial journey post-MBA.

Our number of entrepreneurial success stories continues to grow and we are proud of our alumni.  Startup Lab, Venture Lab, and Knowledge Incubator have acted as catalysts to transform teams’ ideas into tangible reality. Some success stories that have come out of IE include Neuvoo (raised 53 Million), ifeel (raised over 1.5 Million), Hangry (raised over 600K), and Nimble (raised 250K).  We can even highlight a few IE alumni “ones-to-watch” startups:

• Tappy is revolutionizing beer business with a technological layer that allows taps to operate thanks to an app and focuses all the consumer fun on a self-pour, shared-experience.
• Security Squad recently launched and is already generating buzz as a valuable educational game designed to teach children about online safety and cybersecurity.
• LetMePark highlights corporate social responsibility and sustainable mobility by using an AI-powered virtual assistant to automate the whole process of parking.

As a final highlight, the IE IMBA alumna co-founder of Nutrix—disrupting the way health is monitored by using nanosensor technology to detect glucose levels—was recently named winner of Web Summit´s 2019 PITCH competition out of 135 of the world’s leading early-stage start-ups.”

P&Q: What is the most underrated part of your program that you wish prospective students knew more about?

JE: “All parts of the program are, in fact, evaluated very well, but there is one component in particular that I think is essential for the current business world: the labs period.

The MBA student experience is specifically designed to be immersive and this is the goal of the labs period — to create an immersive learning experience by working in a real business challenge. Our Labs mark a disruptive approach to business education by fostering integrative thinking and experiential, project-based learning. The students can select a lab from four different options: startup lab, business impact lab, tech lab, and social impact lab. In the Business Impact Lab, students focus on developing their integrative skills and cross-disciplinary management perspective to be ready to create real impact from day one in any organization.  In the past few years in the Business Impact Lab we’ve partnered with companies including Dufry, LEGO, McDonald’s, Ikea, GE Healthcare, Telefonica, IAG, and Pepe Jeans.

The Tech Lab is five intense weeks in which students are immersed in the world of technology, learning about the disruptive trends and how to apply them to strategic decision making.  Upon completion of the lab period, students are fluent in how technology relates to business and can put the latest technology solutions into practice. You will discover the most disruptive trends and apply them to strategic decision making.  Among the partners of the Tech Lab, we’ve had Nokia, Microsoft, Oracle, Ericsson, and Amazon.

In the Start-up Lab, MBA students find themselves in an incubator atmosphere with other venture-minded peers. Experienced entrepreneurs know that a start-up consists of a series of experiments, which lead to pivot, perish, or persevere iterations. In this lab, we prepare students hands-on for this challenge in an inspiring and safe learning environment that serves as a catalyst to prepare for Venture Lab or launch a start-up after the program.

The Social Impact Lab provides international consulting experience and allows students to develop their personal and professional leadership skills. This option is powered by Emzingo, a company founded by IE MBA students in 2008, whose mission is to provide individuals with transformational leadership experiences that focus on creating positive social impact.”

A PROGRAM THAT “WALKS THE TALK”

IE’s lab period was also attractive to the Class of 2020. Just ask Jessica Yang, who appreciated the ability to personalize half of the program’s structure. “I knew I wanted to take this year to explore a few different topics that I previously didn’t have a lot of time for while I was working. I love the fact that I can spend five weeks in South Africa focusing on a social impact project, and then come back to IE in Madrid and focus on startups and entrepreneurship. A few of my classmates are also traveling for extended internships or exchange programs during their MBA year. It’s great that as a student at IE Business School, you can focus on the topics that are most interesting to you while also learning from the unique experiences of your classmates.”

Personal Fitness is another unique feature of the program. Consisting of ongoing coaching and seminars, this programming helps students develop interpersonal skills to go along with career development. IE was also one of the first business schools in Europe to heavily integrate experiential learning into its programming. And IE’s commitment to entrepreneurship is reflected in its structure, where the first course taught is Developing An Entrepreneurial Mindset. This entrepreneurship focus was exactly what separated IE from all the other options says Antonio Lucena López.

“IE walks the talk, and that is what alumni tell you when you ask for feedback,” López writes. “I really appreciate the possibility of freely deciding what value to create, even with all the risk that comes with starting your own venture. Entrepreneurship is different from other professional categories – the possibilities are endless and, for me, that is the beauty of it.”

MBA Student	Hometown	Undergrad Alma Mater	Last Employer
Sverre Magnus Hagen	Oslo, Norway	University of Oslo	Handleriet
Ann Kathrin Landgraf	Würzburg, Germany	University of Applied Sciences Bergisch Gladbach	Bayer AG
Amélie Leuchtenberger	Hamburg, Germany	Brighton University	Foursource
Antonio Lucena López	Málaga, Spain	Universidad de Navarra	OrthoApnea Medical Appliances
Mees Middelweerd	Amsterdam, Holland	University of Amsterdam	Boston Consulting Group
Swasti Mishra	Bhubaneswar, India	Michigan State University	Bayer Crop Science
John O’Brien	Washington, DC	Georgetown University	Penske Automotive Group
Stephanie Rocha	Marlborough, MA	University of Massachusetts at Amherst	Global Atlantic Financial Group
Ripple Wu	Taipei, Taiwan	National Taiwan University	QNAP Systems, Inc.
Jessica Yang	East Brunswick, NJ	New York University	WCAS