Blake Blaze

MIT, Sloan School of Management

“Determined to make a difference in the world and, occasionally, a bit too serious.”

Hometown: Barnstable, Massachusetts

Fun fact about yourself: I was selected as the first-team tight end for Grantland’s 2010 college football All-Name team despite never making it higher than 6th on the TE depth chart at UVA.

Undergraduate School and Degree: University of Virginia, B.A. Mathematics, Economics (double major)

Where was the last place you worked before enrolling in business school? DataClassroom, Director of Operations

Where did you intern during the summer of 2024? Tyton Partners, Boston, MA

Where will you be working after graduation? My startup. I am the co-founder of Front Row Fantasy, which is like fantasy football but for discovering up-and-coming musicians. Fans can sign artists to their label and then win points when the artists grow in popularity, which can be redeemed for merch and concert tickets. I started the company this year with two other MIT students, and we’re excited to be based in Boston. We’re currently participating in the MIT Arts Startup Incubator, which concludes in May.

Community Work and Leadership Roles in Business School: Co-founder and president, Sloan Prison Education Initiative; co-president, MIT Sloan Education Club; student assistant, Faculty GenAI Foundations Course; Core Mentor; Core Mentor Selection Committee

Which academic or extracurricular achievement are you most proud of during business school? I am most proud of the second Introduction to Entrepreneurship class that the Sloan Prison Education Initiative Club led because it was our first step towards becoming a sustainable student group. In particular, I’m most proud of pitch night – the capstone event of the class – when incarcerated people at South Bay House of Corrections delivered business plan presentations to a panel of Sloan professors and graduate students. This, to me, embodied the best of Sloan: a focus on entrepreneurship and innovation, incredibly dedicated faculty, and a chance to connect with the community.

What achievement are you most proud of in your professional career? I’m proud of everything I did at DataClassroom – working for a startup was a thrill – but I remain most proud of the role I was able to play leading the Expeditionary Support Group on the National Security Agency’s 24/7 watch floor at the National Security Operations Center. I can’t say too much about it, but our team was able to do some incredible things under a great deal of pressure.

Why did you choose this business school? I have a bit of a hometown bias – I grew up coming to MIT for academic competitions and have idolized the school ever since. What appealed to me most about MIT Sloan is its emphasis on entrepreneurship along with the freedom to select from among a wide array of classes offered across MIT—classes that are unlike those you could take anywhere else. Also, I’ve found an incredible community of entrepreneurial students who are committed to building new ventures; their companionship is a great comfort and their ingenuity and commitment are a great inspiration.

Who was your favorite MBA professor? I’m lucky to have many favorites, but senior lecturer Erin Scott is the first to come to mind. Not only did she literally write the book on entrepreneurial strategy, but her generosity towards her students, care for the quality of her teaching, and dedication to her teaching assistants sets her apart.  No matter what I’m doing ten years from now, I will still be applying something that I learned from her.

What was your favorite MBA event or tradition at your business school? Every year about a week into the fall semester, the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship puts on Demo Day, the showcase for the student accelerator program delta-V (as in, escape velocity), and it is just so comically over-the-top and perfectly MIT. What other school would have a drumline, cheerleaders, and an appearance from the university president for an entrepreneurship showcase? It highlights how seriously the school takes entrepreneurship and how un-seriously it takes itself. Plus, it’s inspiring to see your classmates get on stage and pitch some truly awesome companies.

Looking back over your MBA experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently and why? I wish I’d taken more time off between my previous job and starting b-school. I only had around a week total in between leaving my position and when I needed to arrive in Cambridge, and I don’t think that was enough time to reflect and reorient before the semester began.

What is the biggest myth about your school? The biggest myth about Sloan is that it’s quant-focused – while the business analytics curriculum is second-to-none, there are too many incredible leadership development opportunities for the school to be thought of as only for quants.

What did you love most about your business school’s town? Paul Graham writes about it better than I could articulate it in his essay “Cities and Ambition,” but basically in Boston and Cambridge – as much because of all the great schools as because of the lack of distractions – ideas are more important than anything. So learning and creativity are really prized in a way they aren’t anywhere else.

What movie or television show (e.g. The Big Short, The Founder, Mad Men, House of Lies) best reflects the realities of business and what did you learn from it? The Bear [FX series] is probably the most insightful. First of all, starting and running a business is hard, and you need to be able to ask more of the people around you than they think possible (and to trust them to rise to the occasion). More importantly, we are responsible for how hard we push ourselves, and we need balance. Despite Carmy’s assertion while locked in a freezer, we do need amusement and enjoyment in our lives, and receiving such nourishment is within our control.

What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What insights did you gain from using AI? Sloan has been thoughtful in its embrace of AI, offering a GenAI Foundations class to all incoming students as well as faculty to help them integrate it into their teaching. AI has been a great amplifier when used thoughtfully and a good stopgap when used in emergencies. Also, it takes great and concerted effort to apply it in a way that will promote equity.

Which MBA classmate do you most admire? Emily Moss – she is many of the things you’d expect in an MBA student (driven, ambitious, high-achieving), but never at the expense of the things that make her an outstanding friend, nor informed by anything less noble than her desire to make a positive change in the world around her.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? I want to become the CEO of an education company and achieve enough professional success to justify coming back to teach at Sloan.

What made Blake Blaze such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2025?

“Blake is committed to the intersection of AI, education, and entrepreneurship and has used his time at MIT Sloan to not only deepen his own knowledge in these areas, but also to strengthen the connections between these communities on campus and across the region. From taking a leadership role in the Sloan Education Club, growing the AI in Edtech Boston group, building the Sloan Prison Education Initiative, serving as TA for core strategy and entrepreneurship courses, and so much more, Blake brings his rigor and enthusiasm as an educator, AI-enthusiast, and entrepreneur to every room he enters. As a TA for Entrepreneurial Strategy, he helped pilot our AllDayTA AI course assistant, hosted an entrepreneurial strategy pitch night, and provided thoughtful guidance to students as they pushed forward their startup ideas and navigated our entrepreneurship ecosystem.”

Maura Herson
Assistant Dean of the MBA Program
MIT Sloan School of Management

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