Gorav Menon

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania – AI for Business and Entrepreneurship & Innovation

“Consumer Technologist. Podcast Artist. Ambitious Optimist. Recovering Perfectionist. It’s All Just Storytelling.”

Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Fun Fact About Yourself: I have a 2,500+ day Headspace Meditation Streak.

Undergraduate School and Major: UCLA – Business Economics with a Cognitive Science Minor

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Netflix – Ads Business Operations & Strategy, Associate

Aside from your classmates, what was the key part of the Wharton School’s MBA programming that led you to choose this business school, and why was it so important to you? With the new AI for Business Major, Wharton is preparing MBAs to lead in a business world already being transformed by artificial intelligence. Wharton is ensuring its students are ready to engage with these technologies, build businesses around them, and ask the questions shaping this economy today. Courses like Impact and Ethical Implications of AI in Business and Technology Strategy will allow me to learn directly from the researchers, practitioners, and companies building the future of AI. Just as importantly, the program recognizes that leadership in this space requires more than technical knowledge—it demands the ability to balance profit, purpose, and long-term impact. Wharton represents the ideal place to sharpen my expertise in consumer tech, gain the tools to design and scale profitable AI products, and help define what thoughtful leadership in this new era should look like.

What course, club, or activity excites you the most at the Wharton School?  I’m excited to join the Wharton Tech Club because it creates opportunities to learn from world-class minds who challenge me to rethink my path (yes, that was an Adam Grant nod). I’m especially eager to learn from tech-focused Wharton peers whose journeys differ significantly from mine and from the colleagues I’ve worked with in California. My goal is to sharpen my expertise in consumer tech, and the Tech Club’s mix of speaker series, workshops, and peer learning will accelerate that. I’m also eager to contribute my perspective as a storyteller — whether by engaging in events or helping grow the club’s podcast.

When you think of the Wharton School, what is the first word that comes to mind? Why? Rocketship. Wharton gives their students a rocket ship and spends the next two years teaching them how to ride it. Each one is different, and none of us flies it the same, but they all go fast and high. When a Wharton career advisor asks what we want to do after this, they are not asking what industry we want to make money in; they are asking what industry we want to shape. This difference is emblematic of a juggernaut. Wharton is the vehicle that allows me to explore my dreams, and the school is giving me the launch codes to chase it with ferocity I didn’t know I had.

What makes Philadelphia a great place to earn an MBA? Philadelphia offers an exceptional setting for your MBA, a vibrant city rich in food, culture, and community. Many of our students are new to the area, which fosters a shared experience of discovery. We explore the city together, reside in similar neighborhoods, and frequent the same establishments. While New York City is easily accessible by train, the absence of numerous competing attractions (beyond Wharton-affiliated clubs and events, of course) keeps the Wharton experience central to student life. Removing the distractions that bigger cities may bring makes the experience at Wharton not just a new way to spend your days, but a new way to live.

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Launching and scaling the Linen Suit & Plastic Tie podcast has been the most significant accomplishment of my career so far. What began as a side project in my living room has grown into a five-year, 80+ episode platform dedicated to unlocking the power of storytelling in our mental health, careers, businesses, and everyday lives. Along the way, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing voices from Marvel, Google, and a16z, alongside professors from HBS and GSB, bestselling authors, award-winning creators, scientists, and economists. Together, they’ve helped our listeners study storytelling not as an abstract idea, but as a practical skill that can transform how we lead, create, and connect. Scaling the show for half a decade required persistence, adaptability, and entrepreneurial grit. I’m incredibly proud of the global community we’ve built — and I’m excited to use Wharton’s immense resources to expand its reach and impact even further.

What is your biggest passion – and how has it helped you make an impact? I’m passionate about asking questions and building technology businesses around the answers. At Netflix, I helped design the foundational reporting structure for the new Ads platform, translating uncertainty into the data and strategy that guided early executive decisions for what I believe will become a multi-billion-dollar business. At Snapchat, it meant rethinking how to rebuild the SMB Ads business from the ground up—forcing me to challenge assumptions and ask sharper questions.

A questioning mindset isn’t just a habit—it’s an essential skill in a world where AI is redefining how people live, work, and connect. My biggest missteps have come when I failed to ask the right question. In contrast, my most tremendous impact has come from digging deeper—whether uncovering a new way to scale a business, solving a sales executive’s most significant pain points, or shaping strategy in untested territory. Questions are the first step to building companies, communities, and ideas.

At Wharton, I’m eager to sharpen this questioning skill and fuel my hunger for learning alongside extraordinary classmates, learning not only from answers but from the questions we ask each other.

What do you hope to do after graduation (at this point)? I want to build great products that tell great stories. Whether that is through the Linen Suit & Plastic Tie Podcast, joining a high-growth tech company, or starting my own is yet to be seen.

What advice would you give to help potential applicants gain admission into the Wharton School’s MBA program?  It is not like any other admissions process. We were not the 850 most accomplished applicants. Yes, our accomplishments and ambitions earned us consideration, but MBA programs aren’t just ranking students; they are building classes.  I was accepted to the Wharton MBA class of 2027, but there’s no guarantee I would have been accepted to the class of 2028 or 2026. Each class is meticulously designed to help its cohort achieve their dreams and lift each other.

What this means for you is simple: Just be you. Your goal shouldn’t be to get into every business school you apply to; it should be to just get into one. Each business school knows who has the best chance of thriving, so let them see you and give you the gift of an acceptance or a rejection.

DON’T MISS: MEET WHARTON’S MBA CLASS OF 2027

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