Tianyu Zhou 

University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business

“Former lawyer who can’t resist the soul calling to explore the business world.”

Hometown: Jiangyin, China

Fun Fact About Yourself: I’ve backpacked and volunteered in over 20 countries. My favorite place so far is Istanbul.

Undergraduate School and Major: Renmin University of China, Juris Master in International Commercial Law & International Human Rights Law

East China University of Political Science and Law, Bachelor of Arts in Legal English

Most Recent Employer and Job Title: Berber Museum, Co-founder

Describe your biggest accomplishment in your career so far: Taking initiative to solve a deadlock on a financing case for my client. As a legal counsel, I tried to step out of my responsibility scope and solve the negotiation deadlock by arranging three parties to redefine core interests and alternative solutions for the transaction.

What quality best describes the MBA classmates you’ve met so far and why? My McCombs classmates are savvy and supportive. They are super experienced in their industries and always happy to share their insights and answer any of my questions regarding their specific fields. I’ve also noticed that apart from sharing the traditional driven atmosphere of business schools, my classmates also value and care a lot about their families and life balance.

What makes Austin such a great place to earn an MBA? Austin is a great city to start a new life, especially for international students with cultural differences, because people here are super friendly— you’ll get greetings and help from the locals all the time and within a week, you’ll feel that you have become a part of the city. Besides, Austin has plenty of events going on every day; natural areas you can explore (I tried Barton Creek and it’s awesome!); and various restaurants with authentic flavors (you’ll never get the chance to miss your favorite dishes back in your hometown).

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? It’s the extraordinary entrepreneurial ecosystem, not only within McCombs, but also in UT and Austin. Through my personal experience of founding a start-up from scratch, I know how important it is to find like-minded team members and get support from experienced advisors. McCombs provides a comprehensive support system to its students through the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship, Texas Venture Labs, and the Longhorn Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (just to name a few). I’m excited to have the opportunity to explore these resources.

What club or activity are you looking most forward to in business school? MBA+ Micro Consulting Program and the Jon Brumley Texas Venture Labs Practicum. For the past few years, I’ve worked as a transactional lawyer with various companies but never get the chance to work with them through the business lens. I’m excited that these two activities can provide me with hands-on experience on how to build and scale start-ups.

What was the most challenging question you were asked during the admissions process? My interview was conducted with an adcom member. It’s quite informative and like a conversation. My interviewer was eager to know my story and share his individual story and experience with me. If I have to pick one most challenging question, it may be the question about my plan to spend the next two years in McCombs. It’s a hard question for me because there’re so many resources I want to explore that I feel pressured on how to actually get the most out of my experience. (Now I have a better answer after talking with some second-year students. Their suggestion is to know what you really want and stick to your aim, which I think is a great answer to share with all first-year students).

What led you to pursue an MBA at this point in your career? My experience working in a venture capital firm taught me the bones of how to build a start-up. However, through the work and my entrepreneurial experience, I’ve come to realize that I need systematic training on how to scale a business and make strategic decisions on vital stages of its development. I consider an MBA to the best choice for me to grasp business knowledge systematically in a short time and round out my competences in the business realm.

What other MBA programs did you apply to? Haas, Tepper, and Marshall

How did you determine your fit at various schools? Considering that a collaborative culture was the most important factor for me to decide on which school to choose, I mainly evaluated it through people in those schools. I reached out to alumni, current students, and also staff members of the schools. Stories about their experience with the schools and the feeling of these personal interactions helped me to make the decision.

What was your defining moment and how did it shape who you are? Choosing to shift from an international law firm working with multinational companies to a venture capital serving start-ups was a defining moment for me. I got the chance to know many brilliant founders who are dedicated to change people’s lives with innovative ideas. They inspired me to think about my possible impact on people around me and give me the confidence to crack new challenges along the way.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? In ten years, I hope that I have launched the legal-tech consultancy I picture now. I hope that with more industrial knowledge, I could build my own team, utilizing technology to handle legal documents and compliance risks, saving consulting-lawyers’ time to handle case-specific matters and enabling SMEs to receive affordable legal services. I hope that with my effort, I can empower Chinese entrepreneurs and the startup environment in which they operate.