The mbaMission Podcast

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What does starting a company during business school really demand beyond a strong idea?
In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, host Harold Simansky and Gatehouse Founder Liza Weale sit down with GrowthFactor CEO and MIT Sloan alumnus Clyde Anderson for a candid conversation about the Sloan experience, entrepreneurship, and school fit. Clyde explains how he moved from finance to business school, why Sloan became the right match after a surprising waitlist turn, and how a classroom insight became the seed of a company.
The discussion covers Sloan’s analytical core, its culture of experimentation, the role of co-founders, and the practical resources that supported GrowthFactor, including startup workspace, entrepreneurship classes, faculty guidance, and MIT delta v. Clyde also describes why Sloan remains valuable for students who do not plan to launch a company, from consulting and finance paths to veterans, operators, and students pursuing less linear careers.
For applicants considering MIT Sloan, this episode offers a useful reminder: fit comes from more than a school’s reputation. The strongest match often appears when your goals, your way of learning, and the community around you push you to become more fully yourself.
Guest contact:
Clyde Anderson, CEO of GrowthFactor
clyde@growthfactor.ai
https://www.growthfactor.ai/

00:00 From Sloan Waitlist to Startup CEO
05:03 From a Waitlist Update to a Sloan Interview
09:28 The Benefit of Authenticity When Applying to Sloan
13:22 The Birth of GrowthFactor 
19:47 Finding Co-Founders at Sloan
22:51 The Sloan Startup Resources That Supported GrowthFactor
25:07 How Sloan Students Champion One Another
28:38 Sloan Career Paths Outside of Entrepreneurship
34:21 How Delta V Helps Launch Student Ventures
35:17 The Post-Graduate Power of Sloan’s Alumni Network

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How do MBA admissions consultants help their clients beyond editing their essays?
In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, host Harold Simansky sits down with two highly experienced admissions consultants, mbaMission Managing Director Rachel Beck and Gatehouse Admissions Founder Liza Weale, for a candid, inside look at what MBA consulting entails.
The conversation covers the brainstorming and experience inventory process that begins every client engagement and how consultants build personal relationships with their clients over months of collaboration. Rachel and Liza also shed light on the qualities that separate successful applicants from candidates whose results are less positive. They explain why the process often feels “messy” in the early stages and why reading your essay out loud is one of the most powerful strategies in the revision process. In addition, the discussion touches on the show-versus-tell principle, why applicants should spend more time on their resume, and how to identify “alignment” across an application when reviewing a final draft.
Whether you are just starting to think about business school or are already fully immersed in the application process, this episode offers a rare look at how experienced admissions consultants work and what you can learn from the process, even if you never hire one.
00:00 Pulling Back the Curtain on MBA Consulting
03:18 The Kicker and the Art of Layering: Storytelling in Essays
06:13 Brainstorming and the Experience Inventory Process
09:40 What Makes a Client Succeed and How Relationships Factor In
14:12 The Messy Middle: Ambiguity, Authenticity, and Trust in the Process
16:08 The Importance of Answering the Question and Reading Out Loud
19:19 Editing Without Attachment
20:41 The Underrated MBA Application Resume
31:14 The Human Side of MBA Admissions

Book your FREE 30-minute MBA admissions consultation with Harold or another one of our experienced MBA admissions consultants by filling out this form.
Learn more about onTrack by mbaMission, our innovative, on-demand MBA application platform, and take our two-minute questionnaire to receive your customized learning path.
 
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The old deal with work is broken. Leaders today are looking for a way to get their company’s culture back, but an expert in the consulting space argues that rather than returning to old ways, we should be reinventing work from scratch.
In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, mbaMission Founder Jeremy Shinewald and Executive Director Jessica Shklar sit down with Debbie Lovich, a BCG managing director and senior partner with 32 years of experience, for a conversation about the future of work, the collapse of the traditional employment bargain, and why the most successful companies of the next decade will be the ones that learn to make work human again.
Debbie is the author of Make Work Work: The 5 Daily Practices of the Employee-Centric Leader, available for preorder now. She has spent 32 years at BCG advising global organizations, and this book represents a lifetime of lessons she wanted to pass on before retiring at the end of 2026.
Whether you are a current or aspiring leader, an MBA candidate thinking about organizational culture, or someone who spends most of your waking hours somewhere you wish was better, this episode will give you valuable insight into what the future of work could look like.
Preorder Make Work Work today: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/831079/make-work-work-by-deborah-lovich/
00:00 Introduction: The Old Deal with Work Is Broken
01:27 What Is Employee-Centric Leadership? 
08:12 Joy Is a Business Value Driver
11:51 The Five Daily Practices: An Overview
12:06 Practice 1: Celebrate People – Be Specific, Be Timely, Know Your Person
14:53 Practice 2: Go See and Help – With the Intent to Assist, Not Judge
16:43 Practice 3: Be Interested in the Person – Curiosity as Leadership
18:51 Practice 4: Co-Create Everything – Take Pride, Not Credit
23:07 Practice 5: Do First – Never Ask Anyone to Do Something You Have Not Done
37:09 AI, the Employee-Centric Imperative

Book your FREE 30-minute MBA admissions consultation with Harold or another one of our experienced MBA admissions consultants by filling out this form.
Learn more about onTrack by mbaMission, our innovative, on-demand MBA application platform, and take our two-minute questionnaire to receive your customized learning path.
 
‼️Use code MBAMPOD for 30% off any onTrack subscription‼️
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In this episode, listeners learn how to optimize the formatting of their resume, strategically handle issues with their transcript, and make their short-answer responses effective.
Host and mbaMission Founder Jeremy Shinewald talks with Executive Director Jessica Shklar and Managing Director Rachel Beck about how admissions committees evaluate applicants’ professionalism. Drawing on decades of evaluation experience, these experts discuss why following instructions, avoiding technical jargon, and setting feasible career goals are so crucial in the application process. Listeners gain deep insights into showcasing collaboration over individual achievement, managing post-submission anxiety, and navigating team-based interview formats.
00:00 Hidden Messages in Your Application and Why They Matter
01:26 Professionalism Basics: Typos, Formatting, and the Wrong School Name
03:51 Word Count Violations and Resume Overstuffing
07:06 Interview Rambling and the Wharton Team Based Discussion
11:30 Red Flags in Extracurricular Activities
15:17 Handling Test Score and GPA Shortcomings
20:49 Identity, Oversharing, and Knowing What Belongs in an Application
29:41 Optimizing Short-Answer Application Questions
31:57 Seeing Every Line as an Opportunity

Book your FREE 30-minute MBA admissions consultation with Harold or another one of our experienced MBA admissions consultants by filling out this form.
Learn more about onTrack by mbaMission, our innovative, on-demand MBA application platform, and take our two-minute questionnaire to receive your customized learning path.
 
‼️Use code MBAMPOD for 30% off any onTrack subscription‼️
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Send us your admissions questions!
What is the case method, and how does it work at Harvard Business School (HBS)? Plus, what should MBA applicants know before they enroll?
In this episode of The mbaMission Podcast, host Harold Simansky and mbaMission Executive Director Jessica Shklar sit down with HBS professor Joshua Margolis—a member of the program’s Organizational Behavior Unit and a faculty member in the Christensen Center for Teaching and Learning—for a candid, behind-the-scenes discussion of how the case method works at the world’s most case-driven business school.
Professor Margolis, who helps train the next generation of HBS case method teachers, walks listeners through what a “case” is, how the school’s three-step learning model works (individual prep, study group, full class discussion), and how HBS instructs its faculty to write and teach cases. In addition, he breaks down the infamous “cold call,” including how the classroom is laid out and how faculty keep track of which students have contributed (and which have not). He also explains that the goal of the cold call is to establish a foundation for a robust discussion, not to embarrass the student who is picked.
The conversation also gets practical for applicants: how much time a first-year student should expect to spend preparing for each case (two to four hours individually, plus more as part of their study group), the “learning to learn” curve of the first six weeks, and the “warm call”—when Professor Margolis gives a student five minutes’ notice at the end of class to summarize the discussion, identify three themes, and take a position. In his view, this exercise is the most direct thing HBS does to train future leaders.
00:00 What Is the Case Method (and Why Does HBS Use It)?
01:19 The Three Components of the HBS Learning Model: Case, Study Group, Classroom
03:27 How HBS Faculty Are Instructed to Write and Teach Cases
07:56 What Teaching Using the Case Method Is Like
12:53 How Cases Are Revised After Being Taught 
16:10 How the Cold Call Works and How Faculty Pick a Student to Open Class
19:47 Cold Calls in the Middle of Class and the Warm Call at the End
22:30 How HBS Professors Get to Know Their Students
24:42 How Much Time First-Year Students Should Spend Preparing a Case
28:57 Evaluating a Case Class as a Prospective Applicant
36:13 Understanding the First Six Weeks’ “Learning to Learn” Curve

Book your FREE 30-minute MBA admissions consultation with Harold or another one of our experienced MBA admissions consultants by filling out this form.
Learn more about onTrack by mbaMission, our innovative, on-demand MBA application platform, and take our two-minute questionnaire to receive your customized learning path.
 
‼️Use code MBAMPOD for 30% off any onTrack subscription‼️
Contact Us:
info@mbamission.com

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