How Product Manager Learns Leadership Skills - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 12 of 15 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Ramsey Pryor answers "What Does It Mean to Be a Leader in What You Do?"  Pryor notes it is not only being about a thought leader or focal point of contact for product details but also an effective communicator and collaborator across business groups.  He notes the importance of preparation and being respectful across those teams.  Pryor is currently a product management executive at IBM focused on cloud-based communication and collaboration software.  Previously he was VP Product Marketing at Outblaze, acquired by IBM.  Pryor earned an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain and a BA in Economics and Spanish from Northwestern University. 

What Makes a Good Manager - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 13 of 15 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, international product manager Ramsey Pryor answers "What Makes a Good Manager?"  Pryor, who came to IBM via an acquisition, is exposed to high-caliber management skills working in the multinational IBM environment.  Pryor compares this to startup shortcomings around not technology or passion but management skills.  Pryor learns from IBM managers who excel at people management for the long-term and who prioritize and promote these skills within the organization.  Pryor is currently a product management executive at IBM focused on cloud-based communication and collaboration software.  Previously he was VP Product Marketing at Outblaze, acquired by IBM.  Pryor earned an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain and a BA in Economics and Spanish from Northwestern University.

Developing Public Speaking Skills Working at IBM - Ramsey Pryor

In Chapter 15 of 15 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Ramsey Pryor answers "How are You Developing Your Public Speaking Skills as You Gain Experience?"  Pryor notes how even internal communications in his IBM role requires speaking in front of 100s of colleagues.  Coming into IBM from a small company Pryor constantly gets opportunities to speak to large groups of people both internally and at conferences.  He notes specific ways that have helped him improve public speaking over time.  Pryor is currently a product management executive at IBM focused on cloud-based communication and collaboration software.  Previously he was VP Product Marketing at Outblaze, acquired by IBM.  Pryor earned an MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain and a BA in Economics and Spanish from Northwestern University. 

How Software Engineer Switches to Technical Marketing - Anatole Faykin

In Chapter 5 of 18 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Internet entrepreneur Anatole Faykin answers "How Did You Decide to Leave Engineering to Pursue Product Marketing?"  After deciding to leave an engineering role at Oracle, Faykin finds an opportunity to do technical marketing in Silicon Valley for an Israeli-based startup and gain access to the adventurous travel that comes with the position.  Faykin is the founder of Tuanpin, a Shanghai-based daily deals site he grew to 25 employees and sold in the fall of 2011.  Previously, he worked for British Telecom in London, Intel in Shanghai, American Express in New York, and Oracle in San Francisco as well as several startup ventures.  He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in computer science and biology from the California Institute of Technology.

Learning Global Business Working at Intel in Shanghai - Anatole Faykin

In Chapter 8 of 18 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Internet entrepreneur Anatole Faykin answers "What Did Working at Intel in Shanghai Teach You About the Importance of Global Distribution Networks?" He shares the resource benefits available when working for a larger, global corporation and the advantages these create competing against smaller firms. Additionally he learns the value of international distribution networks and how benefits corporate resources and relationships enable them. Faykin is the founder of Tuanpin, a Shanghai-based daily deals site he grew to 25 employees and sold in the fall of 2011. Previously, he worked for British Telecom in London, Intel in Shanghai, American Express in New York, and Oracle in San Francisco as well as several startup ventures. He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in computer science and biology from the California Institute of Technology.

How Entrepreneur Starts Shanghai Internet Company - Anatole Faykin

In Chapter 15 of 18 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Internet entrepreneur Anatole Faykin answers "How Did You Decide to Start a Shanghai-based Group Buying Company?"  He notes it was a journey and not a spur of a moment decision.  Years before founding the company, Faykin works abroad in the UK, Israel, Sweden, India and China.  He ultimately decides on Shanhai, where Faykin had worked years before at Intel, in the process building a local business network.  He notes how he and his partner decided on a group buying Internet business, modeled after Groupon, and then how he navigated local culture to set up the business.  Faykin is the founder of Tuanpin, a Shanghai-based daily deals site he grew to 25 employees and sold in the fall of 2011.  Previously, he worked for British Telecom in London, Intel in Shanghai, American Express in New York, and Oracle in San Francisco as well as several startup ventures.  He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in computer science and biology from the California Institute of Technology.

How New Entrepreneur Learns Rules of the Game - Anatole Faykin

In Chapter 16 of 18 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Internet entrepreneur Anatole Faykin answers "Why is Learning by Doing So Important When Starting a Company?"  Faykin notes it is about the uncertainty and the necessary hands on experiences that teach an entrepreneur the rules of the game.  Its an adventure, learning new things daily and iterating based on market and customer feedback and signaling nearly as often.  Faykin is the founder of Tuanpin, a Shanghai-based daily deals site he grew to 25 employees and sold in the fall of 2011.  Previously, he worked for British Telecom in London, Intel in Shanghai, American Express in New York, and Oracle in San Francisco as well as several startup ventures.  He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in computer science and biology from the California Institute of Technology.

Why Bootstrap Finance a Startup - Anatole Faykin

In Chapter 17 of 18 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview, Internet entrepreneur Anatole Faykin answers "What Informed Your Decision to Bootstrap Your Startup Versus Pursuing Outside Capital?"  He notes not everyone can raise outside capital.  In his case, it was not clear he could raise outside capital for his Shanghai-based daily deals site, Tuanpin. Also, he finds it faster iterating via the bootstrap, focusing less on investors and more on customers.  Lastly, he wonders if it would be beneficial to get involved in the fundraising race around daily deals sites.  Faykin is the founder of Tuanpin, a Shanghai-based daily deals site he grew to 25 employees and sold in the fall of 2011.  Previously, he worked for British Telecom in London, Intel in Shanghai, American Express in New York, and Oracle in San Francisco as well as several startup ventures.  He holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and a BS in computer science and biology from the California Institute of Technology.

What Gets Easier and What Gets Harder - Ken Rona

In Chapter 1 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, data analytics expert Ken Rona answers "What is Getting Easier and What is Getting More Difficult in What You Do?"  He notes how he is maturing with a manager, being more consistent and clear in behavior and communication.  Additionally, experience has taught him how to more easily extract value from data.  From a challenge perspective, he notes how commuting to another city - from DC to Atlanta - has been stressful and is something he will address by moving the family to Atlanta.  Rona is currently VP Audience Insights and Ad Sales Partnerships at Turner Broadcasting.  Previously, Rona has worked in roles in data analytics at IXI Digital and AOL and management consulting at McKinsey & Co.  He earned a BA and MA in Political Science from Stony Brook University and a PhD in Behavioral Economics from Duke University. 

How Startup Business Development Prepares Corporate Executive - Ken Rona

In Chapter 6 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, data analytics expert Ken Rona answers "How Has Your Startup Experience Been Most Useful in a Corporate Role?"  In his role at iXi, Rona learns business development by providing technical and product support in sales meetings and through discussions with the legal team about contracts and deal making.  These skills prove transferable to Rona's work at Turner, specifically in his role managing the ad sales partnerships team.  Rona is currently VP Audience Insights and Ad Sales Partnerships at Turner Broadcasting.  Previously, Rona has worked in roles in data analytics at IXI Digital and AOL and management consulting at McKinsey & Co.  He earned a BA and MA in Political Science from Stony Brook University and a PhD in Behavioral Economics from Duke University.

Creating Game Changing Moments Using Business Analytics - Ken Rona

In Chapter 9 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, data analytics expert Ken Rona answers "What Do You Enjoy Most About Telling Stories with Data?"  Coming from an academic background, Rona finds delivering game changing moments a highlight in his work.  By using business analytics and data, Rona can come across something new and create that game changing analysis that changes strategy at scale and creates very large bottom line impact.  Rona is currently VP Audience Insights and Ad Sales Partnerships at Turner Broadcasting.  Previously, Rona has worked in roles in data analytics at IXI Digital and AOL and management consulting at McKinsey & Co.  He earned a BA and MA in Political Science from Stony Brook University and a PhD in Behavioral Economics from Duke University. 

How Changing Consumer TV Habits Create Data Analyst Jobs - Ken Rona

In Chapter 10 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, data analytics expert Ken Rona answers "How is the Move to Digital Television Affecting Analytics and Audience Measurement?"  Rona notes that traditionally, audiences are measured by Nielsen panels, samples which monitor a select number of families and their aggregated viewing patterns.  From an analytics perspective, Rona finds it fascinating how media consumption is progressively more digital, which eliminates need to do samples and opens doors to move into census analysis.  Rona is currently VP Audience Insights and Ad Sales Partnerships at Turner Broadcasting.  Previously, Rona has worked in roles in data analytics at IXI Digital and AOL and management consulting at McKinsey & Co.  He earned a BA and MA in Political Science from Stony Brook University and a PhD in Behavioral Economics from Duke University. 

Online Advertising Strategy Design Considerations - Ken Rona

In Chapter 11 of 13 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, data analytics expert Ken Rona answers "What Should a Media Company Consider When Designing Online Advertising Strategy?"  First, Rona first considers how people are going to consume content.  This informs what technology platform gets used.  Dynamic ad insertion is a second priority.  Third, and most important, Rona urges media companies to use or create high quality original content.  Rona is currently VP Audience Insights and Ad Sales Partnerships at Turner Broadcasting.  Previously, Rona has worked in roles in data analytics at IXI Digital and AOL and management consulting at McKinsey & Co.  He earned a BA and MA in Political Science from Stony Brook University and a PhD in Behavioral Economics from Duke University.

Why Study Electrical Engineering - Ben Hallen

In Chapter 4 of 21 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, business school professor Ben Hallen answers "What Made You Decide to Study Electrical Engineering in College?" Hallen notes his childhood aspiration to pursue a business management career and how he saw electrical engineering as a means to that end. He also finds studying electrical engineering allows him to study his passions for mathematics. Hallen is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School. Previously, he was Assistant Professor of Management and Organization at University of Maryland. Hallen earned his PhD from Stanford University and its Stanford Technology Venture Program (STVP). He has been a startup CTO and graduated from the University of Virginia with a BS in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Computer Science.

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen:  What made you decide to study electrical engineering in college?

Ben Hallen:  I wanted to be an executive, and so the experience I had growing up, I had seen a lot of companies and managers, junior executives, who came from an engineering background, so engineering seemed to be an appropriate place to start if I wanted to do that.  You know, now I would have to say, given more of what I know, there’s a whole variety of paths to do that, you know, ranging from the liberal arts to I particularly think business schools can be very good at that but I happened to choose engineering. 

And then, why electrical?  You know, a couple of reasons.  One, I was interested in computers; they were taking off.  That was before they had computer engineering as a major.  That’s effectively what I ended up majoring in but that wasn’t quite around yet.  But, more broadly, it was – it involved a lot of the math that I really liked, and I think at the time I would have justified it as very instrumental, that this makes sense because these are skills I can use. 

I think in retrospect, what it afforded was an opportunity to really study in something I was passionate about.  You know, do I use that math at all?  No.  Not a whole lot.  You know, yes, I do a lot of computer programming.  I do a lot of discrete mathematics from my time at graduate school but, you know, in terms of differential equations and, you know, Fourier transforms, that’s not something I use every day, but to have that opportunity to really get passionate about the mathematics, just for the essence of the mathematics itself, I’m really glad I had that experience, and so I learned a lesson that I didn’t think I was going to learn there in retrospect.

Why Undergrad Engineer Chooses Computer Science Grad School - Ben Hallen

In Chapter 5 of 21 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, business school professor Ben Hallen answers "How Did Your Computer Science Masters Degree Build Upon Electrical Engineering Education?" As an electrical engineering major, Hallen starts taking undergraduate computer graphics classes at University of Virginia, doing a lot of programming and building processors. Hallen finds inspiration attending a computer graphics presentation and asks the speaker about potential research work, which leads to a project and, ultimately, graduate school. Hallen is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School. Previously, he was Assistant Professor of Management and Organization at University of Maryland. Hallen earned his PhD from Stanford University and its Stanford Technology Venture Program (STVP). He has been a startup CTO and graduated from the University of Virginia with a BS in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Computer Science.

Transcription: 

Erik Michielsen:  How did your computer science masters degree build upon your electrical engineering education?

Ben Hallen:  So as an undergraduate I got involved studying computer graphics.  And yes I take a lot of programming courses.  Electrical engineering is very close.  I take a lot of courses in building processors.  But I remember going to this talk and it was just the coolest thing of – I mean this is sort of before, you know, you have these modern video game machines or even my iPhone can do such great graphics, but I went to a talk given by the Computer Science Department and they were showing off these computer graphics machines.  I mean these were several hundred-thousand-dollar machines at that time, and it just seemed to be the coolest thing that you could create this virtual world at a level that then was just unbelievable. 

And then I realized that the guy giving the talk, he’s this young professor; he’s really passionate, really excited; I realized just reading about his stuff that he had come up with a lot of the algorithms that had gone into influencing a lot of video games at that time, so a lot of the 3D games had built on some of the insides that he had come up with in graduate school.  And so I approached him, just about helping out, I had a research idea, and that sort of evolved from there.  And so I got interested in computer graphics and worked with him, and then ultimately decided to go to graduate school in it.

How Grad Student Becomes Internet Startup CTO - Ben Hallen

In Chapter 6 of 21 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, business school professor Ben Hallen answers "What Led You to Launch Your Own Startup While in Grad School at University of Virginia?" Hallen notes that while studying computer graphics and software engineering, he connects interest in participating in the Internet with providing advice to young DC-based entrepreneurs. He soon finds himself working as the CTO in the startup while finishing his masters before committing full time to the startup. Hallen is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School. Previously, he was Assistant Professor of Management and Organization at University of Maryland. Hallen earned his PhD from Stanford University and its Stanford Technology Venture Program (STVP). He has been a startup CTO and graduated from the University of Virginia with a BS in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Computer Science.

How Stanford PhD Program Turns Engineer into Social Scientist - Ben Hallen

In Chapter 7 of 21 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, business school professor Ben Hallen answers "Going into Your PhD Program at Stanford, How Did You Reconcile Your Engineering Background With the Expectations of Becoming a Social Scientist?" Hallen finds his engineering problem solving skills complement what his business strategy and social sciences program teaches about how people interact. Hallen is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School. Previously, he was Assistant Professor of Management and Organization at University of Maryland. Hallen earned his PhD from Stanford University and its Stanford Technology Venture Program (STVP). He has been a startup CTO and graduated from the University of Virginia with a BS in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Computer Science.

How Social Scientist Cultivates Technology Passion - Ben Hallen

In Chapter 10 of 21 in his 2011 Capture Your Flag interview with host Erik Michielsen, business school professor Ben Hallen answers "How Do You Keep Your Passion for Science and Technology Relevant in Your Pursuit as an Academic?" As an academic in a business school, Hallen's work is applied - what he learns gets applied to create value in business. Outside this, Hallen enjoys studying new technology companies and their respective innovation. He also applies his social science and engineering education to understand the behaviors driving technology adoption and growth. Hallen is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at London Business School. Previously, he was Assistant Professor of Management and Organization at University of Maryland. Hallen earned his PhD from Stanford University and its Stanford Technology Venture Program (STVP). He has been a startup CTO and graduated from the University of Virginia with a BS in Electrical Engineering and a Masters in Computer Science.