Blog Archive mbaMissions Exclusive Interview with Shark Tank Contestant Shaan Patel, Founder of Prep Expert

Blog Archive mbaMission’s Exclusive Interview with Shark Tank Contestant Shaan Patel, Founder of Prep Expert Shaan Patel is an entrepreneur and a recent contestant on ABC’s Shark Tankâ€"and he is also an MBA student! Patel’s company Prep Expert (formerly 2400 Expert SAT Prep) was growing steadily when he decided to pursue a business degree  at the Yale School of Management (SOM), which left  him juggling entrepreneurship and schoolwork. We asked him how he manages it all and how he persuaded Mark Cuban to jump on board as an investor! Thank you for taking the time to talk to us. You are currently a second-year student at the SOM. Many MBAs launch businesses after graduation, but you managed to do so during your studies. How did your experience at the SOM prepare you for this endeavor? Shark Tank  Episode 716 contestant Shaan Patel (Photo via ABC) The [SOM] has been transformative in helping me to expand my venture with its focus  on entrepreneurship. Perhaps the most impactful class I took was “Management of Software Development” taught by [the school’s] director of entrepreneurship, Kyle Jensen. The class taught me the importance of Web development and design, which led me to use lean and agile methods to rapidly iterate our company’s Web site, which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in increased revenue. I am very involved in the entrepreneurship community at Yale and am currently taking “Startup Practicum”â€"a course that allows founders to work on their start-ups in a structured course for school credit. You scored a perfect 2400 on your SATs. Was this the main inspiration for 2400 Expert SAT Prep, or did you have an earlier interest in the subject? Did your perfect score come as a surprise to you? I never planned to start an SAT prep company. I originally wanted to write an SAT prep book. When I was in high school, I only scored around average on my first practice SAT. I then spent hundreds of hours in the library raising my own score to a perfect 2400. This score changed my lifeâ€"I was admitted into prestigious universities, won a quarter million dollars in scholarships, and even got to meet the president of the United States. When I was in college, I wanted to write an SAT prep book to teach other students how to prepare for the SAT the way that I did in high school. When I pitched my book proposal to over 100 literary agents and publishers, I was turned down by every single one. That’s when I decided to leverage the material I had written to start 2400 Expert. After my first class had an average SAT score improvement of 376 points, I had parents knocking down the door for more courses. Ironically, after McGraw-Hill, the world’s largest education publisher, who had already rejected my book proposal, saw what I was doing with 2400 Expert, they offered me a book deal after all. It was interesting that I got what I originally wanted after I took a completely different path. You mentioned in an email that you went from living in a motel to attending business school. Can you expand on that a little bit? Yes, I grew up in my parents’ budget motel in Las Vegas. I attended urban public schools in the worst school district in the nation with a 40% dropout rate. However, I really believe it doesn’t matter where you go to school. Instead, it’s your effort that determines your success. I ended up attending an eight-year baccalaureate/MD program at the University of Southern California [USC]. I started my business just prior to starting med school. As my company was growing while I was in medical school, I decided to go to business school to not only learn more about health care management, but also learn how to turn my company from a small business to a national test prep brand. So I took a leave of absence from medical school at USC to attend business school at Yale. I [will] finish my MBA in May and will return to USC in the fall to finish my last year of medical school. On a recent episode of Shark Tank, angel investor and billionaire Mark Cuban agreed to invest $250K in your company in exchange for a 20% equity stake. What was your strategy when approaching the Sharks? Were you surprised to see Cuban jump on board? I valued my company at $2M using net present value of discounted cash flows that I had learned in business school. Therefore, I asked for $250K in exchange for 10% equity. I did this because I knew that the Sharks typically negotiate entrepreneurs to a lower valuation, so I wanted to have a slightly higher valuation in my initial ask to leave some room for negotiation. I was surprised that Cuban gave me an offer because he initially seemed unimpressed at the beginning of my pitch. But Mark was the one Shark I wanted going into the Tank. So it worked out! What have been your biggest challenges with juggling a company and attending business school? Do the pros outweigh the possible cons? The biggest challenge of attending business school and running my business is balancing my time. There is so much that an entrepreneur has to do when running a growing company. Sometimes it’s difficult to do everything I need to because of case studies and group meetings in business school. But the amount I have learned in business school about how to build and run a multimillion-dollar company certainly outweighs these small cons. Where do you see 2400 Expert SAT Prep advancing in the next five years, and how do you believe Mark Cuban’s involvement will influence the company’s progress? In the next five years, I believe we can help one million students prep for the SAT so that they’ve improved their SAT scores an average of 300+ points, resulting in great college acceptances and scholarship awards for our students. The best part of this business is getting success emails from students such as one that I got the other day: “Thank you for writing the SAT 2400 bookâ€"it was a great help and I ended up getting in wherever I applied, including Harvard, Yale (currently in Trumbull College), and Princeton. I’m a Pakistani American from Brooklynâ€"not wealthy by any meansâ€"and couldn’t afford a private tutor, so I had to find a way to self-study, and your book really did the trick.” Mark Cuban not only has a huge brand that will help the company, but he’s already been helpful in guiding the strategic direction of the company. How would you advise current MBA students who are hoping to get their businesses off the ground during their studies? Don’t worry about failing. Too many people are risk averse and afraid to dive in. You have to fail first in order to succeed. I look at every failure as an opportunity. Every time I have been rejected by a university [Harvard Business School, Wharton, Stanford Graduate School of Business], literary agent, book publisher, licensed content partner, Shark, etc., I see it as an opportunity to tell a great underdog story later! Life would be so boring if everything came easy. Those who are afraid to fail will never succeed. Share ThisTweet News Yale University (School of Management)

Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, 1986

At 1:23 a.m. on April 26th, 1986, reactor four at the nuclear power plant near Chernobyl, Ukraine exploded, releasing more than a hundred times the radiation of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Thirty-one people died shortly after the explosion and thousands more are expected to die from the long-term effects of radiation. The Chernobyl nuclear disaster dramatically changed the worlds opinion about using nuclear reaction for power. The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was built in the wooded marshlands of northern Ukraine, approximately 80 miles north of Kiev. Its first reactor went online in 1977, the second in 1978, third in 1981, and fourth in 1983; two more were planned for construction. A small town, Pripyat, was also built near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant to house the workers and their families. Routine Maintenance and a Test on Reactor Four On April 25, 1986, reactor four was going to be shut down for some routine maintenance. During the shutdown, technicians were also going to run a test. The test was to determine whether, in case of a power outage, the turbines could produce enough energy to keep the cooling system running until the backup generators came online. The shutdown and test began at 1 a.m. on April 25th. To get accurate results from the test, the operators turned off several of the safety systems, which turned out to be a disastrous decision. In the middle of the test, the shutdown had to be delayed nine hours because of a high demand for power in Kiev. The shutdown and test continued again at 11:10 p.m. on the night of April 25th. A Major Problem Just after 1 a.m. on April 26th, 1986, the reactors power dropped suddenly, causing a potentially dangerous situation. The operators tried to compensate for the low power but the reactor went out of control. If the safety systems had remained on, they would have fixed the problem; however, they were not. The reactor exploded at 1:23 a.m. The World Discovers the Meltdown The world discovered the accident two days later, on April 28th, when operators of the Swedish Forsmark nuclear power plant in Stockholm registered unusually high radiation levels near their plant. When other plants around Europe began to register similar high radiation readings, they contacted the Soviet Union to find out what had happened. The Soviets denied any knowledge about a nuclear disaster until 9 p.m. on April 28th, when they announced to the world that one of the reactors had been damaged. Attempts to Clean Up While trying to keep the nuclear disaster a secret, the Soviets were also trying to clean it up. At first they poured water on the many fires, then they tried to put them out with sand and lead and then nitrogen. It took nearly two weeks to put the fires out. Citizens in the nearby towns were told to stay indoors. Pripyat was evacuated on April 27th, the day after the disaster had begun; the town of Chernobyl wasnt evacuated until May 2, six days after the explosion. Physical clean-up of the area continued. Contaminated topsoil was placed into sealed barrels and radiated water contained. Soviet engineers also encased the remains of the fourth reactor in a large, concrete sarcophagus to prevent additional radiation leakage. The sarcophagus, constructed quickly and in dangerous conditions, had already begun to crumble by 1997. An international consortium has begun plans to create a containment unit that will be placed over the current sarcophagus. Death Toll From the Chernobyl Disaster Thirty-one people died shortly after the explosion; however, thousands of others who were exposed to high levels of radiation will suffer serious health effects, including cancers, cataracts, and cardiovascular disease.

Stress Term Paper - 2628 Words

The Effects of Stress Stress is an ongoing dilemma which occurs in everyones life. It is a factor that is without a question apart of daily living. Due to the minor problems that occur in peoples daily lives, massive amounts of stress can arise. Stress means different things to people and effects people in different ways. Some people think stress is something that happens to them such as an injury or a birthday. And others think that stress is what happens to our mind, body, and behaviors in a response to an event. While stress does involve events and how one responds to them, these are not the critical factors, but our thoughts about the situation in which we are involved are the critical factors. Essentially, stress exists†¦show more content†¦A burnout is an increasingly intense pattern of psychological, physiological, and behavioral responses to a continuous flow of stress or chronic stress. It is commonly found among employees and professionals who have a high degree of personal invest ment in their work and have high performance expectations. In the initial stages, people often have a variety of physiological and behavioral symptoms and lose interest and confidence in their work. The following physiological symptoms may occur: shortness of breath, loss of appetite, weight, headache, fatigue, and exhaustion. People who experience a burnout may have some of the behavioral symptoms like: lack of interest in fellow employees, risky behavior, and mood swings. In the later stages, people often engage in the following problems such as, abuse of alcohol and other drugs, smoke excessively, drink more caffeinated beverages, and become more rigid in their thinking. They often lose faith in the abilities of co-workers, management, the organization, and themselves. As a result they then become less productive. In fact, many people dont associate these symptoms to stress and this burnout stage. This burnout stage goes behind the subject ego depletion. Ego depletion is w hen an indivual acts of volition-making choices and decisions, taking responsibility, initiating, or inhibiting behavior, and making plans of action to carrying them out. (Wall,2001 ) This stage draws outShow MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Testing On Human Trials On The University Of Buffalo s Research1375 Words   |  6 PagesArticles often manipulate scientific inquiries to appeal to their audiences. Due to these exploitations in scientific research papers, media sites interpret data incorrectly, and distort the results of scientific research. Although many media sites, give faulty information, The Huffington Post does a fair job at interpreting the University of Buffalo’s Research Institutes work on endocannabinoids and their effect on cognitive behavior. Neuroscientists from the University of Buffalo’s Research InstituteRead MoreTree Death Research Paper705 Words   |  3 PagesIn the paper, â€Å"Tree die- off in response to global change- type drought: mortality i nsights from a decade of plant water potential measurements† by Breshears et al. two different groups of Pinus edulis and Juniperus monosperma were studied for over 10 years during drought conditions. This study aimed to bridge the gap between the conclusion that trees die in drought conditions and the observations leading up to the death. Breshears et al. claim that the current research lacks â€Å"concurrent data onRead More The Career of a Police Officer Essay739 Words   |  3 Pageslife threatening things that occur while a person is on the job many of which can cause a severe amount of stress. Stress on the job can cause a person to become severely depressed and cause ones home life to fall to pieces. It is important for anyone interested to find out all the details of law enforcement before jumping into it and getting a career. This study is dealing with police stress will be a good source for anyone looking to get into the law enforcement to see what the mental stressesRead MoreWhy Strategies For Learning Success1486 Words   |  6 PagesIntroduction As the author of this paper I, Ashiane Odoms, I would like to present my opinion on why Strategies for Learning Success (SLS) introduction to college is important in postsecondary education. SLS will teach you to become more familiar with the concept of college and how to adapt to the adult setting. SLS shows you academic strategies such as making use of your time, taking notes, set attainable goals, and etc. SLS also help you learn about yourself by helping you discover your learningRead More Mental Healing: Does Positive Thinking Act Upon Brain Neurons to Improve Health?1390 Words   |  6 Pagesget better subconsciously? It seems that some health improvement can either happen consciously (I-function) as in the case of emotional support, or subconsciously (without the I-function) as in a placebo effect. I would like to assert for this paper, as an overview of the whole course, that some kinds of alternative medicine and mental healing do indeed work. The question is, does it have a neurological basis of brain=behavior or is there something more at work like hope or other emotions thatRead MoreDefinitions of Self-Management, Time and Stress for Nurses1200 Words   |  5 Pageshandles stress. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how nurse leaders and managers can handle stress and time through self-management. The main points this paper will discuss are the definitions of self-management, time, and stress, sources of stress, signs of stress, strategies to manage stress, time management concepts, and how self-management relates to nurse leaders and managers. This topic is very important to nurses because â€Å"nursing is a stressful job that has excess and prolonged stress thatRead More The Understanding of Behavior and the Brain Essay1195 Words   |  5 Pagesphysiology predicti ng and causing behavioris not a new fact. So many illnesses and diseases are now attributed to biological mechanisms. A recent article in Newsweek comments on how those in the field of psychology and neuroscience are beginning to stress the fact that certain brain mechanisms account for mental illnesses and particular behaviors. Doctors seem to blame their patients peculiarities on a biologically based mental illness, rather then seeing them as individual responses to lifes circumstancesRead MoreHow Stress Affects Individuals Of All Ages, Genders, And Cultures1422 Words   |  6 PagesStress affects individuals of all ages, genders, and cultures. Either good or bad it effects daily life and can cause turmoil if not dealt with in a healthy manner. Take for example Josh Jones (client name has been changed to protect their confidentiality) a Caucasian adolescent male living in a rural Oregon school district. At age eleven he has just transitioned from elementary school to middle schoo l and is adjusting to a larger pool of classmates and adapting to higher expectations set by hisRead MoreThe Effects Of Stress On Physical Illness1287 Words   |  6 PagesEffects of Stress on Physical Illness Stress is an example of a behavior and experience explained in physiological and psychological terms. Recently, awareness has been heightened concerning the harmful effects of stress and how it can be successfully managed and prevented. Stults-Kolehmainen (2013) definition of stress focuses on some kind of force or mental pressure exerted upon an individual. Often, stress is often associated with anxiety, strain, tension, distress and fatigue (Childs de-WitRead MoreIs Stress Necessary in Our Lives?1290 Words   |  5 PagesIs Stress Necessary In Our Lives? Stress is a natural feeling that every person has had to cope with at some point in their life. Stress can be caused by a wide range of different reasons that differs with each person. Since stress is constantly changing there is no right or wrong answer when you say something is stressful. Stress can arise from frustration, an overload of work, life changes, and even uncertainty. The causes of stress can also result in many different symptoms. How an individual

Analysis Of The Water Related Adaptation Interventions For...

At the community level, from my observation in work, I recognized that the local communities have the best capability to adapt with the adverse impacts. People had managed to protect their livelihood resources such as cropping fields, ponds, aquaculture farms and domestic facilities. For example, in the early rainy season, some focal groups of local residents are formed. These groups are responsible for monitoring the water levels and protecting proactively the irrigation facilities and the critical areas of dykes. In order to cope with inundation, local residents have to work together to dredge the small channels and to upgrade the paddy field embankments when they get the heavy rain forecast. They have stored fresh water and changed in their water use to cope with potential floods, storm, inundation and drought. In short, the water-related adaptation interventions in Thai Binh province focuses on upgrading hard facilities in irrigation and water supply systems; capacity building programs; afforestation in coastal zones and developing the local communities respond effectively to climate change. iii. Management operation Management in climate change adaptation plays an important role to ensure the success of interventions. The primary approach in Vietnam administrative management is a top-down approach. In climate change adaptation management, national organizations develop the policies, strategies, plans and national programs to adapt with adverse impacts. The lower

Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America free essay sample

The research gives the patient as well as the doctors and other healthcare professionals the education to be able to make the best decisions possible with treatments for each different individual as well as the support of the Government in this research. â€Å"The economics of medical product development determines how pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies establish their funding priorities. According to industry estimates, it takes an average of $800 million and 10-15 years to develop a new drug, medical device, or biologic and bring it to the market† [ (Resnick, 2003) ] Scope The overall scope of PhRMA is to do research in improving the quality of healthcare and how to do this. With the ultimate goal being patients receiving health care that is most efficient. Making sure that the research that is done is prioritized by the needs of the patients as well as society as a whole, having the research cover not only specific treatments costs and savings, but the costs of all healthcare treatments as a whole. We will write a custom essay sample on Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page As well as making sure that all technologies are used appropriately in all of healthcare. Design The design of PhRMA is to make sure that the research that is done is quality research. The data needs to be sufficient in nature as well as having the studies that are done show both the opportunities to improve as well as the strengths to improve upon. Making sure that the research that is done is up to date in this ever changing field so that it is providing the best results possible. The research needs to be both of a broad nature as well as a specifically direct nature, covering aspects that are important to society and the patients. Considering both economic issues and how well patients can be productive members of society, doing additional research to get patients to that point if they are not. Application PhRMA needs to make sure that the research that they are doing shows that not all patients are equal in the needs that they have medically and that if the research is not done on a personal level and done instead on a population level then the results will not show the individuals needs. In short, research that is done on a broader spectrum is only one way that can help people and the doctors to make an informed decision on care. With all of the technology that is out in the world of healthcare people needs to be informed on the other options that they may have for treatment. The government research should consider a balance in communicating the findings of its research. Giving access to peer reviewed results so that treatment decisions are well rounded before a decision is made. â€Å"Government decisions related to the funding and conduct of health outcomes research should be made through open, transparent procedures that ensure appropriate and timely involvement of stakeholders such as patients, health care professionals and medical researchers on issues such as proposed research goals, study designs and communication of study results. † [ (Resnick, 2003) ] In this communication, keeping in mind that all people can react differently to different treatments making sure to keep the needs of the patients as well as the value in mind. Discussion The article that I read was very interesting. I did not realize with the complication of research, especially with in the healthcare industry exactly how much of it really does affect the economy. Giving patients the variety in the different treatments that they receive can have a positive effect on the economy. It can over time change pricing (costs inputs), and with additional research that is constantly done on the variety of the treatments over time will help to create medical advances over time.  In the mission statement of PhRMA it states â€Å"To conduct effective advocacy for public policies that encourage discovery of important new medicines for patients by pharmaceutical and biotechnology research companies.

William Bradford Essays (173 words) - James River, Colonial Virginia

William Bradford The leadership strengths and weaknesses of John Smith evoked a profound effect on the Jamestown colony. The fact that Smith actually arrived in the colony as a common prisoner and was able to achieve the leadership role that he gained is amazing. His creativity and knowledge in certain areas actually saved the colonists from attack and starvation in the early days. Some of the rules he enforced as a leader were actually instrumental in saving the colony. His skill in dealing with the natives allowed him to gain their support and continue trade that resulted in the survival of the colony. Christopher Newport, the admiral that transported John Smith and many of the colonists from England, left the Jamestown colony in the fall of 1607. Immediately all work in the settlement ceased to exist. The colonists had decided to wait on Newport to return with new workers. The plan was for the natives to provide food for them while they waited. When the natives never came with food, Ratcliffe, the current president

Enlightens or Darknesses

Enlightens or Darknesses Valentina GjoniEng: 00404/22/03Professor: Janet OliverEnlightens or DarknessesTechnology is not the most important factor in our lives. Every one of us that emigrated from poor countries experienced a non advanced technology world. It did not nuisance us because we did not know the existence of the high quality machines or anything related with technology. The two stories describe the life of the Third World countries in different views at some points but the same on others. Norberg-Hodge and Pitroda argued about the advantages and disadvantages of the technology influences on other people lives.Based on the story "Nothing is Black, Nothing is White" Norberg-Hodge give us the view of life were everything is primitive and her opinion of people could live happier than now. The natives of the Ladakh do not have luxury. They survive the same way as many years ago "with basic comforts." ( Norberg-Hodge 195) In the winter they do not use heat.English: Sam Pitroda, Indian businessman and ch air...