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MIT Sloan Fellows MBA Program

A Day in the Life of an SFMBA Student

Brian Via | SFMBA'23
“The Sloan MBA experience is transformative. You’re surrounded by people who are so smart, talented, and the cream of the crop in every field. It’s life-changing and unique to be around such a group of intelligent, ambitious, successful, humble, down-to-earth people, with a world-class curriculum and top speakers from the highest positions of leadership across every field and industry.”

Brian Via, SFMBA ’23, plans to become a Chief Revenue Officer someday, ideally in software. Before entering the MIT Sloan Fellows Program, he held senior positions at file-sharing giant Dropbox and at visual collaboration platform Miro. In the meantime, though, he revels in the camaraderie and friendship he’s found at Sloan.

A Day with Brian

  • Brian Via chats with his friend Cameron right before class.
    8:30 am
    I’m chatting with a classmate, Cameron Lothridge, in the E62 café before our first-morning class. I usually start my day with readings, assignments, and things of that nature. Cameron is one of my close friends in my cohort. He and his wife actually live in the same building as my wife and me. When we got married in October, Cameron and his wife took in our mail and packages and decorated our door with bride and groom magnets! That made it truly special as I carried her over the threshold.
  • Brian Via talks to his dear friend Sid Sreeram, a two-year MBA student. I’m advising him on some of the go-to-market aspects of a startup idea that he has, from the perspective of a senior sales leader
    10 am
    I’m talking to my friend, Sid Sreeram, a two-year MBA student. I’m advising him on some of the go-to-market aspects of a startup idea that he has, from the perspective of a senior sales leader.
  • Brian meets his classmate Amir Elkabir, who’s also in the Sloan Fellows MBA program. He and his family came here for the year from Israel, and we first met at some of the matriculation events right when we were accepted into the Sloan Fellows program. He’s a genuinely kind, friendly person. 
    11 am
    I’m chatting with Amir Elkabir, who’s also in the Sloan Fellows MBA program. Amir and his family came to the United States for the year from Israel, and we first met at some of the matriculation events soon after we were accepted into the Sloan Fellows MBA program. Amir’s a genuinely kind, friendly person with whom I enjoy conversing. 
  • Brian catches up with his friend and mentor, Jeff Lau, at a local restaurant. Brian shares, "He’s a dear, longtime mentor and friend. In fact, his eldest daughter was one of the flower girls at my wedding! I think the world of him."
    12 pm
    Lunchtime at the newly renovated Legal Sea Foods with Jeff Lau, who’s just an incredible person. Jeff is currently a global director at Google. I worked for him in the non-profit space at the Andy Roddick Foundation in 2011. Jeff’s a dear longtime tech mentor and friend, and just a great business leader. In fact, his eldest daughter was one of the flower girls at my wedding! I think the world of him.
  • Brian gets some work done prior to his entrepreneurial finance and venture capital class with Professor Matthew Rhodes-Kropf.
    1:30 pm
    Time to walk over to the Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship. I try to get some work done before I head into my Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Capital class with Professor Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, which I absolutely love. I need to text some mentors and advisors, return a couple of calls, and catch up on e-mail.
  • Brian shares, "My entrepreneurial finance and venture capital class is super fascinating for me because of my career in tech, working for companies like Miro most recently and Dropbox prior to that—most high-growth software companies that I’ve worked for are venture-capital-backed. I hope to become a chief revenue officer one day, and at some point, I’m considering pivoting into venture capital once I’ve reached the highest level on the revenue side."
    2 pm
    My Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Capital class is super fascinating for me because of my career in tech – venture capital fuels the growth of generational software companies like Dropbox and Miro. It’s also interesting to combine my professional passion for scaling software companies and my personal passion for long-term investing. I hope to become a chief revenue officer one day, and at some point, I’m considering pivoting into venture capital once I’ve reached the highest level on the revenue side.
  • Brian shares, "My last class of the day is Discovering Your Leadership Signature with Kate Isaacs. It’s awesome. Obviously, I’m very passionate about what I do. This class is unique because it’s entirely focused on how to hone, evolve, and improve your own individualized leadership style. A class like this is invaluable in thinking about finding better ways to show up as an effective leader."
    3:30 pm
    My last class of the day is Discovering Your Leadership Signature with Kate Isaacs. It’s awesome! Obviously, I’m very passionate about what I do. This class is really unique because it’s entirely focused on how to hone, evolve, and improve your own individualized style of leading. A class like this is invaluable in thinking about finding better ways to show up as an effective leader.

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