Wondering how an MBA can help with your professional growth? Learn from Professor Jeff Bussgang and alumni how HBS helps prepare you for a career in Venture Capital. Our alumni panel will feature Sara Choi, Effie Epstein, Alex Immerman, and Gabby Contro.
Jeffrey J. Bussgang is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at the Harvard Business School as well as Co-Founder and General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm with offices in Boston and New York City and over $1 billion under management across six seed funds and nine network funds. “Unicorn” portfolio companies include BitSight, Bowery, Chief, FalconX, Habi, MadeiraMadeira, and MongoDB. He studies lean startups as well as strategy and management challenges for founders. He teaches three MBA Elective Curriculum courses: Launching Technology Ventures – a class focused on product-market fit startups; Venture Capital Journey -- a field class focused on building and navigating a career in VC; and Scaling Minority Businesses – a field class focused on supporting Black and Latinx business entrepreneurs.
Sara Choi is a General Partner at Wing VC where she invests early – typically pre-product and revenue – in transformative tech companies shaping the future of work. Sara has led Wing’s investments in 14 companies including 1 unicorn and another that has surpassed $150m in GMV. Wing VC is a leading enterprise tech VC with a hands-on approach and 22 IPOs and billion dollar outcomes.
Prior to joining Wing, Sara most recently co-founded the mobile data company Airfox (acquired) and led product for Ciao Telecom. She began her career at Google where she led YouTube’s Media Team. Sara holds a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
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Effie Epstein is the Managing Partner of Sound Ventures, an LA-based venture capital firm founded by Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary. She joined Sound Ventures in 2016 and has brought a multi-disciplinary approach to the firm. In her role, Effie leads investing, strategy and the day-to-day management of the firm. With more than $700 million under management and 200 portfolio companies, Effie and her partners have been at the helm of six top quartile funds.
Prior to Sound, Effie led Global Strategy at Marsh, a multi-billion dollar division of financial services firm Marsh & McLennan (NYSE: MMC). She's also held leadership positions across media, tech and financial services. Effie was SVP of Planning and Head of Investor Relations at iHeartMedia, as well as Head of Business Development and Strategy at CLEAR. Earlier in her career, Effie was part of Merrill Lynch’s Global Energy and Power Investment Banking group as well as the Global Strategy team at NYSE Euronext. Effie earned her BA from University of Texas in Austin and her MBA from Harvard Business School. Effie lives in Los Angeles with her husband and two children.
Alex Immerman is a partner on the Growth investing team at Andreessen Horowitz, focused on fintech, consumer, enterprise, and crypto/web3 companies.
Prior to joining Andreessen Horowitz, Alex was at General Atlantic, where he invested in and partnered with growth-stage technology companies. Before GA, Alex was an investment banker at Allen & Co. Alex has also served in chief of staff roles for the CFO of Facebook and CEO of Gainsight and worked as a managing partner at Dorm Room Fund, First Round Capital's student-run investment fund.
Alex graduated summa cum laude from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and earned his MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. He grew up in New Jersey and lives in San Francisco, but likes traveling to Park City, Utah, to visit his parents, ski, and snowboard.
Gabby Contro joined Crosslink in 2013 and focuses on investments in marketplaces, enterprise applications, commerce and digital health.
At Crosslink, Gabby has been closely involved with investments such as BuildingConnected (acquired by AutoDesk), Postmates (acquired by Uber), Flume Health, GoExpedi, and Hungryroot, among others. In 2016, Gabby left Crosslink to pursue her MBA at the Harvard Business School. While at Harvard, Gabby spent time at Pinterest working on the sales operations and strategy team.
Prior to her venture career, Gabby was a consultant at Ernst & Young in New York, where she worked in the valuation analysis and pricing group. Gabby also has prior experience at Nuveen Investments in Chicago and at Envestnet in New York.
Gabby lives in San Francisco with her husband, Tom. Outside of work, Gabby is an avid skier, foodie, and Soul Cyclist.
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