Entrepreneur Matt Barnett was so inspired by his MBA at the Australian Graduate School of Management that he commenced planning his successful start-up company Verbate.co while he was still studying.
According to Matt, he was able to apply his business knowledge from the MBA immediately and went on to launch the company shortly after graduation.
“If you’re doing finance you can use that to build a business plan, if you’re doing marketing you can build a marketing plan,” he said.
“A MBA also gives you an all-round knowledge so you can talk to investors and have a handle on all aspects of business. As a future CEO, you get to understand all elements.”
Matt said that one of the greatest benefits of doing a full time MBA was the time to step back from the day-to-day problems of work and think about new business ideas.
“During an MBA you obviously approach a lot of different situations that challenge and develop your thinking and get your mind moving in different spaces,” the UK-born 30-year-old said.
“But what you really get is this luxury of time to really explore networks and try out ideas. It’s a really good time for innovation.”
“Everyone talks about the stresses of a MBA and the work you have to do, but in reality it’s less stressful than normal life.”
Having graduated in 2012, Matt is now the CEO of Sydney-based start-up Verbate.co – a company that uses mobile webcam technology to change the way businesses communicate with their teams and customers by moving them back towards actual human interactions.
Matt said that the leadership and people management skills imparted during the MBA program had also played a major role in his success.
“I think the soft skills are super important because when you’re running a small team, being able to consciously think about how to inspire and drive them is important,” he said.
“In a small business it’s all about efficiency, and having that insight really contributes to the success of a business.”
Two-and-a-half years after Verbate.co’s launch, Matt says the hard work is now paying off.
“It’s been a long journey but we’ve stayed with it and our success now is because of that,” he said.
“We’ve learned to become experts in this space so we can go after the market we’re pursuing with an understanding of everything that’s in play. It’s a lot of fun.”
