I came into the Master of Business, Entrepreneurship and Technology (MBET) program with over a decade of building software and ventures, and a few ideas I was still exploring. I was looking for more structure in how I build, broader exposure, and a network that compounds over time, and the program has delivered.
The classes have changed how I work. Validation, customer discovery, market sizing, and positioning are now part of how I move from the start, rather than tools I reach for only when something is off. The frameworks have given me language and discipline for what I had been doing on instinct for years and made me more intentional. I now spend more time understanding markets and why they exist before deciding what to put in, and I treat customer conversations as evidence instead of encouragement.
The community has been consistently valuable. Faculty provide direct feedback at every stage, and classmates contribute relevant input from diverse perspectives and experiences. The ecosystem around Conrad School and Velocity has also opened doors I appreciate, including a trip to San Francisco meeting investors and operators, and attending other sessions that broadened my views on venture creation and scale.
The bigger shift, however, has been internal. It shows up in how confidently I move. I make better decisions because I have the right tools to make them with, and I lean on those tools especially when the call is uncomfortable.
Right now, I am building BaseLeaf, a SaaS platform that simplifies immigration for high achievers who are usually qualified but either do not realize the paths available to them, or struggle to navigate them well.
The platform is live and serving paying customers, focused for now on U.S. merit-based pathways, while building toward a global platform that supports them wherever they are trying to go. Our next major milestone is scaling customer acquisition, and we have been accepted into the Velocity Summer 2026 cohort to support the work, with product and geographic expansion to follow.
My one piece of advice for anyone considering MBET is to come in open and willing to move. Sometimes the right thing to build is something already familiar to you, even if you have not yet committed to it.
The program creates space to explore and experiment, and the biggest returns come when you have something real to apply the frameworks and the people around you to.