Author: Syd is a current MBA student at Stern where she specializes in Strategy, Product Management, and Accounting. Before her MBA, Syd launched and grew a business in the food industry, bringing nutritional products with sustainable cricket protein powder to grocery stores nationwide. She later went on to offer consulting services to other growing businesses. Post-MBA she plans to pursue a strategy role in the tech industry. Outside of work, Sydney enjoys going to see live music and outdoor activities – hiking, skiing, scuba diving.
NYU’s Tech MBA offers a West Coast Immersion Course during January before the regular semester begins. It’s an important part of the curriculum providing exposure to a wide range of tech companies. Join me for a personal account of the experience!
Early January, we’d enjoyed three whole weeks off school – one of the perks of being back in school! So far, the Tech MBA program surpassed my expectations in many areas. Never did I think at this point I would have already done projects with companies like IBM, Salesforce, and Warner Brothers Discovery. What did the West Coast trip have in store for us?
The trip involved visiting tech companies in different fields, learning about their ecosystem and current state, as well as diving into tech innovation and trends. The schedule looked packed, and we had assignments due throughout, culminating in a final presentation. Our group was split into two for the first part, half of us going to Seattle and half of us going to Los Angeles. As someone keenly interested in entertainment technology, I was excited to be in the LA group, where streaming, gaming and sports tech thrive.
LA
Touching down in LA, I knew I’d made the right call – warm weather, palm trees, sunshine – a drastic change from my trip back home to Canada over the holidays. Any nerves I had about the trip were quickly set at ease when I met up with my classmates and Stern alumni at a welcome event.
Over the next few days, we visited Riot Games, Hulu/Disney, NFL Media, and Amazon. I was blown away by how Stern alumni at each of the companies took us in and provided us with an inside look at their operations and the current tech landscape. Let me share couple of highlights:
Riot Games
Riot Games are the makers of one of the most-played online games – League of Legends. To set the tone of our visit, when we arrived there was a photoshoot going on out front of some of their top gamers – really showing how they lift up their community, and giving us a taste of how dedicated their following is. We got a tour of their impressive facilities, filled with art and nods to their gaming community. A panel of Stern alumni gave us a detailed look at their marketing tactics and strategic direction. Many from our group left in a slightly stunned, wide-eyed state, impressed with the world of gaming and the growth opportunity.
Hulu/Disney
It’s hard not to be impressed seeing posters of your favorite TV shows and movies in the lobby. We heard from a panel of people in departments across Disney Streaming and got a detailed look into some of the technical aspects of the platform. I found the panel quite engaging, as their competitive landscape seems to be shifting, more ad-supported platforms, and possible increased cross-over with sports and gaming (my speculations! not company secrets shared during our visit).
NFL Media
NFL Media is the team behind the league’s presence online and on mobile devices. Part of our trip was more like a studio tour, getting to see behind the scenes of some of their shows and meet hosts. The other part of the visit was hearing from leaders in NFL Media’s content, product, strategy and operations. It will be interesting to see how the delivery of NFL games continues to evolve with more people looking to digital platforms. Outside of the sports fanatics in my life, I don’t know of anyone who still has a cable subscription!
San Francisco
After three intensive days in LA, we flew to San Francisco to meet up with the other half of our cohort. It was great to be reunited as a group and swap stories. The Seattle group visited some big tech companies – Microsoft, Amazon, T-Mobile and DirectTV. We got the weekend to relax and explore the Bay Area. On Sunday, we all got on a bus for a wine-tasting tour in Napa – a well-deserved break!
The following week was set to be busy again – loads more companies on the schedule: Salesforce, Saildrone, Upside Foods, AirBnB, 500 Global, NVIDIA, LinkedIn and Palantir. Here are a couple of the most memorable visits for me:
NVIDIA
NVIDIA was one of the companies that I was most excited to visit. As their chips have become a preferred hardware for AI, their stock has skyrocketed over the past year. I was eager to see inside the business of such a driving force of modern technology.
Their campus in the Bay Area is huge, giving you the feeling that you’re walking into an airplane hangar that has been thoughtfully designed to optimize creativity and output. Rama Akkiraju, the VP for AI for IT, went over in depth the practical use cases of AI and how it has driven growth at NVIDIA.
We also heard from a panel of employees about their work and experiences at the company. Their passion for quality and their high standard of work came through in their thoughtful answers, making it clear that a company like NVIDIA doesn’t rise to the top by accident.
Airbnb
We visited Airbnb on the last day of our trip. We’d had a long week by this point, visiting companies all around the Bar Area.Walking into their building in downtown SF, I was immediately rejuvenated – it’s thoughtfully designed from top to bottom and they have a three-story high plant wall. Now they had my attention.
Judson Coplan, VP Product Marketing, and Iain Robert, VP People and Culture, spoke to us about the values of the company and the approaches that they take to their work. What stood out to me is how they both seem to approach their work in a thoughtful and precise manner – truly reflective of the user-friendly, well-designed Airbnb app.
Industry Analyses and Predictions
Throughout the trip, our professors Melissa Schilling and Vasant Dhar led us through lectures and discussions about the role that technology plays in transforming industries, how technology can be developed and managed, and how companies might optimize their positioning.
To culminate the trip, we split up in groups and analyzed different partsof the tech industry: chips, gen AI, mobile payments, semiconductors, streaming and wearables. This served as the perfect final note to leave the course on – predictions from classmates on how these industries will evolve, and what companies will come out on top (some of which we visited!).
Final Words
Stern alumni and CEO of Calm, David Ko, visited us on our final afternoon for an intimate talk. Throughout the trip, many of us had been starting to think about our next steps after graduation. Most of us are planning to build a career in tech, but are graduating during a time of layoffs. David brought some perspective by providing us with insights from his career journey. He reminded us to look at the big picture and to be thoughtful about our next step. With 30+ years of career in front of us, it’s ok to take a step sideways or back to get to where we want to go, especially for a new industry or a learning opportunity.
