need suggestion about career Goal

[momoli]

I'm preparing my application for 2013 eMBA (#1 target is the Stanford Sloan Fellow). Because there is no words limitation with the essay (Your Career Goals), I am not sure which is the right way to answer the question. Hope I can get some suggestions from the experts in the forum.

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My background in brief:
I am a startup guy, now is at the age of 32. Love new technologies and new ideas, passionate to create something different.

In university, started several small businesses:
- Webmaster of a TOP 200 personal website in China
- Youngest Microsoft Certified Trainer in China
- Co-founder of a Golden Microsoft Solution Partner

After graduated, established 2 new ventures in Fortune 500 Companies:
- First formal employee and program manager of a new project of Microsoft China.
- Second employee of the eBay new venture in China.

Now, I am the co-founder of the leading online-classified website(Like Craigslist) in China, which is 1.5Billion PV/Month in traffic, 10M+ USD/Year in revenue. The company will go to IPO within 20months.
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Below is the 2 ways that I am confused about.
-----------Way 1 Simple and clear answers.(without explanation)------------
Career Goal in 4~5 Years: Back my company and grow it fast after IPO.
Career Goal in 5~10 years: Start a business in Silicon Valley.
Career Goal in 10~20 years: Start a business based in China and served globally.
Career Goal after 20 years: Established an incubator in China, help young entrepreneurs to change the world.

My understanding with this way:
Pros: Clear, Strong, confirmative, confident.
Cons: Maybe someone can't understand why these goals make sense to me.

-----------Way 2 Simple and clear answers. (with reasons for each)------------
Career Goal in 4~5 Years: Back my company and grow it fast after IPO. Because... 60 words,
Career Goal in 5~10 years: Start a business in Silicon Valley. Because... 100 words.
Career Goal in 10~20 years: Start a global business based in China and served the people in the world. Reason is:... 100 words.
Career Goal after 20 years: Established an incubator in China, help young entrepreneurs to change the world.. Reason is:... 100 words.

My understanding with this way:
Pros: 100% make sure everyone can correctly understand the reasons of these goals.
Cons: A goal that needs to be explained seems like not strong and confident.
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Please give me your suggestions. Thanks so much!

[kingfalcon]

My immediate thought is this: if you have co-founded a 10M+/year revenue company, why do you need an MBA? Are you just going to abandon your company for two years? Perhaps you have reasons why you need an MBA, but they didn't come across very clearly in your post. Just my two cents.

[Jon@Admissionado]

Unless he wants to make it into a 100M$/year company.

But its a great question. What ARE your expectations?

[PrepMBA.AlexLeventhal]

Momoli,

Your background sounds great, but your career goals are too general/generic, and I would expect greater clarity from somebody who has already achieved so much.

What segments of internet/high tech most interest you and why? This might be a good place to start to drive some specific goals. You are passionate about creating something different, but what area do you want to channel that into and why? These are good MBA application starting points. Is your passion in connecting people? Is it in using the cloud vs traditional hard implementations?

Saying you want to start a company in Silicon valley won't impress anybody, but if you put some details around that vision, supported by things you have done in the past, now you are ready to impress!

Contact me if you need specialized help. I have experience helping people get into the the MIT and Stanford fellows program.

Alex

[momoli]

Unless he wants to make it into a 100M$/year company.

But its a great question. What ARE your expectations?

Thanks Jon, That is the point!

My situation is as below:
1) There are 3 founders for my startup. One founder is the CEO to take care outside relations and overall strategy, One founder is in charge of the website development. And I take care all other aspects, including: Marketing, Product Design, Customer Service, Revenue, HR, FINANCE, ADMIN. In one word, I am the person who take care most aspects, and it is important when the company is small.

2) In the last 3 years, the business has grown very fast, over 10x each year in both revenue and traffic. Following the business became a medium size company, we started to hire top talents in areas. After several successful recruitments, there are top experts in company to take care product, HR, finance, Admin, Customer Service, Revenue in my company. They all did good job!

3) Under these circumstances, my responsibility was changed. I don't need to hands-to-hands to manage the business, and instead the primary job for me is how to find talents, and give clear strategy to them. However, I am not good at these works, while the CEO is excel at these jobs and is the right person to do them. Now is the time that I have minimum value for my company. On the other hands, as a founder of the company and the person who have tremendous experiences in this industry, I have special value. Plus, we decided to go to IPO(Probably NASDAQ) in 2013, and non of founders has experience to manage an after IPO company. After discussed in 3 founders, we decided to send me to US for a 1 year eMBA study. My company will cover all the costs.

We have 3 expectation with this MBA class:
A. Get in-deep knowledge with US IPO operation, experiences after IPO operations and understanding with US cultures.
B. Build broad people networks in US. (Since most of my top executives were hired from US. all my investors are top VCs in US)
C. Enhance my skills on strategy management, big company management, capital management.

4) We are expected that I can bring huge power to make the company grow faster after IPO.

Other background information: In China, founder has unparalleled meaning to his company. Nearly all success internet companies in China are under management of their founders, such as Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, 360. A professional manager take the CEO role is always treated as a bad sign for a internet company in China.

[momoli]

Thanks so much, Alex!

Your suggestion "my career goals are too general/generic" is a valuable feedback for me. However, I have no idea to specific my career goals, especially to narrow the industry .

As a startup guy, or entrepreneur, the only thing I know about my future is that I will stay with Hi-tech stuffs. However, I don't know what's exactly areas I will be in.
For example, In my past experiences:
I was in Hi-tech Training areas when I worked as a Microsoft Certified Trainer.
I was in IT service channel management sector, when I worked as Channel Manager in Microsoft.
I'm in consumer service sector now, when I worked as co-founder in my company.

In the future, after I finished my job in my current company. I will discover another chance to build a new business that leverage new technology to change people's life. This is the only thing i know about it.

I have no idea about How can I describe it in a specific way? Need your further suggestion about my situation.

Your background sounds great, but your career goals are too general/generic, and I would expect greater clarity from somebody who has already achieved so much.

Alex

[Jon@Admissionado]

To me, it sounds like you know exactly what you want to get out of your MBA, and it also sounds like it will be helpful for you. And finally it also sounds like something that schools would be very happy to include in their class given your already proven success. I think it's a win-win situation all around, and that a bigger and better network, more knowledge and a bit of time to think never hurt any enterprise

Go for it!

[momoli]

To me, it sounds like you know exactly what you want to get out of your MBA, and it also sounds like it will be helpful for you. And finally it also sounds like something that schools would be very happy to include in their class given your already proven success. I think it's a win-win situation all around, and that a bigger and better network, more knowledge and a bit of time to think never hurt any enterprise

Go for it!

Thank for your encouragement. Best wishes to you and Precision Essay (Admissionado)!

[youngjames]

in reading what you stated as your objectives for an MBA, and then explaining the "real" reasons you want your MBA in response to Alex, I'd say go with the "real" answer. I think you're trying too hard to figure out what the Stanford adcom wants to hear, and not enough on what you want to say. You have a great story. You have extremely compelling reasons for why you need an MBA, and there's a very clear connection between your career goals and the type of students Stanford looks for. My opinion is to lay that out there in a very honest way. The details will speak for themselves.

It's always better to "show, not tell." Cite specific examples of what you've achieved (similar to what you've done on this thread). Facts like these are hard to ignore.

Hope that's helpful,
-james young

[momoli]

Thanks so much, James! I am inspired by your suggestion. I will try to show instead of tell in my essay.

I will start to write my essay in next month. Now is still figuring out my GMAT and TOEFL. Will bother you to seek more help later.

Thanks again.

in reading what you stated as your objectives for an MBA, and then explaining the "real" reasons you want your MBA in response to Alex, I'd say go with the "real" answer. I think you're trying too hard to figure out what the Stanford adcom wants to hear, and not enough on what you want to say. You have a great story. You have extremely compelling reasons for why you need an MBA, and there's a very clear connection between your career goals and the type of students Stanford looks for. My opinion is to lay that out there in a very honest way. The details will speak for themselves.

It's always better to "show, not tell." Cite specific examples of what you've achieved (similar to what you've done on this thread). Facts like these are hard to ignore.

Hope that's helpful,
-james young