Luke Behnke, MBA ’11

Summer Internship

Perhaps the most consistent use of my time and mental capacity over the last few weeks has been searching for a job.  I planned on working at the start-up I had been working with for the past few months, but a few weeks ago it became clear that that wasn't going to happen, for lots of reasons.  So I set out to find a great summer job.  

I knew I wanted to work at a start-up, preferably in Boston or San Francisco.  At first, that was all I did to narrow it down.  Kind of a mistake.  All of these different start-ups around the area sounded interesting, so I took a "shotgun" approach and applied to as many as I could.  I have always been interested in a variety of things, so I could have been happy doing a lot of things.  But I had trouble navigating the interviews.  I found myself having trouble "selling" myself, given that I didn't really know what I wanted to do.  It was becoming the end of May, and the time window to find a job was dwindling fast.  Although I had a lot in the pipeline, I didn't have an offer, and was starting to get a bit nervous.

Fortunately, this is grad school, and we are all here to learn.  So I used it as an opportunity to learn a little something about myself.  I started telling everyone who would listen about my situation.  I would tell them that I didn't yet have a job, and didn't exactly know what I wanted to do.  I couldn't believe how many of them wanted to take time out of their day to help me out.  After numerous conversations with classmates, my fiancee, and new friends (in particular MIT professor Joost Bonsen), I learned a lot about what I want, and what I am good at.  I decided that I wanted to work for an internet software company (preferably in some sort of social media), and work with data to help drive management decisions.

Then, along came a start-up called Currensee, who have created a social platform for FOREX trading online.  I applied and was given an interview.  I liked the project they proposed, and loved meeting the people there.  It is a 25 person team in the North End of Boston, with VC funding from Northbridge.  

After a few interviews, on May 5th I found out I was offered the job.  I also found out that I was awarded a Feld Scholarship (courtesy of MIT Alumni and huge supporter of entrepreneurship, Brad Feld).  It is an amazing honor to receive this, and I can't wait for the summer experience!  Will keep you posted.

End of Year One

I have been delinquent on writing in this blog.  I assure you that is not because I don't have lots of great things to update, in fact quite the contrary.  The end of the semester is here again and I have been working a lot on "term" projects.  I use quotations because I think that means you are supposed to work on them all term, and not just the last week of the semester.  Hmmm, note to self on that one for next year.

Anyway, the first year of my MBA here at Sloan is a few days from over.  What a ride this year has been.  I was talking to a friend of mine at Sloan today and we couldn't believe what we have done over the last year.  We have learned more and met more people in the last nine months than we did in the previous four years combined.  Business school has been a range of experiences for me, each one helping me learn more about the world around me, and even more importantly learn about myself.  It was great to spend a few minutes today reflecting on this.

But alas, it could only last so long... and then it was back to work!  I have really loved my classes this semester, particularly 15.402: Finance 2 and 15.394: Designing and Leading the Entrepreneurial Organization.  I am really going to miss these classes, but have taken so much out of them going forward.  

I have also been spending a lot of my time as an organizer of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition.  What a cool event.  I am convinced that it is one of the best events you can get involved in at Sloan, whether as a contestant, organizer, or both.  I have been an organizer, helping in some small way to keep this contest going.  It has been around for 20 years now, from humble beginnings in 1990 as the $10K.  The contest has grown substantially since, and keeps getting better every year.  The finale show is tomorrow in Kresge auditorium on MIT's campus.  The show is open to anyone, and starts at 7pm sharp. I put together an alumni video, which I will be proud to show tomorrow.

Looking forward to finishing the semester strong, hopefully not failing my Finance 2 final (which is going to be a beast), and participating in the $100K finale show tomorrow night.  Also, Thursday should be a blast - it is the MIT Sloan "Follies" (a show where the Sloan community gets to make fun of ourselves for a night).  I can't wait.  This place is really fun.