Spring Break
Teaching Women to Manage Money
Dinkar Jain (ND), Contributing Writer
Issue date: 3/9/09 Section: News
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DJ: What did you do before business school? How did that shape you into becoming an entrepreneur?
AVT: I think I've always been creating things for as long as I can remember...but, I worked at Morgan Stanley on their proprietary trading desk, focused on CDO's and CLO's, and then worked at a venture backed start up called www.drop.io as their head of business development. Drop.io is a very cool company!
DJ: When did you get the idea? What changed after you got to HBS?
AVT: Before my senior year of college -- I was startled to realize that I was on the verge of graduating from Harvard and had never had a single class regarding my personal finances. Ironically, I was going to work in finance at Morgan Stanley on their internal proprietary trading desk.
DJ: How did you weigh the decision of continuing at versus leaving HBS?
AVT: Well, this is the worst economy arguably since the Great Depression -- people are terrified about their personal finances and the need for LearnVest is pressing-- I really want to educate people, and I felt like the timing was perfect. So...after having a few professors really appreciate the idea, staying was not in the gameplan.
DJ: What, if anything, from your limited time in HBS are you using at work?
AVT: Well, help from great friends for one! Some of my friends have been instrumental in connecting me to amazing resources. For example, Jake Anderson in my section connected me to his father, a professor at MIT, who made LearnVest the entrepreneurship final for his whole class. It helped us receive a ton of thoughtful feedback. Thanks guys.
DJ: While you were contemplating the jump, did you find the HBS environment encouraging or stifling?
AVT: The HBS staff was amazing. I was torn between staying and going, and they encouraged me to take the leap. I think I may have even cried in Pat Light's office once or twice.
DJ: Do you feel you might come back and complete your MBA at some point?
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