As someone who has been chasing the entrepreneurial dream since I was 16, it all started with a few passion-driven ventures, from sneaker reselling all the way to selling sanitisers during the pandemic. Armed with nothing more than motivation and sheer will to try and achieve success, the ventures always started strong as they gained traction because I was great at networking, but these motivation-driven ventures soon fizzled out due to various missteps and an unclear understanding of how to scale as well as maintain these ventures. Intangibles like pricing strategy, logistics, and customer retention were something I did not understand. These ventures left me with valuable lessons, but also underlying frustration.

Unwavering, I moved on to work for one of the world’s largest payment gateways, Stripe, Inc. I worked there for around a year with the focus to gain capital to fund my next venture and, most importantly, to learn how large multinationals function and manage everything. My time at Stripe was a very enriching experience as I not only learnt what I could have done better but fathomed that entrepreneurship is a repertoire of skills: strategic planning, people management, innovation framework, and ethical decision making. I could link my missteps to a lack of knowledge in these areas, and it made me realise that I would require a program to provide me with structured expertise and knowledge. Hence, here I was applying for a Master’s in Innovation Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Manchester.

What drew me to the course was its integrated framework, the perfect blend of theoretical rigor with practical application across the entrepreneurial spectrum, teaching how to ideate to the creation of high-tech startups and, most importantly, how to maintain and diffuse innovation. The course does not only teach one aspect of entrepreneurship, which is how to be profitable; instead, it uses an eagle-eyed approach to creating a sustainable business model. They teach you how to view the business from a sociotechnical lens as well as how various tools can help analyse data, which can be beneficial in analysing various types of correlation between factors that affect a business. The program’s emphasis on real-world application through case studies, guest lectures from industry leaders, and collaborative projects resonates with my hands-on style. Each of the professors is highly knowledgeable and has written various famous papers; these factors were the reason why choosing this course was a no-brainer.

Moreover, the university’s global perspective and reach appealed to me. A huge part of being an entrepreneur is to learn how to understand and manage people; having students from various backgrounds and ethnicities helps in this understanding while also fostering cross-cultural innovation, which is great for today’s interconnected economy.

Choosing to do a Master’s was not a decision made out of haste, but one that was made out of cumulative reflection of my entrepreneurial journey. This program is an investment in my future as I tackle my shortcomings head-on and position myself to be able to endure and innovate. Having completed two months now, it’s safe to say I have made one of the best decisions of my life. The professors, as well as my cohort, are incredibly talented while being extremely humble and kind. I have had great overall exposure and am super excited to see where this leads.

Written by Urav Rajesh Chhapia, a current MSc Innovation, Management and Entrepreneurship student. 

Related