After a long night of too many drinks of Founders Mindset and Essays  by Paul Graham, I woke up with the following question: for what are early-stage VC firms really looking? LinkedIn is overflowing with posts insisting that you must have everything figured out before you build anything: a clearly defined problem, a big enough market, the perfect team, a plan to scale fast, metrics proving your solution works, a moat to defend it, a sustainable business model, an efficient di

A Christian response to wealth fixation. Harvard Business School has a money problem. Unlike the 99.99999% of humans throughout history, HBS grads will have far more money than they need for daily survival over the course of their careers. This change in circumstances, though far better in many respects, also means we are susceptible to an unhealthy fascination with riches. Before I lose any more readers, I want to assuage your fears: this is not an article critiquing wealth

What do we say about our pop-culture stereotype as heartless mercenaries, and also to the mirror? While prowling through Spangler after hours late one evening a few weeks ago, I saw a poster for an SAS-organized talk that made me pause: “Building and Maintaining Relationships at HBS,” a panel by EC students sharing insights on how to make “authentic and meaningful friendships” at HBS. The dystopic idea that a group of late twenty-somethings needed to be taught how to make fri

Where HBS stands on today’s most hotly debated policy questions. As we began to wrap up the semester, we wanted to understand where the HBS community stands on a series of “not-so-partisan but still controversial” public-policy questions that frequently surface during discussions but rarely get measured in any systematic way. To capture that pulse, this anonymous survey was distributed to the Class of 2026 and Class of 2027 and remained open from November 18 to November 27. A

To the editor: As the Executive Director of HBS Online and Executive Education at HBS, I feel it’s important to respond to the views expressed by The Harbus News Staff in the editorial titled The Prestige Paradox of HBS Online, published on 11/05. I care deeply about the long-term value of the Harvard Business School brand not only because I’m leading these non-degree programs, but also because I am a graduate of HBS (MBA ’99). While the editorial raises important questions a

The 2018 Harvard-Yale game at Fenway Park, courtesy of The Harvard Crimson A primer for this year’s new-and-improved version of the Harvard-Yale football game. In college football’s infancy, there was perhaps no more important game than “The Game,” held annually between Harvard and Yale. Since the matchup began in 1875, its winner has gone on to claim an NCAA-recognized National Championship no fewer than 20 times. And though the last of these occurrences came nearly 100 year

And what, if anything, should we do about it? Before arriving at Harvard Business School, I was warned that the U.S. was deeply polarized. Yet after a month here, I’m not sure I can confirm that because nobody actually talks about politics. Coming from the UK, where criticizing politicians is practically a national sport, the silence feels… unusual. So why is that? 1. Are There No Strong Opinions? Or, more precisely, no strong political  opinions? We’re at the cradle of capit

Field notes and observations from one of the oldest societies in the world. The sun was setting on the town of Egdirbmaak as she finally walked into her new home. It had been a long and arduous journey, but she was glad to have made it through unscathed. The past summer had not been an easy one, and there were often days where she had wondered if she would be able to muster the courage to cross the Great Ocean. But here she was finally — at the hallowed gates of the Dravrah.

Reflection, politics and confessions. Reflection In War & Peace, we study significant conflicts of the past to better understand the present with the hopes of informing current decision-making at best or having a fascinating discussion while learning history at worst. This is a class where you can quote  Guns of August and Prisoners of Geography  at nauseam and in equal proportions. I love it. We began — appropriately — with definitions of strategy , war , leadership , and pe

Photo Credit: Joao Aguiar (@thejoaoaguiar) How persistence, integrity, and rigor shaped a mentor — and my path to HBS. I want to tell you Carlos Moedas’ story, the impact he’s had on me, and why he’s a useful lens as we think about life after HBS. He always told me his life didn’t follow a master plan that he drafted while walking around Aldrich. Rather, it was a series of unforeseen moments during which he had the audacity to believe in something and push past doubt — to rai

Can a divestiture satisfy U.S. national security concerns? Valuations and proposals to allow TikTok continue operations in the U.S. are underway as the platform undergoes negotiations for an estimated multi-billion-dollar divestiture deal. After a three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals handed down a unanimous ruling in December 2024, the court required the social media application to divest from ByteDance or cease operating in the U.S. President Trump granted TikTok t

AI will transform how video games are made. But what about how they’re found? In the world of media, democratization of who makes (creation) and gets to be seen (distribution) has always catalyzed evolution. In the broader conversation of what a future of mature, ubiquitous AI looks like, its impact on video games — a medium consumed by 3.2 billion players worldwide and 78% of U.S. households  — is well worth exploring. To forecast the future, it serves us to first analyze th

Humans in the loop, the new liability layer when AI does everything. It was a sweltering night when Arthur’s phone jolted him awake, its sharp buzz cutting through the stillness of his bedroom. Bleary-eyed, he fumbled for the device, the screen’s glare revealing a dire alert: “Critical Service Infrastructure Down — U.S. Region.” His pulse quickened. Flights were grounded, operations stalled, and the reputation of his company, a tech firm serving over two dozen Fortune 100 cli

How Disney became the protagonist of five courses, six frameworks, and an entire degree. After exposing the Buffett Conspiracy ™ last semester, in which I revealed that Warren Buffett is either secretly the lead MBA course head or an AI model built by HBS, I swore I was done with institutional whistleblowing. Surely, I thought, there could be no greater mystery lurking in the bowels of Aldrich Hall. I was wrong. This semester, I’ve noticed something even more pervasive, more

From scientist to founder, Jessica Schwabach (MBA ‘27) shares what five years in food tech taught her about building, scaling, and starting again. When Jessica Schwabach (MBA ‘27) signed up for UC Berkeley’s “Alternative Meats Lab” on a whim, she never imagined it would become the thesis, then the company, then the exit, that defined the first chapter of her entrepreneurship journey. What began as genuine curiosity about why plant-based meats tended to taste dry evolved into

Unnati Bose (MBA ‘26) on learning, distraction, and the quiet art of thinking for ourselves. Amusing Ourselves To Death . Prescient writer Neil Postman wrote this book in 1985 about what the advent of television technology would do to American culture. In the book, he asks, “what shall we do if we take ignorance to be knowledge?” The truth is, I haven’t read the book. I looked up quotes from this book because its title arrested me. I haven’t even verified if Postman really  s

An introvert shares observations and tips for navigating the social demands of HBS. As we all know, HBS is a very special place. There’s really nowhere like it. Even though I know how important it is to be present during my two years here, I must admit that from time to time, such as in the midst of thrilling socratic debates about shower heads during Marketing or yet another dinner party conversation about pre-, intra-, and post-HBS career plans, I dissociate. As my mind wan

Mohammad Almejel (MBA ‘26) on the discipline of doubt in a school of belief. Every year, 930 of the world’s best and brightest students hail from all corners of the world to claim their red seats in Aldrich Hall. They move their lives (and sometimes loved ones) to Boston to learn at the hands of the world’s leading academics, economists, practitioners, and chief executives. Topics range from financial reporting to corporate restructuring to business strategy to entrepreneursh

Ade Adegbenro (MBA ‘26) on the cost of following all the rules. ...and when the countries we worked so hard to get into shut their doors, where else does one go? The question shadows my final days at Harvard, surfacing with each new policy announcement, each time people ask about my future plans, each piece of rhetoric from elected officials, and when I’m alone with my thoughts. It is the uncertainty that cuts beneath the satisfaction of achievement. Do I return to Africa, a

A shift from brand stewardship to brand monetization. Harvard Business School is entrusted with the most valuable asset in global education: its brand. For over a century, that brand has carried extraordinary prestige and served as a durable source of advantage for the institution and its alumni alike. It confers intellectual rigor, selective admissions, immersive pedagogy, and a formidable network. In recent years, however, HBS has begun extending its reach through digital c

A reflection on political balance, intellectual humility, and what true diversity means for leadership. What Election Night Taught Us On November 5, 2024, when the United States elected its next president, HBS students gathered in Klarman Hall to watch the results and in Aldrich 112 for the first-ever HBS Student Bipartisan Policy Debate. One year into a new administration, and with half the campus in its first year at HBS, it is worth asking what we have learned. Perhaps the

No, my scientifically researched conclusion is unrelated to the fact I am single. When I started speaking to people for this article, I think they assumed that this would be a piece of investigative journalism and that, after turning up all the cobblestones on Spangler Lawn and searching every nook in Aldrich, I would emerge with the equivalent of a Victorian book on etiquette for courting at HBS. That is not so. This, at its heart, is personal. I started writing this article

I was recently at a dinner with an HBS alum who found it fascinating that I, unlike most of my peers, studied film as an undergrad at Columbia. “Did you get to make any films during your time there?” he asked. “Actually, Columbia’s film program is much more theory-based, so I spent most of my time learning about the history and cultural significance of film,” I replied. “Like an English major, but instead of books, you’re analyzing movies.” I could see the wheels turning in h