Blog post written by MIM September 2013 intake current student Maximilian Ruf
“Hi, I’m Max, and I was already a young entrepreneur before getting on this trip. To break things down and tell you what comes next in a nutshell: This trip changed my life! If I hadn’t chosen being an entrepreneur before this trip, I would have done it right after. Even feeling like being a rather average business school student. The global immersion week to San Francisco was a success from the beginning to the end, the organization is top notch, the food is awesome and obviously San Fran, as a city, pretty amazing.
Our whole group got inspired during this trip and everyone was able to feel the excitement after each company session in the bus. Silicon Valley truly is what those people write in all these Techcrunch, Fast Company, Wired Magazine, and whatsoever articles. The region seems to be loaded with opportunity and also inhabits the meritocracy to foster the motivation for everyone to succeed in it. If you have ever doubted this talk about “America is the land of opportunity” then be corrected by IE’s GIW San Francisco Trip! And here comes the big BUT: Be aware that you need to push yourself in the first term to be among the best (in terms of GPA) 20-30 people in the MIM program to meet the requirement to be able to join the trip.
Everything else during the trip is a matter of how much you are willing to put in. I agree with the program direction, the better you prepare your questions the more you will get out of the experts you meet. Also be aware that this trip is nothing for individualists, practice as a team and execute as a team, otherwise people in this place will create pretty quickly an antipathy for you. The very last point I would love to share with you is the reason why I can say this trip changed my life. During my flight back to Madrid I tried to reflect. What I realized, even so being astronomically tired and having probably the craziest red eyes among the plane that entrepreneurship is truly the thing I want to pursue in life. It affects more than just me and helps me to grow as a person. Among others, rock star people like Tom Byers (YES the #1 Entrepreneurship professor in the world!) and Guy Kawasaki (YES that GUY who worked together with Steve Jobs!!), thaught me in person that doing business through becoming an entrepreneur is about finding something where you can put meaning into and even make it profitable: How awesome is that??
Be prepared to have a life changing moment yourself, when you join this trip!
Have fun and enjoy the ride“
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