Rypple effect
It's seems fair to say that if George Babu had not attended the JD/MBA program, he would not hold the position he does now. That's because Babu, co-founder and head of corporate development at the workplace management software maker Rypple, met his fate at an alumni-student talk, where the company's founder was describing his new business venture. Babu happened to be in the audience, and the rest is history. He pursued his studies and Rypple at the same time and graduated in 2010, his career already established.
"I'd always wanted to be an entrepreneur," says the 33 year old, who also holds an engineering science degree, and worked for Research In Motion for several years, first designing wireless hardware for BlackBerrys, and then in the company's patent department. The conflicting interests he observed during his time at RIM are what prompted him to seriously consider the dual degree.
"You had these lawyers who were optimizing legal agreements for themselves, making good legal agreements, but holding up the business," Babu says. "And you had businesspeople doing very risky things just to get a deal done, and not thinking about the law." Not wanting to fall into the same trap, Babu chose to study business and law, and says that foundation serves him every day, in immeasurable ways. Not only does he consider issues from a variety of viewpoints, he's also able to communicate with all the different players. "Learning that language, and learning to think from all those different perspectives," he says, "was among the most important skills the program gave me."
Today, he calls himself a sort of jack of all trades at Rypple, dealing every day with legal issues, financial matters, and operations. Asked whether he'd recommend the JD/MBA to potential students, Babu is unequivocal.
"I would say 'Hell, yes.'"
By Karen Gross
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