Powerpointing away..

Hey folks!

Time has just flown by- I'm already in week 10 of my internship- 2 more to go..

While the excitement of going back to Ann Arbor and seeing my friends is immense, I am also very sad- since I had such a great time here in Seattle, with the MBA interns from the other B-schools and at Microsoft. I am in the process of developing my final presentation(s) and writing out a white paper documenting all my work.

I will be presenting to three types of audiences:
1) Exec: CFO, GM and Directors
2) Revenue Finance Group consisting of analysts, managers and senior managers
3) Directors from other departments who are interested in the topic of my project

As I refine the individual slide decks for each of these presentations, I am extremely cautious about my audience, the key messages I want to leave with each group and the level of depth/ complexity I want to go into. My mentor has been extremely supportive in providing me feedback on my slides do far. One thing that has really helped me is that from the beginning of my internship, I used Powerpoint slides as a tool to run meetings and gather information. While it consumed a lot of time, it also helped me develop a story as my project progressed and now I am completely comfortable with the story-line for my final presentation.

Creation of the slide deck early helped me in another way as well- as I met with business partners and other team mates for their inputs on my project, I also got their views on the way I visualized the slides. Believe me, I have changed every slide in my deck atleast 7-8 times now. This makes me extremely comfortable now that any audience, no matter how different, will be able to understand the slides as they incorporate the feedback of so many people.

As you can tell, I am dreaming powerpoint right now...and am proud to be working for the company that developed this great tool- Powerpoint! I am also super excited about the new Office 2013- I have had a chance to test it (or dogfood it in Microsoft terms) and it was far beyond my expectations! So watch out for this great product! You can see the customer preview on the site:

http://www.microsoft.com/office/preview/en

Now back to slide number......:)

Sleepless in Seattle:  See you all back in school

So folks, this is my last note here. I have only 2 weeks for my last presentation and 3 weeks to my last day here. In order to be as ready as I could, I started working on the presentation a week ago. Next week I hope to circle the deck around the team to have as many corrections as possible. It is actually my 6th presentation this summer - so I must say that at least I learned how the Microsoft people like to have their presentation. Although people's characters is always to be consider while presenting, here in Microsoft most of the presentation are actually the documentation method for the entire project.

Since I networked and connected with so many people, right now there are more than 40 people invited to my final presentation and several more personal meetings with senior managers from other teams that can't participate in the schedule date with my manager (I believe it is also contribute to her network - so I'm happy with that too).

Looking back on my tenure in Microsoft this summer (although I haven't finished yet) it was a great adventure that started 7 months ago - during the recruiting time - continue through my MAP project with the IEB division (gaming studios) and the 9 weeks of internship. I got to know not only a great company that has the ability to change the world, but also amazing people who are smart and open, creative and fun to work with. Microsoft for me feels like a warm blanket of "coming back home" (since I worked in hi-tech before) and I felt in my first weeks here that I know how to hit the floor running.

I would say that there are several takeaways from the entire period (those 7 months):

1.       Go with your heart - do what feels good. If you have fun in your work (especially depends on the people around you) stay there, learn how to love it and put your heart to it.

2.       Be open to feedback. This is why we have two ears and only one mouth - listen 60%-70% of the time, that way you will learn the most.

3.       Smile. It will give you a great feeling and it is contagious so others could start smiling too.

But to be specific about the internship I know I communicate my efforts, needs, questions and results very well. I shared it with smart and key people, networked outside of my immediate environment and put the people around me on my first priority. On the other side I know I did some things not so well - I started to think on business problems with my engineering brain, I almost did some huge political mistakes that could affect my manager and haven't done a great job articulating the story in my presentation the way people in Microsoft use to.

                                                                                    Live long and prosper. Go blue.

Sleepless in Seattle: The Microsoft culture

Microsoft, the company which changed the software world forever, produced three billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from its employees and now has around 90,000 employees and 60 MBA interns for the summer. I could talk for a whole day about the culture of the company which can be consider as an 18 wheeler, but I would start with one word - intricate !

The dictionary define 'intricate' as difficult and complex, and there is no better word to describe a company that is actually 7 different companies (divisions) with their own agenda, fighting over the attention of the CEO. In the last couple of years, Steve Ballmer (CEO) did some re-org that put the technical people (engineering background) at the top of those divisions and reduced the internal fighting almost to zero. Although the willingness to look unite, the internal structure and culture of every division is different and mainly defined by its president.

In general I could say that the culture in Microsoft is very open - since I has a vast hi-tech background it is like returning home, to the open door of your peers and managers (in all levels), to the flexible hours of work, to the open mind for new (sometimes crazy) ideas and opinions and the casual approach to the working environment (jeans and t-shirts). I was lucky to be able to work and communicate with people from all over the company and to understand that there are three major pyramids in the company - the main one is the engineering (the heart and soul of the company), the business (the head of the company) and the field (the arms and legs of the company).

                                                                              Talk to you soon,
                                                                                             Barak.

Surprise Surprise.......whooom! and here's the Surface!

Hi all,


Nothing much has happened since my last post- only Microsoft has created a HUGE stir in the tablet market by introducing its own new tablet- the Surface, AND they introduced the Windows Phone 8 AND they acquired the work-place friendly social networking business Yammer for $1.2B- all in 2 weeks! Yes- that is the kind of market-swinging movement at Microsoft right now, which makes it an extremely exciting place to spend the summer. 

USA Today's article comparing Surface to the Ipad


As an intern in such a dynamic company, there are so many new things to learn- from enjoying  and adding to the wide-spread speculation before the Surface was launched (yes- no one outside of the immediate Surface team even had a whiff of what was being launched that day) to considering what effect this and other launches (and acquisitions) will have on the company's products, business model, branding and future strategy. 


A midst all this excitement in the Redmond campus, there are moments when Microsoftees come up with more brilliant and innovative ideas and new products are incubated after these key moments. Which then explains the environment that has been created in the Redmond campus- casual, lots of nature and free of many of the redundant corporate fads- an environment that is conducive to creativity and open to radical ideas (about tech obviously).

That also explains why Microsoft gives its MBA interns such great opportunities to meet with the highest level executives. We have an Executive Lunch series where the 60 of us are put in a room with C-level people, so far we have met with the Chief operating officer, Kevin Turner (60K poeple around the world report to him- just a fun fact) and Lisa Brummel ( the Chief People Officer, who has had the most unconventional career- going from an MBA to leading the marketing for some of Microsoft's best products to being on the team that incubated the Surface several years ago!). During these lunches, we eat great food and get this exec's full attention to ask any question that we have for around 1.5 hours. The full time employees here say that this opportunity is not even afforded to those who have been at the company for 6-7 years- That is the kind of learning we as MBA interns have at Microsoft.

Now when I am not talking to C-level execs at Microsoft :), I work on my project with an absolutely great team, meet with people from several different departments and enjoy more events. Last week, the Microsoft Business Division had our summer party- we went golfing at this amazing golf course called New Castle. See the picture of the view of Seattle from this Golf course=> it was breathtaking!  And the weather was on our side that day, lots of sunshine.


Last week we also had a happy hour for the interns at this (again) amazing place called Ray's boathouse in Ballard (added to my "must go list" in Seattle!) All these events are accompanied by open bars and buffet lunches/dinners.

In between all this fun, my project is gaining momentum and I am getting into the swing of things. Last week I had a chance to present to my Director my progress and findings so far and realized that I was making a presentation after a very long time. That made me think- we do not make enough presentations during our MBA really, we should do more of those. Microsoft is very a Power point heavy company- everything is done in Power point and excels and presentation skills therefore play an extremely important role in the communications to higher management levels. Another important skills that I feel I am developing at Microsoft is that of balancing detailed analytical thinking with high-level strategic thinking. Every discussion moves back and forth between these two views and its important to think about the nitty-gritties as well as from the 30,000 feet level at the same time. 


So guys- that's been my last two weeks of a lot of fun and excitement- and its only been 3 weeks since I started...I could get used to this fun....:)


Chao! Till we meet again....

"If you build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful."

Okay, so this latest blog entry sees me posting from the wonderful city of Seattle where my stomach has been treated to the gastronomical wonders of 99-cent oysters (self-shucked), geoduck sashimi, fresh salmon and awesome Chinese food. As you can tell from my incessant focus on food after having spent too many months in Ann Arbor, I am truly a Singaporean at heart. Ironically, I don’t recall drinking more than two cups of Starbucks since I got here so that’s one prediction I got wrong.

What I did get right was the dynamic, fast-paced and innovative can-do culture that permeates the workplace here at Amazon’s main offices in the South Lake Union district of Seattle. While most people see the firm as an e-commerce giant who offers everything from cell phones and Kindle devices to streaming video and fresh groceries, it really feels like a big startup where everybody works hard to deliver the best possible experience to the customer. The excitement and energy in this place is simply astounding, something you would not expect from an industry giant with a market cap of $100B.

And when it comes to Amazon, the customer is truly king. Other firms may pay lip service to the notion of customer care, but here at AMZN, it’s not just a customer focus – it’s a customer obsession. You see it everywhere, from top-level managerial decisions down to the way the call centers handle inquiries. It truly makes a difference in the way the company works and it is this that differentiates Amazon from all the other companies out there.

For all my misconceptions of Amazon being an exceptionally frugal company – door-desks come to mind –  I found myself surprised to be given a keychain, water bottle and Kindle Touch on my first few days at work. In fact, everyone got brand new Lenovo Thinkpads, which might have more to do with the firm’s rapidly expanding headcount than actual employee pampering, but it feels good to have a new laptop to work on. So for those of you out there who were concerned about that whole frugality thing, fear not.

Random AMZN fact: One of the buildings here is named Rufus after a dog belonging to Amazon’s former editor-in-chief. Thanks to his pioneering efforts, everyone’s four-legged best friends are welcome in the majority of Amazon’s buildings.

To sum it up, my first few weeks here at AMZN have been a blast with a high-energy workplace, enthusiastic colleagues, brand new buildings, great (albeit expensive) cafeteria food and high-impact projects. I look forward to updating everyone on the wonders of elevators with whiteboard walls in my next post.

In the meantime, if you love your music, check out the Amazon Cloud Player (now available for the iPhone and iPod Touch) which allows you to access all of your music, wherever you are, on all the devices you use. Buy once and enjoy your music everywhere without worrying about storage on your devices. You get 5GB of free storage for starters and can upgrade it starting at a mere $1.75 per month. Visit www.amazon.com for more details.

Some of my new colleagues on the third floor.

Sleepless in Seattle:         Network, Network, Network

How time flies… I’m in my 5^th week of the internship and I try to network as much as possible. I Network with people in my team, in my division, in my company and with other MBA’s. Most of the network is done through lunch meetings and coffee breaks – you probably know what I’m talking about. Although it is pretty easy to stay in my room, crunching presentations and data to provide some sort of useful output to my group I prefer to fill-up my day with meetings – and my nights with the crunching and reading and processing the data.

My networking can be divided into 3 types. The first is the most important one – the internal division network. I am engaging in meetings and casual conversations with people from my own group and division to learn about them and their day2day work. To understand how they could help me with my project, what is it like to work with and around them and just to enjoy the company of very smart and fun people. The second kind is the future type – I try to meet with people from different divisions and different roles in the company to understand how the big picture comes together, to see the vision of other people in different positions around the company. The third type is the MBA connection – I try to attend all the organized events that the Microsoft recruiters sponsor and the unofficial ones also.

But more than everything I try to manage time to be with my family. I haven’t seen them for 4 weeks and my entire first MBA year was mainly around recruiting and networking, so the time I spent with my wife and kids was pretty limited. I can’t say I have much more time now but it is much better than before. So most of the days I try to be home around 19:00-20:00 be with my kids for couple of hours and back to some work around 23:00.

                                                                                                                Till next time,

                                                                                                                                Barak

Start your engines

Sleepless in Seattle:

It took me 2400 miles and 6 days to get to Seattle from Ann Arbor. Driving between 6000 feet and the sea level I went through areas with 100 degrees Fahrenheit (in Billing Montana) to 25 degrees Fahrenheit (in Butte up on the Rocky Mountains).

The company gave my family and me an amazing apartment in the downtown Seattle, 50 yards from the water line, 5 minutes’ walk from every major attraction and amazing marketplace that opens also on weekdays.

I think I can say for sure that in the last 5 days since I got to town I did at least 15 miles of unplanned routs just because I keep missing the right turns or lanes on the road.

As I wrote before, I’m interning with the Lync team for the business planning group. I work on a new and excited product that our brilliant engineers develop in order to assess its business opportunities.

Since my building is on the edge of the beautiful Microsoft campus, you could even see some deers walking around the building during daylight.

I believe that the hardest thing for me now is being away for so long from my wife and kids, but I keep telling myself that they will be here in less than two weeks.

Going back to the workplace – they put me in a huge room of me own – I believe it is around 6x6 foot big, but with no one else around. As a former engineer (although I believe that the ‘engineer’ in me would never leave) I used to be in the same room with at least one more engineer, and the work itself was much more fun and more productive. Maybe the business planners who need to talk to customers should have more quiet, but I prefer as much interactions with other human-beings as possible.

Tomorrow I will go to try my first hike around Seattle – hopefully I won’t run into much rain (which is pretty common here).

Till next time,

Good luck guys

Sleepless in Seattle! after being well fed in India!

Hi all! I am Nupur Bagaria, MBA Class of 2013. A brief introduction is in place: I am born Indian, raised in Africa for 17 years, did my undergrad and first job in Southeast Asia (Singapore) [and became a citizen there because I absolutely loved that country!] and worked for the last 3 years in New York. And to make my life more interesting than just globe trotting, I have now decided to switch industries from financial services to high-tech! Prior to Ross, I worked with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the banking and capital markets space. Now for the summer, I will be going to Microsoft in their Office Division- Corporate finance.

But before I take you to the world of Windows 8 and Office 365, I would like to share my MAP experience with you because it was in the true sense of the word- UNIQUE. I was part of a team of four consulting for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). This organization, which is an amalgamation of public and private individuals, has created the world's largest biometric database! They have taken on the task of issuing biometric identities to the 1.2 Billion people in India. As you can imagine, this is no mean feat. In fact, they have amazed the world by issuing approximately 200 millions IDs within a year of establishment. My team's MAP project revolved around developing the application ecosystem for this identity system. We realized that this system has the potential to transform the lives of millions in so many ways, especially the under-privileged.

As part of the MAP, we traveled to India for 3 weeks. We had the opportunity to meet with the Chairman of the UIDAI- Mr. Nandan Nilekani- co-founder and ex-CEO of the multi-billion dollar IT company, Infosys. For the uninitiated, here is a wiki on Mr. Nilekani=> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nandan_Nilekani and several other very senior government officials in the organization. In fact, we had a chance to speak with Mr. Nilekani right after his meeting with the IMF Chief- Ms. Christine Lagarde! (see picture).

My team found that the UIDAI has shown exemplary innovation in several ways (organizational structure, technology, technology management etc.) and its impact on Indian residents is so massive that I fall short on words. For those interested, here is the website of the UIDAI=> http://uidai.gov.in/ Thank you Ross for this unique experience!

Well folks, I can go on and on about my MAP project, and the excitement that I have for my summer internship is similar. Interning at Microsoft will be a game-charger for me. First- it will be a switch from the world of banking and financial services to high-tech, second from the east coast to the (much warmer!) west coast and thirdly from suits to business casual :) I have heard the techies are fond of denim and t-shirts and am really excited to experience that!

And now I will go back to being busy with what I plan to do throughout May- CHILL.

Stay tuned for my next post- till then- Chao!

Amazon.com - and you're done

Greetings, one and all! Welcome to the first of what promises to be a series of entertaining and enlightening blog posts covering my summer internship. If you enjoy reading about life as a MBA intern in the U.S., you’ve come to the right place.

Perhaps some introductions are in order. I’m a first-year Ross MBA student (the school endearingly refers to us as “rising MBA2s”) from Singapore who will be interning at Amazon this summer as a product manager with the Kindle division. While I do know the general scope of work, the full details will only be revealed to me once I get to Seattle due to the relatively sensitive – some might call it secretive – nature of the product.

Having come off a demanding MAP (Multidisciplinary Action Project) with Chrysler, I’ve gotten reacquainted with regular working hours for the past 7 weeks or so and am expecting myself to be able to hit the ground running when I start in Seattle at the end of this month. If you’re reading this and thinking about applying to Ross, make sure you stick in references to MAP no fewer than 15 times in your “Why Ross?” essay.

Amazon’s summer internships are known to be pretty intense, sink-or-swim affairs. While this may be a deal-breaker for some, I’d like to think that I’m ready for it having been thrown straight into the deep end many times in my previous career as a consultant. This really is an opportunity for me to explore the technology/e-commerce industry in-depth while working in one of the big four tech firms (Google, Apple and Facebook being the other three) that are set to define the future of the industry. In particular, Amazon’s Kindle is a key area of interest for me given its importance to the firm, with Bezos touting the Kindle Store in the company’s latest earnings report. Surely it can't get more exciting than that?

That wraps up my introductory post. Stay tuned for future episodes where I share more fascinating stories on Seattle, Amazon and what will likely turn out to be a burgeoning Starbucks addiction.

Sleepless In Seattle,

That at least what my new manager told me. A week ago I met my senior director – who will be my boss's boss in the summer and he already gave me the assignment for the summer: "Hard Work". So let us start from the beginning, I'm a MBA of 2013, going to intern with Microsoft in the Business division. I will work on a product in the name of "Lync" and hopefully will touch all the business aspects for the product (business planning, marketing, product management and engineering). One of the most exciting issues about this summer is the fact that Lync is one of the newest products from Microsoft and has the potential to replace all the internal phone-system servers with a computer based communication system.

That is only half of the summer, since I'm taking my family with me to Seattle and intend to spend as much time as possible with them. I will drive my car the 2,300 miles to Seattle from Ann Arbor while my wife and two kids will fly out to Seattle (6 days instead of 5 hours). On our way back we intend to cross the country on a long roadtrip and visit the Yellowstone National Park and Mount Rushmore.

I really hope that I would be able to combine those two main tasks – family and internship – and to enjoy every minute of the beautiful summer in Washington.



Summer time: make friends outside the campus

(MBA, Amazon)

The timing for talk about my lifestyle in Seattle could not be better. The summer has finally picked up. With it, several new outdoor opportunities arise. As I write this post I look outside my window at the high of the 15^th floor with a beautiful sunny view of the sea where several sailboats gently heels. I have to admit that Seattle is treating me well.

During the first half of my internship I had the chance to really enjoy Seattle and the surroundings. I went sailing, diving, hiking, kayaking and running. I went visiting Vancouver and I’m going to visit LA. But more important than it all, I accomplished one of my goals for the summer: expand my network and make new friends.

Seattle is probably not the city with the biggest MBA intern class (approximately 150), but is definitely unique in its setup. Pretty much all the MBA interns, mostly Amazon and Microsoft, live at the same apartment building complex. It happens because both companies subsidize the leasing. This uniqueness creates an atmosphere of cohesion and openness hard to find outside campi. Interns from 30 business schools interact with each other in several events organized by the companies and by us.

Only 6 weeks have gone by so far and I still have 6 weeks more to come. If it is true that after almost one year at Ross I keep meeting new people there, I can assume that my networking expansion here at Seattle is far from having fulfilled its potential. During the next 6 weeks I anticipate the life becoming a little bit more stressful with the approaching of final presentation. I also am aware that I was part of one of the last groups to begin their internship, therefore the group will get smaller every week from now on. I am confident that the foundations for an enjoyable 2^nd half have been laid down.

Week 1 at Microsoft

Since my last post, I finished my MAP presentations, drove to 3 national parks in Arizona, Utah and California, hiked in 2 of them, packed for 12 straight hours at Ann Arbor and finally moved to Seattle. It was a whirlwind 17 days but well worth it. My friend had a Michigan hat on all the time, and the number of “Go Blue’s” the hat drew was surprising. Be it on a hike in Utah or at a fast food joint in Las Vegas, those words usher in a bon homie. It really reaffirms my decision of choosing to join Ross.

We had a very well organized orientation the first day where we got to meet the other interns and were detailed about the social activities organized for the interns during the summer. The highlights include a lunch talk by Steve Ballmer, a private show by Cirque de Soleil and a boat treasure hunt on Lake Washington. I am an intern with Microsoft's online advertising strategy group. My project is related to paid search and display advertising. Being an internal strategy project, the work is very challenging and I am learning a lot. People here are very helpful, always ready to spend time coaching you and have a casual intensity about them. In addition to that, we have a strong alumni presence and I have already met two Ross alums in my group.

The bonus we got is that there are about 25 Ross interns in Seattle and most of us are staying in the same apartment complex in downtown Seattle. We keep bumping into each other in the apartment lobby and have been hanging out over the weekends. It looks like the ideal setting for a great summer ahead. I will update you about all my "adventures" in the upcoming posts. Stay tuned!

First post

Hey, I am Biswaroop and I am a 1st year MBA student at the Ross School of Business. I am an international student from India and am interning at Microsoft, with their online advertisement strategy group. I am very passionate about internet technologies and therefore was thrilled to get this offer.

I am very excited about the opportunity to work with amazingly smart people at a very innovative company and hope to utilize this opportunity to do some great work over the summer. Microsoft and Amazon interns from Ross stay in the same apartment in downtown Seattle. This summer, there will be close to 25 of us in the same apartment complex and I am looking forward to enjoying Seattle and having a good time.