MBA

Profiles

Fred Shilmover, MBA 2010

Since the age of thirteen, Fred Shilmover has been working. During his high school years, he was employed part-time in a law office. In college, he co-founded an IT consulting company, B.N.M.C., in Boston.

"One of our clients was Bessemer Venture Partners," Fred explains. Through this contact, Fred joined Bessemer to help the grow the organization and its IT capabilities. "Eventually, I switched from technology to venture capital." Bessemer also inspired another transition — to HBS. "A high percentage of the partners and associates had HBS MBAs," Fred says. "It was a constant pitch — everyone had amazing things to say about the School."

Making ventures

"The thing about HBS," says Fred, "is that there are way more organizations to be part of, more learning to be had, than there are hours in the day."

Fred, who lives in HBS housing off campus with his wife, Adriane Shilmover, finds his education much more energizing than he had expected. "I've never been in a classroom environment before in which I don't get tired — but the case method is naturally stimulating. The Required Curriculum really works — given my backround, almost everything I'm learning is new to me."

Extracurricular activities are an integral part of his HBS experience. "They give you an opportunity to interact with great people," Fred says. "Our club events bring out challenges in an environment where you can't attribute problems to the quality of the people — everyone here is motivated and talented."

This year, Fred has participated in both the HBS and MIT Business Plan Competitions, and has organized panels for the Cyberposium TechMedia Conference and the Entrepreneurship Conference. As director of the HBS Venture Capital Investment Competition, Fred helped organize the School's representing team. "Seven VC judges evaluate the teams on their ability to choose entrepreneurs, ask probing questions, and compose a persuasive investment memo," Fred says. "Our team placed second in the regionals. These kind of events teach you how to work on teams without a designated authority. And they give you entrée to high-ranking executives you'd like to meet."

Merging interests

In the summer, Fred will be the first intern on a three-person Salesforce.com corporate development group responsible for mergers and acquisitions. "This position," Fred says, "allows me to merge my VC background with my interest in SaaS [software as a service] start-ups on the West Coast."

After graduation, Fred is looking toward entrepreneurship. "I may work in a start-up to get more operational experience," he says. "But if my business plans go well, I'll start my own business instead. I'd like to be an entrepreneur for awhile, then return to venture capital with what I've learned from the experience."