Home Region
San Francisco, CA
Undergrad Education
University of California, Berkeley, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, 2011
Previous Experience
DocuSign, Inc.; Appconomy Inc./Emotive Communications, Inc.; AppDynamics, Inc.
“It’s a very dynamic classroom environment. Everyone’s on time; no one’s looking at their cell phones.”
With a father and three uncles in the Bay Area software industry, Jeremy Sasson witnessed entrepreneurship firsthand. “They did a lot flying by the seat of their pants,” he says. “My father stressed to me: If I ever had an opportunity to get a formal business education, take it!”
Eventually, Jeremy would take the advice. Meanwhile, he applied his computer-science education to a number of technology roles. At Appconomy, Jeremy tackled mobile applications. The experience introduced him to the challenges of “understanding requirements, distilling customer expectations into product specifications.”
Seeking more influence on the customer-facing part of the product, Jeremy moved from software development into product management at DocuSign, participating in a product rebranding for the Brazilian market. “The Brazilian rebranding project required me to quickly learn the inner workings of the DocuSign system and become an authority on it, setting me up for increased responsibilities shortly after.”
The experience proved to be “a turning point in my career,” Jeremy says. “I always had business school in the back of my mind, but my product-management role allowed me to jump off the page and communicate my leadership potential.”
Preparing for larger roles
“I’m interested in entrepreneurship or becoming a company leader,” says Jeremy. “With that in mind, I knew I had a strong product-development background, but I lacked knowledge in other business fundamentals, like accounting and finance. I want to be able to speak the language of business and to be a well-informed general manager across an entire company.”Attending HBS would also open Jeremy to “a different set of perspectives. In the Bay Area, you hardly meet anyone not working in technology.”
“At HBS, there’s a heavy reliance on participation. You learn to think on your feet—to form an opinion and defend it. It’s a very dynamic classroom environment. Everyone’s on time; no one’s looking at their cell phones.”
Jeremy anticipates two paths after graduation: “I can either join a team working on an exciting idea, or identify a problem that needs solving and develop the solution myself.” He expects that his first post-MBA role will be as a product manager in an “up and coming startup.” Ultimately, “I want to take the plunge and start my own company.”