https://example.com Essays and MBA Lab entries on business, strategy, and technology. https://example.com/mba-lab/same-macro-economy-different-businesses https://example.com/mba-lab/same-macro-economy-different-businesses Fri, 25 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Lessons from a conversation with Uspace's founder on focus, selling early, two-sided markets, macroeconomics, and what it takes to build a business under uncertainty. https://example.com/mba-lab/excel-financial-data-analysis https://example.com/mba-lab/excel-financial-data-analysis Fri, 18 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Building a transaction-level financial model to analyze spending patterns, cash flow, and financial performance. https://example.com/mba-lab/value-creation-value-capture-and-the-business-model https://example.com/mba-lab/value-creation-value-capture-and-the-business-model Tue, 15 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT Why a good idea is only the beginning: value creation, value delivery, value capture, execution, finance, and knowing when to let an idea go. https://example.com/mba-lab/netflix-in-india-and-the-wallet-that-only-fits-one-subscription https://example.com/mba-lab/netflix-in-india-and-the-wallet-that-only-fits-one-subscription Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT A market entry case worked from first principles, and the single number that ruled out an entire strategy before it could be tried. https://example.com/mba-lab/formula-1-and-the-habit-of-using-what-you-already-know https://example.com/mba-lab/formula-1-and-the-habit-of-using-what-you-already-know Mon, 07 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT A case-interview run on F1's growth strategy, and the discipline of letting your best evidence survive to the final answer. https://example.com/mba-lab/Mud-Bay-and-the-Hour-That-Wasn't-Actually-Dead https://example.com/mba-lab/Mud-Bay-and-the-Hour-That-Wasn't-Actually-Dead Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A case on a proposed store-hours cut, where the real question wasn't the math, but what that last hour of revenue actually represented. https://example.com/mba-lab/notes-from-a-science-park-what-an-incubator-director-actually-worries-about https://example.com/mba-lab/notes-from-a-science-park-what-an-incubator-director-actually-worries-about Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A field interview with the deputy director of a regional tech park, on what actually makes an incubator work, and where this one still falls short. https://example.com/mba-lab/on-the-adaptive-markets-course-by-prof-andrew-lo-mit https://example.com/mba-lab/on-the-adaptive-markets-course-by-prof-andrew-lo-mit Sun, 23 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT Why I chose this as the first course before my MBA, and what it means to treat markets as a living ecosystem instead of a rational calculator. https://example.com/mba-lab/bud-light-and-the-backlash-that-came-from-the-wrong-direction https://example.com/mba-lab/bud-light-and-the-backlash-that-came-from-the-wrong-direction Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A case on Bud Light's 2023 campaign, worked cold, and the difference between being right and being right for the reason you claimed. https://example.com/mba-lab/burger-king-and-the-habit-they-were-actually-selling https://example.com/mba-lab/burger-king-and-the-habit-they-were-actually-selling Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A case on the Whopper Detour, worked cold, and the mechanism hiding under a viral stunt. https://example.com/mba-lab/espn-and-the-question-underneath-the-question https://example.com/mba-lab/espn-and-the-question-underneath-the-question Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A case on ESPN's streaming pivot, worked cold, and an analogy that didn't survive being challenged. https://example.com/mba-lab/ferraris-bet-against-its-own-roadmap https://example.com/mba-lab/ferraris-bet-against-its-own-roadmap Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A case on Ferrari's EV strategy, worked cold, and a real-world outcome that landed closer than expected. https://example.com/mba-lab/heinz-and-the-problem-with-accusing-the-wrong-culprit https://example.com/mba-lab/heinz-and-the-problem-with-accusing-the-wrong-culprit Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A case on Heinz's "Ketchup Fraud" campaign, worked cold, and a stock number I found but chose not to use. https://example.com/mba-lab/jaguar-and-the-trap-of-convincing-yourself https://example.com/mba-lab/jaguar-and-the-trap-of-convincing-yourself Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A case on Jaguar's rebrand, worked cold, including a good-sounding fix that didn't survive its own logic. https://example.com/mba-lab/old-spice-and-the-answer-that-was-already-on-the-table https://example.com/mba-lab/old-spice-and-the-answer-that-was-already-on-the-table Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A case on the "Man Your Man Could Smell Like" campaign, worked cold, and a clever theory that lost to a simpler, correct one. https://example.com/mba-lab/pepsi-am-and-the-room-that-already-knew https://example.com/mba-lab/pepsi-am-and-the-room-that-already-knew Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A case on a 1980s product launch, worked cold, and a lesson in not mistaking confidence for a correct argument. https://example.com/mba-lab/pepsis-fifth-attempt-at-a-product-nobody-asked-for https://example.com/mba-lab/pepsis-fifth-attempt-at-a-product-nobody-asked-for Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A case on Pepsi Next, worked cold, and the moment good-looking data almost talked me out of a sound instinct. https://example.com/mba-lab/real-burger-world-and-the-contradiction-built-into-the-name https://example.com/mba-lab/real-burger-world-and-the-contradiction-built-into-the-name Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A case on a failed UK burger startup, worked cold, and the pivot the founders couldn't bring themselves to make. https://example.com/mba-lab/the-ripening-chemical-and-the-case-for-moving-first https://example.com/mba-lab/the-ripening-chemical-and-the-case-for-moving-first Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A case on a biotech acquisition, worked cold, and the difference between a real reason and a reason that just sounds true. https://example.com/mba-lab/venture-southeast-asia-and-the-melting-ice-cube https://example.com/mba-lab/venture-southeast-asia-and-the-melting-ice-cube Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A case on a private equity valuation, worked cold, including a real math error that produced a conclusion too clean to be true. https://example.com/mba-lab/what-do-i-think-about-an-mba-right-before-starting-it-in-2026 https://example.com/mba-lab/what-do-i-think-about-an-mba-right-before-starting-it-in-2026 Sat, 22 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMT A bet under uncertainty: if AI turns solo founders into one-person startups, the edge won't be the tool, it'll be knowing how to run a business. https://example.com/essays/when-knowledge-becomes-cheap-what-becomes-valuable https://example.com/essays/when-knowledge-becomes-cheap-what-becomes-valuable Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT Every time a category of knowledge gets cheap, something else quietly becomes the new bottleneck. It's worth asking, ahead of time, what that's likely to be this round. https://example.com/essays/the-amateur-founder-problem https://example.com/essays/the-amateur-founder-problem Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT AI is removing the technical barrier that used to filter out a huge number of ideas before they ever reached a customer. That's mostly good, and it creates a specific new problem worth naming. https://example.com/essays/is-an-mba-still-worth-it-in-the-age-of-ai https://example.com/essays/is-an-mba-still-worth-it-in-the-age-of-ai Sat, 02 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT The honest version of this question is not whether an MBA teaches useful things. It's whether the specific things it teaches are the ones becoming more or less scarce.