No boundaries: A collaboration across three campuses and 10,000 miles
No boundaries: A collaboration across three campuses and 10,000 miles
How did New Yorker Jack Krupey go on board as a new startup’s investor when he was visiting Israel for his EMBA global elective classes? This opportunity came along when Jack took a risk with another lifelong investment which allowed him to weave a web of connections.
The Kellogg-HKUST EMBA Program is part of the Kellogg EMBA Global Network, the largest and most immersive network with 7 campuses around the world. Building on the program’s ethos of friendship, trust and shared values, this network has the power and reach to bring together like-minded collaborators from across borders.
This capacity is perfectly illustrated by the role a group of alumni who are playing in the development of a bright new startup called Gearflow.com, which offers an online construction equipment marketplace.
“They found a great niche in an industry that was ripe for technological innovation,” says Gearflow angel investor Jack Krupey, an entrepreneur from New York and a member of the Kellogg-HKUST Program, class of 2020. However, he adds, its founders did need additional capital to scale the business.
Jack made the decision to invest after attending a networking event organized by Doron Zauer, Jack’s classmate and Managing Partner at Initium Capital. The event was part of the EMBA Venture Capital elective at the Kellogg-Recanati program in Tel Aviv, Israel, Doron’s home town. There, Mike Hostetler, a software engineer and entrepreneur, and member of the Evanston cohort, pitched on behalf of Gearflow’s founders. Mike has been Gearflow’s Advisory CTO since September 2019.
Knowing that, as members of the Kellogg Global EMBA Network, they shared similar values of passion, excellence, and integrity, Jack, Mike and Doron were able to quickly build a highly productive relationship around the development of Gearflow. Having taken the top prize of US$150,000 at the 2020 Kellogg VentureCat Competition, the business has raised US$1.3 million to date.
“The power of the Kellogg Global EMBA Network is not only the relationships and connections you make with others, but the tremendous business opportunities those connections create,” Mike points out. “From connecting with investors, to potential customers, the gift and power of the Kellogg Network is really on display.”
The forging of international bonds within the network begins from the early days of EMBA studies, Doron notes. “The program actively promotes meaningful connections between the student cohorts at partner campuses around the world, starting with global network week on Evanston campus and continuing throughout the global electives. This, together with the high caliber of Kellogg students globally, fosters a degree of trust that makes collaboration and joint investment a much smoother process and one more likely to have a positive outcome.
Jack, who has used his extensive marketing experience to continue assisting Gearflow’s development in an informal capacity, agrees. “Even though I loved the company and the pitch, I don’t know that I would have written the check without the connection through the Kellogg Network. The Kellogg Network gave me both the confidence that the team had the ability to execute, and that the team had shared values. If times get challenging, I know we would be able to work together to find solutions.”
