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Coming from a family of entrepreneurs, I always wanted to do something different than a regular desk job, I always wanted to do something different that could make a difference in people’s lives and here is my journey.

My father, after completing his master’s degree from one of the most prestigious universities in India, Indian Institute of Technology decided to become an entrepreneur. With a small amount of capital from my grandfather, he started his manufacturing unit manufacturing power conditioning equipment. My father is a brilliant and innovative person. During his career, he helped several people by developing innovative products and solutions. Over the last 35 years he has expanded his manufacturing unit, and today he employs about 45 employees and has evolved from power conditioning equipment manufacturer to a manufacturer of sophisticated anesthesia machines. I have seen my father always work extremely hard in his life. I have spent most of my teenage summer breaks at my father’s manufacturing unit where I have seen him work extremely hard to try to convert his manufacturing unit into a large company. But unfortunately, due to his lack of business background, he could never grow beyond a certain point, and till date, his dream has never turned into reality. But his dedication and enthusiasm have always motivated me and inspired me and his career path has taught me lots of lessons of life.

From my childhood days, I was passionate about technology. Hence I pursued a bachelor’s degree in engineering. After completing my bachelors, I wanted to experience the world, I was the outlier amongst the siblings and wanted to be independent and wanted to do things differently. I decided to move to the United States to pursue master’s degree in engineering.

The graduate program at USC changed my life; It took my thinking to a different level. It taught me to analyze complex engineering problems systematically and gave a different perspective to my career and taught me a way to look at things differently.

Following graduation, I was offered a position of Systems engineer at Tyco Healthcare. The role of systems engineering was new to medical device field at that time. But my manager, who was a seasoned system engineering veteran mentored me and helped me grow in every aspect of systems engineering. This job gave me an opportunity to lead the 60M$ project of developing a complex electromechanical life support medical device from concept to launch. It gave me chance to manage cross-functional technical teams. It taught me how to budget development costs and control product COGs. I got trained in design controls, concept engineering and design for six sigma black belt training. The job also gave me an opportunity to interact marketing, clinical and regulatory affairs specialists as well as direct customers. At one point in the project, I was managing all technical aspects of the project along with my peer and were leading a cross-functional team of 120 engineers. It was an experience that moved my career to a different level.

Since then, I have had several other systems engineering roles with increasing level of responsibilities. In every job following this have been building blocks to my career and have further enhanced my technical leadership skills. I have led technical teams to develop complex products like critical care ventilators, endoscopy systems, and dialysis systems.

Based on my previous experiences I have learned just like any other industry, developing a product with the right feature set, understanding of the regulatory and competitive landscape, positioning the product well in the company product portfolio, placing the product well in the right market segment and timing to release the product are very crucial for long-term success of the product and the company. Globalization is the most significant challenge faced by medical device industry today. Every market around the world is different due to differences in healthcare systems and regulatory requirements. Having worked in the medical device field as a systems engineer has given me a different level of insight that along with MBA can be very beneficial. An MBA degree from a reputable school like UCLA will help me acquire skills to understand and analyze different markets and economies. In today ’s age, it is very critical to position the product right in the market. Understanding the market dynamics and needs will also help me define right product features. I will gain skills to perform risk-benefit analysis regarding new product development and introductions. An MBA degree will help me make right decisions in regards to product development and will enable me to gain a better understanding of the competitive landscape in regards to the market demand. I think these aspects are crucial to launching a successful product.

I am fascinated by the financial, fundraising, equity management aspects of startup companies. I have attended several events and seminars hosted by organizations like OCTANE, UCSD Connect, etc. in attempt to learn more about operations in startup companies. The recent transition from working for a large company to a small startup company has given me an opportunity to see and experience what I had learned through reading books and attending seminars in real. In my current role as a Manager of systems engineering, my technical and engineering leadership background enable me with the skill set necessary to work with marketing team and lead the development of a commercially viable, scalable and technically feasible medical device platform.

Following graduation, my short-term goal is to grow into a senior level Product Management role in medical device area. An MBA degree would provide me with the necessary knowledge in the areas of finance, marketing, and operations and will also prepare me with essential management skills. An MBA degree from a reputable school like UCLA will also give me an opportunity to network with leaders with several other backgrounds and learn from their experiences and to develop leadership skill required to be a medical device professional.

Southern California offers all the necessary resources and talent pool essential for a medical device company to grow and succeed. My long-term goal is to become a tech-entrepreneur, use the setup established by my father, expand it to the next level and utilize my engineering and management skills to run the successful global company. An MBA degree will thus help me convert my father’s dream to reality.