Stanislav Kelman  Essay #5
Question: What are your career aspirations, and how can an MBA help you to reach them? Why
now?
When I first enrolled in college, I wanted to follow in the footsteps of my father and
grandfather, both renowned Physicists, and to study Sciences and Engineering. I also was  and
still am  fascinated by modern technology and how it affects our everyday life.
However, as I got involved in applied research while doing my Master's studies, I quickly
discovered that it is rarely the engineers who make final technical decisions, but rather the people
in marketing and management. And, unfortunately, in our world of extreme specialization, it is
increasingly rare when those in charge of company operations have sufficient background to deal
with the complex technical issues which they often encounter.
Again and again, I've witnessed vastly inferior products and technologies being chosen
based on nothing but the hype or the so-called "Cost-Benefit Analysis" reduced to simply
selecting the least expensive option. I've also seen numerous breakthrough propositions being
shelved purely out of budgetary considerations or because of internal politics, all at the same
time while paying lip service to "industry-leading innovation."
Over the past four years, since I've started working in the industry, I have slowly come to
realize that the only way to actually have a real impact on the way things work is by getting
personally involved in Business Development and Planning, which is exactly where I see myself
next. However, given my largely technical background, I feel that only an MBA from a toprated University could quickly put me on the right track to achieving this goal.
In addition to that, my desire to eventually try to go into business for myself is only
growing stronger. But having done this once already (more on that in Essay #6), I realize that I
Stanislav Kelman  Essay #5
am still lacking sufficient background and experience to be truly successful and to really
understand all the market forced involved.
In other words, I would like to stay in the general field of technology, but to re-join the
industry in a new capacity that would allow me to finally make a real difference. Plus, if I ever
see an opportunity that I won't be able to pursue from within the company that I would be
working for, I need to feel that I have enough expertise and confidence to go out and do things
on my own.
Stanislav Kelman  Essay #6
Question: What do you wish the MBA Admissions Board had asked you?
For my last essay, I want to talk about my experience trying to start a "dot-com" venture,
which was the first time I got seriously interested in pursuing a career in business.
Ever since I remember myself, I've been actively following the latest developments in
computer technology. However, for a while, this remained as just a personal interest and my
professional pursuits were concentrated in the traditional fields of Engineering. But, as I was
finishing up my Master's studies, my life took an unexpected turn. These were the "Internet
Bubble" years and anything seemed possible.
My idea was to develop and sell integrated hardware solutions for an emerging
alternative operating system called the BeOS. When I first saw its power demonstrated, it quite
literally changed my perception of what a personal computer can do. At the time when Windows
95 was the most popular environment, incapable of true multitasking or advanced multimedia,
BeOS was able to handle tasks that were still reserved for expensive UNIX workstations.
A friend of mine, a professional software developer, and I were so surprised that that we
could finally wholeheartedly agree on a computer-related issue  which has rarely happened
before  that we felt that this was a cause worth embracing. Subsequently BeShop.com, Inc. was
born and we got busy building a company to support what we thought was the future of
computing.
Among other things, I conducted extensive market research, wrote a comprehensive
business plan, designed a custom Web site, and embarked on a long search for a source of
venture capital. Unfortunately, partially because we were lacking sufficient connections and
Stanislav Kelman  Essay #6
experience, but mostly due to widespread skepticism about any new technology that competes
with established Microsoft products, we were unable to secure enough financial backing and
eventually had to go our separate ways.
As for Be, Inc., the California company which originally developed the BeOS, it also
seized to exist about 3 years later, pushed out of the market by the monopolistic practices of
Microsoft Corporation, which later paid Be's founders $23.2 million to settle "groundless
allegations" of anti-competitive behavior.
But to this day, when I see Microsoft implementing the features that BeOS had more than
five years ago, I wonder if, for all the talk about open competition, the computer industry is
actually capable of "self-regulation" when the Justice Department fails to strictly enforce the
antitrust laws.
A more detailed account of my experience and the technical issues involved can be found
on one of my personal sites, TechOpinion.org, in an article entitled "BeOS in Retrospect" which
was originally published online through the NewsFactor network.