Top MBA Startups: Best Of The Rest

Every year, lots and lots of startups get off the ground. But how many of them are actually successful? Some make top rankings, others just barely stay under the cream of the crop. Here, we are going to talk about startup companies launched by MBA graduates, which did not enter the top 100 rating, but still are worth our attention.

Poets&Quants identified the ranking of the “Best Of The Rest” that is based on the companies’ funding.

Criteria

Every startup in the Best of the Rest list has been founded in the last four years, and in every one of them, one of the founders was a freshly graduated MBA. Every one of them has raised more than 1.5 million dollars.

Their combined amount of funds raised is more than 132 million dollars. 11 of these companies’ founders have graduated from USA business schools, while only one of them is from a British university. Although they didn’t make the top rating, their products and services are still worth attention.

Diverse startups

The best of these companies is Simple Mills (raised 4.22 million since its 2013 launch). Its founder is Katlin Smith, a Chicago Booth graduate. This business is selling snacks – crackers and everything you need to bake breads, cakes and cookies. Katlin Smith decided to manufacture baking stuff when she found out that she was allergic to many ready-made foods. Hence, her baking mixes are sugar-free, gluten-free and GMO-free. It is worth noting that Chicago Booth has one of the best MBA teaching faculty in the world.

The next company is called Agentdesks, founded by Sanya Gurnani and Biju Ashokan, two Harvard graduates, three years ago. During this time, the business providing software services for real estate agencies has raised 4.05 million in funds.

It is followed by Amper Music, founded by Columbia graduates (AI tech company making music for soundtracks, 3.92 million) and Pinrose, founded by Stanford graduates (luxury perfume, 3.9 million).

Most founders of these new startups are Harvard graduates (13 out of 51) followed by Columbia, Wharton, Stanford and Kellogg, unlike the Top 100, where Harvard and Stanford rivaled for the highest rank with 24 startups each.

Actually, the prospects of a newly launched business can be measured not only by the raised money. One should not forget about the creative ideas behind these startups. To assess creativity, funding numbers are simply not enough. Hence, it’s better to evaluate them using sales and productivity for every employee, customer bases etc. Sustainability is much better for a new startup than getting a load of money quickly.

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