Blog Archive MBA News HBS MBAs Launch a Platform for Small Businesses to Hire MBAs

Blog Archive MBA News HBS MBAs Launch a Platform for Small Businesses to Hire MBAs Thanks to a group of four entrepreneurial Harvard Business School (HBS) students, those with MBAs and a passion for small business may now have an easier time securing freelance alternatives to traditional projects at firms like McKinsey Company or Bain Company. These HBS students launched HourlyNerd, a company that pitches itself as “a marketplace where any business can hire a consultant on a project basis,” thereby providing “a low-priced alternative, especially for small businesses, to high-priced management consultants.” The project-based model has reportedly proven popular among consultants seeking part-time or flexible work, such as MBAs who are raising children. With approximately 2,200 listed freelancers, HourlyNerd’s consultants (or “nerds”) consist exclusively of B-school alumni and students (80% and 20%, respectively). The company has also received $750K in backing from two angel investors (one of whom is Mark Cuban) and recently made a deal with Microsoft to provide services to its resellersâ€"a significant leap in growth since its modest inception during the first-year HBS course “Field III,” in which student teams are given $5,000 to model their own businesses. Share ThisTweet News