10 Entrepreneurs Who Have Taken The GMAT Exam And Pursued An MBA

You certainly don't need an MBA to be an entrepreneur, but these founders are proving that it may be an advantage.

Since the early 20th century, the MBA has become a staple degree at business schools around the world. Thousands or graduates have taken the Graduate Management Admissions Test (GMAT) and have applied for business school, and some have taken their companies to great heights.

So, while studying for the GMAT exam, consider all the incredible entrepreneurs who have been through this process just like you. You, too, could be on the list someday.

1. Phil Knight, Co-Founder of Nike 

Nike co-founder, Phil Knight, attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1960, graduating with his MBA two years later. At this point in his career, he hadn't yet founded Nike, but there was already a spark of inspiration: he wrote his graduate thesis on sports shoes, comparing the market in Japan and Germany.

After traveling to Japan and seeing the modern sports shoes being produced there, he returned to the US set on selling running shoes. His company, co-founded with his former running coach Bill Bowerman, was named Nike in 1971.

2. Chitra Gurnani Daga, Co-Founder and CEO of Thrillophilia.com 

Thrillophilia is India's largest booking platform for travel experiences, founded by Chitra Gurnani Daga in 2011. Previously, Chitra worked as a software engineer at Infosys and SAP Labs, but she pursued an MBA at the Indian School of Business to kickstart her entrepreneurial journey.

Over the last 10 years, Chitra has grown Thrillophilia from a startup to an international booking platform with 40 million users. Now, she's considered one of India's most successful female entrepreneurs and has been recognized by the Ministry of External Affairs in India for her work in the Indian tourism industry.

3. Wang Laichun, Co-Founder of Luxshare-ICT

Wang Laichun ranks as one of the richest self-made women in the world, with a total net worth of $8.4 billion as of 2024. After 10 years working for Foxconn, an international electronics manufacturer, she founded her own company, Luxshare-ICT.

Today, her company is known for supplying electronic parts for some of the world's best-known tech, including the Apply AirPods. More recently, Apple selected Luxshare-ICT to produce their mixed-reality headsets. Laichun pursued her EMBA degree from Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management (Tsinghua SEM).

4. Matt Maloney, Founder and CEO of Grubhub

Matt Maloney was a student on the MBA at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business when he entered his startup, Grubhub, in Chicago Booth's New Venture Challenge. His idea for a food delivery business ended up winning one of the top prizes, providing a boost to Grubhub and enabling them to go for Series A funding. 

Grubhub grew to become one of North America's largest food delivery services and was bought by the Dutch company Just Eay in 2021 for $7.3 billion. Matt studied part-time for his MBA over five years, graduating in 2010, and says that the ability to apply classroom-learned business skills immediately at work contributed to Grubhub's success.

5. Pak Win, Founder of GrowWin

Indonesian entrepreneur Pak Win decided to study an MBA in China to target the finance market. He chose the MBA program, which is taught in collaboration with faculty from MIT Sloan School of Management and introduces students to global business with a China focus.

After graduation, Win founded a number of startups, including Karta, a company that connected advertisers and motorcycle drivers, for which he was names a Forbes 30 Under 30 in the marketing category.

6. Taavet Hinrikus, Founder of Wise (formerly TransferWise)

Taavet Hinrikus had experience in successful companies before he founded Wise; he started his career at Skype, where he was the company's very first employee. However, Wise wouldn't come into existence until after he completed his MBA degree at INSEAD when he was struggling to be paid in euros while living in the UK. 

So, Taavet and his friend Kristo Käärmann founded Wise to simplify international money transfers. When Wise went public in 2021, it was valued at $11 million, making it London's largest-ever tech listing.

7. Sallie Krawcheck, CEO of Ellevest

Sallie Krawcheck graduated from the MBA program at Columbia Business School in 1992 and pursued a highly successful career on Wall Street. By 2004, she was Chief Financial Officer for Citigroup, and in 2005 and 2006, Forbes named her among the World's Top 100 Most Powerful Women. 

After over two decades in finance, Sallie decided to use her skills and passion to break barriers for women in business by founding Ellevest. The wealth management and financial planning platform assists women with advice and automated investment accounts, and today has $2 billion in managed assets.

8. Falguni Nayar, Founder and CEO of Nykaa

Falguni Nayar graduated with her MBA in finance from the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad in 1985. After decades of working in the banking industry, at the age of 50, she founded Nykaa, a beauty e-commerce website, following her passion for the beauty industry.

Although her journey towards entrepreneurship was a long one, Nykaa's success is a testament to the adage that good things take time. In 2020, Nykaa became the first Indian unicorn startup founded and led by a woman. She has since appeared on Forbes' ranking of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women and on India's 100 Richest list. We names Falguni, along with previously mentioned entrepreneur Chitra Gurnani Daga, among the 30 most successful women entrepreneurs in India.

9. Azmat Yusuf, Founder of Citymapper

After completing his MBA degree at INSEAD, Azmat Yusuf moved to London to take a job at Google. But it wasn't long before Azmat had the idea of a travel app to help him navigate London's complex public transport system. So, he founded Citymapper.

Citymapper quickly expanded beyond London and today operates in almost every major transport hub in the world, including most European capitals and over 20 US cities. In 2023, Citymapper was acquired by travel tech startup Via for an estimated $100 million. 

10. Robert F. Smith, Founder of Vista Equity Partners

Robert F. Smith is another renowned American entrepreneur who took the GMAT exam to enter the MBA program at Columbia Business School. He graduated in 1994 and was hired at Goldman Sachs as Co-Head of Enterprise Systems and Storage, working in tech investment banking. 

However, Robert's passion for technology led him to found his own global technology investment firm, Vista Equity Partners, in 2000. In the following 20 years, he has grown Vista Equity Partners to one of the world's largest private equity firms. Robert has supplemented his finance career with philanthropic acts, including sponsoring scholarships for students to attend Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). 

Apply to business schools around the world with the GMAT exam

The Graduate Management Admission Test, widely known as the GMAT exam, is the number one standardized test for entrance to business schools and MBA programs. 

Made up of three sections (a Quantitative Reasoning section, a Verbal Reasoning section, and Data Insights), taking the GMAT shows business schools that you're ready for the rigor of an MBA. You can take the GMAT exam online or at a test center.

Are you ready to apply to business school? Register for the GMAT exam today.