Tim Hsia: Founder of Media Mobilize, Context Ventures and CoFounder of Service 2 School

The Old Grad Story: 

Tim served as an Infantry Officer for six years and left the Army in 2010. With job prospects dimmed by the recession, Tim chose to attend Stanford as a dual JD/MBA student, before securing a business development role at Pocket, an early-stage startup. After working on a key deal that led to Pocket’s acquisition by Mozilla, Tim founded Media Mobilize, participated in a number of angel investments and ventures, and co-founded Service to School while in graduate school. 

Old Grad Knowledge:

Look at private/public sector opportunities before you look at grad school. There’s a massive opportunity cost for JD and MBA programs, so make sure that you assess market conditions at the time of your transition. 

Grad school is a nice way to take two years to figure out what you want to do, without anyone judging you. It’s really about choosing a direction and building a community.

Even if your transition seems rough, it’s going to be ok! Your work ethic and hustle will prove out over time. The intangibles we (veterans) take for granted that will set you apart. 

Figure out what you don’t want to do – the world is your oyster, so it’s helpful to eliminate options up-front. 

Build a network with people who will look out for your best interests, and realize that you’re a work-in-progress, with plenty of room to develop over time.

Service to School

• Focused on two problem statements:

• How do we (Officers) submit compelling grad school applications?

• More importantly, how do we help our Enlisted servicemembers submit compelling undergrad applications?

• We help others, then ask them to pay their success forward once they’ve gotten into a good school and help the next group of transitioning veterans.