The Carroll School of Management

I find myself waking up at 8:00 on a Sunday morning. Not to go to church (I’m Jewish). Not to go running (It’s getting cold out there). And not to get bagels (there aren’t any good bagels in Boston…sorry). No, I’m up on Sunday morning in order to go to class. But this isn’t any ordinary class. This is TechTrek West with Professor John Gallaugher.

TechTrek West is probably one of the most unique experiences in the Boston College curriculum. John Gallaugher, with the help of BC alumni on the West Coast, puts together a spectacular two-week field study to Seattle, Palo Alto and San Francisco. The course focuses on examining various business models and cycles by visiting with senior executives across a host of firms. Participants in TechTrek have included Apple SVP of Marketing Phil Schiller, Scott McNealy at Sun, Bill Campbell at Intuit, Dan Warmenhoven at NetApp, partners at various VC firms, and visits with Amazon, Cisco, Google, Intel, Microsoft, and others. Although past students have been known to get internships and jobs by networking during this field study, this is not a recruiting trip - we meet with real senior executives who face real challenges at some of the world’s most prestigious companies.

This year, I was one of 24 students selected to go on TechTrek. I almost didn’t make it - there was such a demand for the course that there was a lottery to select which MBAers would get to go. I was a lucky one - there’s always next year, but I’m ecstatic that I get to go this upcoming January. In order to prepare for the trip, the class meets twice on Sundays in October and November - a small sacrifice to pay for an amazing experience. Today, we heard presentations on a number of the companies we’ll be visiting when we’re out there. The line-up (I’m watching the Red Sox as I type this) included Cybersource, Intuit, Apple, Electronic Arts, Sun, eBay and Google. Each presentation was followed by a short Q&A - because we get quality time at each company and with each executive, we want to make sure that we’re as sharp as can be. And Professor Gallaugher keeps us on our toes. You can read his Week in Geek blog here.

Red Sox 4, Rockies 1. And Alex Rodriguez just announced he’s opting out of his Yankees contract. Fellow New Yorkers, welcome to my own personal nightmare.