How MBA Networks Took Flat-Club all the Way to the US Launch

How MBA Networks Took Flat-Club all the Way to the US Launch main image

At Flat-Club we try to find all sorts of ways to use leverage. No, not strictly using debt to push the company forward but any application of the scientific definition: using a small lever to get outsized results. One of our best small levers has been our affiliation with an MBA networks. I wrote a post before on why doing a MBA is a good idea for Entrepreneurs. This post will give a few real life examples from Flat-Club.

On Thursday this week we are launching at 30 American Universities with a campaign called the US30. We started 8 weeks ago with a handful of contacts and no plan. We now have assembled a launch helper team of 67 students and alumni across 30 campuses to launch Flat-Club at their school, media support and a great plan of events. We owe a lot of this accomplishment to the MBA networks of Flat-Club’s team and even satisfied customers.

Granted, Flat-Club has a unique relationship to MBA networks having been founded by MBAs and launched within a business school community but the continued story is a great example of the power of networks.

We focused heavily on developing a collaborative relationship with the London Business School community when we started. We developed a service to help students and alumni and the London Business School network propelled us forward.

Our friends, and friends of friends in the LBS community gave us crucial feedback on the model and helped us grow both within the network and branch out to other business schools and universities. Two years into the relationship the LBS Club is one of our largest and most active.

We’ve found several team members through the LBS community and affiliated MBA networks as well. Currently on our team we have 4 active MBA’s in part-time internships, and 4 MBA graduates in full-time positions. One of our favorite recent facts is that in 2012 Flat-Club employed more London Business School interns than Goldman Sachs.

The last major piece of our progress is of course our funding – which yes, you guessed, was also a milestone achieved with the assistance and connections of our business school network.

So from founding to a pilot product, first customers, funding and not all the way to launching the product in the US, the Flat-Club story is a great example of how giving to networks and levering the power of network relationship can take you and your business forward much more quickly than is possible alone.

About Nitzan Yudan

Nitzan Yudan, 33 years old, lives in London, graduated with an MBA at London Business School, and has 12 years’ experience in finance, IT, and tourism. Nitzan is the founder of Flat-Club – short term renting within social networks. Flat-Club helps alumni and students of top universities find short term accommodation (from 1 night up to 6 months) with others they trust from their existing networks Flat-Club was founded in November 2010 with 5 flats in London and within its first year grew to 2,000 rooms and apartments in 20 cities and a team of 15 from 12 nationalities as part of the London Business School Incubator.