MBA Startup Studio

powered by Who’s Fabio? and MOHARA Ventures

Have you graduated from an MBA program? Do you have a business idea but need help bringing it to life? 

We recognise the strength of eMBA and MBA graduates as founders, and are bringing to market a startup studio to partner our capability with yours. 

The Path to Real Traction

What is the MBA Startup studio?

In the beginning, the only thing that matters is TRACTION.

Getting traction means you’re not just talking about “a great idea” anymore. It means you’re talking about real momentum – growth, sticky users, word-of-mouth interest and so on.

The MBA Startup Studio is a non-equity based, at-cost startup studio for early stage founders who have graduated from an MBA program, and want to get their startup off the ground with real traction.

A student walks through a door on campus

How is this startup studio different?

This is NOT a typical one size fits all, education-heavy, cohort-based programme.

We are not going to teach you what an MVP is, introduce you to “experts” or match you with mentors.

We believe each startup and each founder are unique and at different stages in the startup journey.

We work with you 1-2-1 on a weekly basis to clarify what is needed next to achieve traction, and focus relentlessly on execution.

During this program you will have direct access to the Who’s Fabio and MOHARA leadership teams. We have over 30 years’ experience and have built over 200 products and startups.

The Recipe

What will you get out of the accelerator?

You will have real evidence of traction so that you can raise your first round of funding.

A waiting list

A list of real prospects who have seen your value proposition and joined your waiting list. In other words, they heard about your solution, it resonated with them, and they were keen to get access ASAP.

A live pilot

A working no-code or low-code product with a cohort of active users and early indications of Product Market Fit. In other words, early adopters who have used a rudimentary version of your product and rave about it.

A master plan

Leverage our proven process or have your new team member slot into your process.

A customer uses a mobile device to scan a QR code to make a payment
ekko - Ventures

CAPITAL PARTNERS ACROSS THE GLOBE

Why us?

Our promise to you as founders: Get your startup off the ground and prepared to raise pre-seed funding in 6 months or less. 72% of the founders who implemented our 3-part “Recipe” raised pre-seed funding of $100K+

MOHARA Ventures has invested in 33 startups, many of which are MBA graduate founders. Together with this investment history we bring a mature network of capital partners across the globe.

Together, Who’s Fabio x MOHARA Ventures can offer you a proven set of startup tools, methods and know-how to compliment your exceptional business training. These have been road-tested with hundreds of different founders, startups, corporate venture studios, accelerators, product teams and venture capital partners.

We are proud long term sponsors of the INSEAD MBA program and have previous mentoring and lecturing experience at Wharton, LSE, Hult and much more.

Meet the team

Rich Sams, our Chief Executive Officer smiles at the camera

Richard Sams

Chief Executive Officer

Rich has built over 100 products over the last 10 years across highly complex industries.

Richard brings decades of experience building technology for startups to his leadership of MOHARA. He is also a board adviser and mentor to multiple startups and Entrepreneurial Support Organisations including the New Entrepreneurs Foundation.

Ben Blomerley

CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Ben worked for EY, focusing on retail banking for over 8 years, before jumping into entrepreneurship.

Ben’s role as MOHARA’s COO is delivering our vision for Production – innovation in product but efficiency in delivery. He is a chartered accountant and brings vast experience in building great products. He is an Entrepreneur in Residence at his MBA alma mater, INSEAD.

Tom Noble

HEAD OF NOCODE

A driven entrepreneur that tells his story as honestly as he can. Running no-code development at MOHARA that specialises in rapid go to market.

Tom’s entrepreneurial journey started in 2016 and he’s never looked back!

Jackie LaRocca

partner, north america

Jackie supports ongoing production builds with clients from our hub in Toronto. Jackie comes from an innovation consulting background and specialises in new product development. She has led global innovation portfolio programs for large corporates across multiple geographies and excels at building teams remotely.

JP Luchetti, from Who's Fabio, looks away from the camera whilst thinking about how to bring the next tech startup idea to market

JP Luchetti

WHO’S FABIO

JP has worked on hundreds of new products for startups, venture builders, VCs, SMEs and Fortune500/FTSE 100 businesses, including Invesco, Intelliflo, Hermes, National Express, Sony, HBO, ESPN, Coca-Cola, GE and many more. He is a Venture Partner at Mr. Pink – A LATAM-based early-stage VC, and Venture Design Lead at Rokk3r, a Miami-based venture builder.

JP was previously a Board Director at Mubaloo – a leading mobile app development agency in Europe, and a founder at IPH – a mobile app development agency in Argentina with offices in Miami and Mexico.

Darren Hall from Who's Fabio, smiles at the camera

Darren Ball

who’s fabi

Darren has worked on dozens of new propositions for startups, venture builders, SMEs and FTSE 100 businesses, including Sura Mexico, Maersk, Go Ahead Group, HSF, Hanson UK, ABRSM and many more. He was the Chief Product Officer at CoGo and Yolion – two FinTech startups in the UK. Previously, he was a consultant at Mubaloo – a leading mobile app development agency in Europe, and at Accenture.

In addition to Who’s Fabio he also plays a Product and Venture Strategy role at Rokk3r.

Ready to hear more?

Contact us to learn more about the selection process and submit your application now for consideration.