Liftoff! 🚀
when the Heisman winner 🏈 comes to MBA Commencement
(updated with photo of commencement speaker Yamini Rangan, CEO Hubspot with my faculty colleague Wasim Agar)
Friends, very nice to hear from some of you after my last post, on SusHi Tech Tokyo. Missed that? Here it is.
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By way of introduction, I am Continuing Lecturer at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. (That means I’ve been teaching for a bit.) We just finished our spring semester, during which I taught two sections of Strategy for the Networked Economy (S4NE, pronounced SANE 🙏)
This summer, I’ll teach a block week version of Opportunity Recognition: Technology & Entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley (MBA 295C) , and, later in the summer will lead a founder training for a group of early stage founders from Japan. Thanks to JETRO and the Government of Japan for their support.
On to our post! 🎓
Commencement on the UCB campus isn’t a standalone event, it’s a multi-week season. The various department ceremonies take place over the course of a week-plus. Starting from late April ( (around Cal Day, or Admit Day at Haas, or Reunion Weekend) student photo sessions - students in graduation regalia commemorating their time at Cal- start to manifest all over campus. It’s a wonderful time of year. I took this shot the Friday before MBA commencement on Saturday May 23.
A little MBA program background. Berkeley Haas created an AI in Business certificate in fall 2025.
To earn the certificate, students must complete the Business for AI course and six additional units chosen from 30 available courses covering topics ranging from data mining and data analytics to the use of AI in entrepreneurship, healthcare, new product development, and climate research. Courses that address risks in security, privacy, and ethics are also offered.
Win-win! Not only are my Opportunity Recognition course in the fall and Strategy for the Networked Economy course in the spring complementary to each other, and, in my admittedly biased view, courses MBAs interested in technology markets should absolutely take - but also taking my two electives gets an MBA 67% of the way to their AI certificate!
And this year, it was indeed a delight to have a number of students who took both classes over the course of their MBA journey. Catching with students at Commencement on May 23 felt like closure on the office hour conversations I had begun with students in the fall as we kicked off Opportunity Recognition.
👉👉When students take your courses back-to-back: I’ll give a shout-out to one student group, in the spring 2026 edition of S4NE: Sanghwa Lee, Daniel Ha, Jeff Kang, Ke Xu and Kevin Lee, four of whom I had in both classes during their MBAs. Their final group project, on how Salesforce should price in the AI era neatly tied together the strategy frameworks of S4NE and the innovation frameworks of Opportunity Recognition into one, delightful deliverable. Nice work, team!
🤔 A funny byproduct of digital education - I met several students in person for the first time at commencement.
That may seem strange but I find the best digital classes unlock participatory elements and insights we likely couldn’t unlock in a traditional classroom. Strange but true and also marvelous. And while I am delighted to have received an award from the MBAs for Inclusive Teaching, the credit goes to students who created and maintained a candid, fun, nuanced sharing culture in the digital classroom.
Before MBA commencement, there is usually a pre-lunch, with the guest speakers, faculty, and school leadership. This year, there was something different about the event - a lot of faculty who mainly teach undergrad were there. They were buzzing….about Fernando. Could they mean Fernando Ruiz, a standout student in Opportunity Recognition (and a likely future fintech founder).
No….it turns out they were referring to a different Fernando - Fernando Mendoza, Cal BS 2025, and newly signed quarterback for the Oakland Las Vegas Raiders. Due to his obligations to the Raiders, Fernando couldn’t attend undergrad business commencement - so he walked a few days later with the MBAs on his day off.
And was that a proud tear in the eye of undergrad program head as she handed Fernando his diploma! Yes, I think it was, and rightly so.
The best part of this - once the MBAs realized just who was sitting on stage right next where they received their diplomas, they logically and understandably seized the opportunity to high-five, dab, or simply celebrate his presence with them on stage. It was a great community moment.
Celebrity appearances aside, commencement itself was it should be - joyful and celebratory, family-centric. Parents and progeny abounded. The graduating MBA class of 2026 is generally an upbeat, optimistic group, despite, and, simultaneously because of the power, peril and promise of AI. They are doing more, faster. It is a simultaneously awesome and strange time to be working, and this group is willing to embrace the strange and build the fantastic.
I enjoyed commencement speaker Yamini Rangan’s (CEO of Hubspot and Haas MBA alum) remarks - your comfort zone is your upper ceiling - a healthy reminder to keep reaching, and keep stretching.
Commencement speaker Yamini Rangan, CEO Hubspot, with Haas faculty Prof Wasim Azhar
Last but not least - a shout-out to new MBA graduate Alva Edward McKay, who I had in both Opportunity Recognition and S4NE and with whom I worked with on two back-to-back semiconductor-related independent studies in the fall and spring semesters. I’ve worked with a lot of students on independent studies over 12 years, but working with a student on back-to-back studies over an academic year was a first. Alva went deep over the course of a year. To teach is to learn and I have learned a lot working with Alva, pictured here with fellow MBA 2026 Neil Chan, at Deep Tech Innovation Lab demo day (hat tip Ignore the Confusion by Matt Rappaport )
Pictured below are Jimmy Mawdsley and Alva, both of whom were in both classes and joined semis industry meetups on campus (say, with Digits to Dollars ) and who were docents at the inaugural Transpacific Collaboration Forum. Jimmy’s team, Scaliphy, also took home first prize at the Berkeley StEP incubator showcase in fall 2025.
Onward and upward!
Jon
I’ll close with a tune in keeping with theme of this post: Lift Off, by Groove Collective, from 1996’s We The People.