Venture capitalist, Edmund Carulli (MBA, 2012) tells how his time at the Management School provided him with the tools to embark on a new career.

"Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) taught me how to become an effective manager and equipped me with the right skills for a new career path. I was a trained chemist for years before I switched career into the digital and investment sector. Starting over was not easy and I failed few times before I could find my footing. After graduation, I started my journey building an internet company from the ground up without any management experience. I always aspired to be an entrepreneur. I believe they are the most effective agents of change to instill innovation and to create impact. Courses at LUMS, such as Organisational Behaviour and Strategic Management provided me with frameworks to think structurally, which I applied to my first founding experience. The startup grew fast, went from four to 18 employees within a year, received funding, and fast forward three years later, it closed down…

Then I attempted to start a second venture which was even shorter than the previous one. Suddenly, I found myself back to square one.

I decided to take a break from entrepreneurship and had stints at unicorn tech companies before I moved to a VC firm. Being a venture capitalist requires an understanding to see business from a high level. My main responsibilities are to give strategic advice to founders and perform (plenty of) financial analysis. I could have not excelled at my job without the skills that I learned from LUMS courses, especially the corporate finance and management accounting. Now, after eight years of transitioning from a different industry, I feel settled in my career. Although I’m no longer an entrepreneur, I’m happy that I can still contribute to the ecosystem via the work that I do.

Another thing that I loved about LUMS was the diversity. My classmates came from various professional backgrounds, ranging from engineering, retail, oil and gas to IT & software. We also had multiple nationalities in the cohort: Indonesian (me), Singaporean, Indian, Chinese and British. It was very humbling to learn different perspectives from people with different backgrounds. To this day, some of us are still in touch with each other.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the professors, staff, and classmates for the memorable experience and to help me in getting where I am today. Thank you! "