Profile: GSB First-year Sucharita Mulpuru
Jenifer Wana
Issue date: 10/29/01 Section: Style
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“The market tanked, and it was the perfect opportunity to take shelter from the storm and go to business school,” says Sucharita Mulpuru, MBA1, wearing jeans and a brown suede jacket.
Like many MBA programs across the country, Stanford has attracted its share of former dot-com executives. In three short years, Mulpuru helped launch one of the most successful pure online retailers.
Born in India, Sucharita grew up in West Virginia and attended Harvard as an undergraduate. She moved to Los Angeles to work as a strategic planner at Disney, but after three years, she was at a crossroads. While other analysts left to pursue MBAs, Sucharita chose to travel around the world.
When she returned, one of her former managers at Disney, Laurie McCartney, called and told her about an idea to start an upscale clothing retail site. The site was to be called Estyle.com. McCartney asked her to join the company, and in November 1998, Sucharita became employee number one.
Together they secured venture capital funding, recruited employees, and leased office space. By December 1999, Estyle.com had $14 million in funding, 50 employees, and Cindy Crawford as a partner/spokesperson.
“First I was the operations manager, then the marketing director, and then the director of content. Having joined in the beginning, I was pretty immune from hierarchy.”
About her experience, Sucharita recalls, “It was fantastic. It was a good way to learn about different industries such as retail, banking, and marketing. It was also a terrific experience to launch a company. We could take risks because we were well-funded.”
According to Mulpuru, Estyle is still performing well. Since the market downturn, the company has decided to focus on kids and maternity wear and has also launched a private label brand to be sold in Bloomingdale’s and other upscale department stores.
So far, the GSB is everything she hoped it would be. “Everybody is friendly. This is one of the few times in your life when you have an opportunity to meet strangers who are so receptive to meeting new people.”
And as for her personal style? “It’s very casual,” she says. “But it’s become progressively even more casual at school. Waking up for an 8 a.m. class makes you care a lot less about how you look.”
Like many MBA programs across the country, Stanford has attracted its share of former dot-com executives. In three short years, Mulpuru helped launch one of the most successful pure online retailers.
Born in India, Sucharita grew up in West Virginia and attended Harvard as an undergraduate. She moved to Los Angeles to work as a strategic planner at Disney, but after three years, she was at a crossroads. While other analysts left to pursue MBAs, Sucharita chose to travel around the world.
When she returned, one of her former managers at Disney, Laurie McCartney, called and told her about an idea to start an upscale clothing retail site. The site was to be called Estyle.com. McCartney asked her to join the company, and in November 1998, Sucharita became employee number one.
Together they secured venture capital funding, recruited employees, and leased office space. By December 1999, Estyle.com had $14 million in funding, 50 employees, and Cindy Crawford as a partner/spokesperson.
“First I was the operations manager, then the marketing director, and then the director of content. Having joined in the beginning, I was pretty immune from hierarchy.”
About her experience, Sucharita recalls, “It was fantastic. It was a good way to learn about different industries such as retail, banking, and marketing. It was also a terrific experience to launch a company. We could take risks because we were well-funded.”
According to Mulpuru, Estyle is still performing well. Since the market downturn, the company has decided to focus on kids and maternity wear and has also launched a private label brand to be sold in Bloomingdale’s and other upscale department stores.
So far, the GSB is everything she hoped it would be. “Everybody is friendly. This is one of the few times in your life when you have an opportunity to meet strangers who are so receptive to meeting new people.”
And as for her personal style? “It’s very casual,” she says. “But it’s become progressively even more casual at school. Waking up for an 8 a.m. class makes you care a lot less about how you look.”