Interview with Pinar Gorgulu, Imperial MBA 2018What year did you graduate from Imperial Business School?
I graduated in 2016.
Who is your current employer?
Babylon health, one of leading healthcare AI companies globally.
Why did you choose to attend Imperial?
I have started my career in technology and wanted to continue progressing in this direction, preferably transition into becoming a product manager. I was very familiar with Imperial’s reputation in the tech space as well as the plenty of resources it offered if I ever considered going down the entrepreneurship route. I was particularly attracted the Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Design module where product development and scaling approaches were taught in practice. I was able to put many of these skills into use since I’ve graduated !
Tell us about a memorable moment at Imperial.
Our first trip as a group to Belgium and stumbling upon a tequila bar (!) that we managed to take over as an entire cohort. It was towards the beginning of our MBA and brought us very close to one another. Those of who survived the tequila were up until the morning bonding and chatting!
Briefly describe what the culture was like at Imperial?
Collegiate and collaborative. This was one of the reasons why I was attracted to Imperial in the first place. Egos were left at the door and were not always welcome by the rest of the cohort. This is an incredibly important sense to develop to succeed in businesses in which accepting differences is key. Tech companies and startups are good examples as you need to look after each other and work across cross-functional teams.
If you could appoint a fictional character to represent student life and culture, who would it be and why?
Probably Woody from Toy Story. Woody does everything to ensure his fellow toys’ well-being, but does not engage in a popularity contest with Buzz Lightyear out of worry that he may no longer be the favorite toy. Neither is he boastful like Buzz. He is mature and level-headed and his people come first no matter what.
Pinar Gorgulu Imperial College Business School, MBA 2018
