From Getting An Admission In Harvard Business School To Learning Investment Banking, Read How Andrej Rusakov Climbed The Ladder Of Success!
Science and technology have taken over the world, and it has only been advancing over the years. And Andrej Rusakov, a serial entrepreneur, has now paved a way for the next generation of leaders and investors. Originally hailing from a small town in Lithuania, he has since come a long way, and is a co-founding partner and seed investor in Data Capital Management, an algorithmic hedge fund built upon novel big data technologies, real-time data feeds, and artificial intelligence (AI). With an MBA degree from Harvard Business School, and an MSC degree in Mathematics (Statistics and Theory of Probabilities) from the Department of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University, he lays a strong emphasis on education, aiming to inspire students through his charitable scholastic initiatives.
Being no stranger to technical topics, he looked at mathematics as a way of structuring his brain and developing logical thinking. During college, he became interested in real estate investments, and during the early 2000s, he observed the inefficient market in Moscow. That was his case study – after which he developed a rigorous, algorithmic approach to assessing real estate investment opportunities. And after forming his own team, Andrej monitored the market, and later made tens of millions of dollars investing in it before he turned 21. Ever since then, real estate has become a part of Andrej’s life. During this time, however, he craved an opportunity to learn how business was done on a global level. To learn more about investment banking, he taught himself GAAP and IFRS Accounting, Economics and Finance, and following his sister’s advice moved to London where he landed a job at Morgan Stanley’s Mergers and Acquisitions department.
Investment banking was a totally new world for this math geek from Russia, and for him, getting a job in the M&A department of a leading global investment bank was an absolute miracle. Later on, he was headhunted out of M&A to join Apax Partners’ technology investment team which, with $35 billion under management at that time, was the largest European private equity firm in the world. While speaking about pursuing an MBA from Harvard Business School, he said, “I did not want to go to business school, to be honest. I thought it was a waste of time. Apax Partners insisted on everyone earning their MBAs and, so, I reluctantly applied to HBS. Luckily, there were enough smart people around me who advised against me not going after I was accepted. Looking back, that was one of the best decisions I’ve made. It was a truly transformative experience. It drastically broadened my horizons and understanding of the world. It was also very fun.”
After completing his education with Harvard Business School, Andrej raised $400 million dollars to invest in local Russian companies and help them to expand globally. Aside from this, he has also worked to expand his horizons, and is now all set to launch a new healthcare tech company in the USA to save people from medical errors that are considered the third-leading cause of death, after heart disease and cancer. His company provides AI-powered medical diagnosis and remedy counsel, which can be accessed by anyone.
This driven entrepreneur is also passionate about equal opportunity access to education, and founded the Rusakov Fellowship Foundation in 2017 to sponsor Harvard students. He believes that a lot of talented and hard-working students are less-fortunate in getting admissions into Harvard, and he is here to help those deserving candidates grow. Aside from achieving his own success, Andrej Rusakov is doing his best and working tirelessly in helping other students realize their own potential and become the future of tomorrow.
