????2008年8月來(lái)校報(bào)到時(shí)，李和帕瑞克發(fā)現(xiàn)他們都是60位MBA新生的一員,。湊巧的是,，他們后來(lái)還一起參加了一項(xiàng)涉及技術(shù)和醫(yī)療保健的案例競(jìng)賽?！拔覀円黄鹜瓿闪诉@個(gè)案例,，結(jié)果還行，”帕瑞克回憶說(shuō),?！爱?dāng)時(shí)并沒(méi)有真正擦出火花?！钡@次競(jìng)賽期間發(fā)生了另一件事：他們遇到了一位名叫佩伊曼?普爾-莫埃齊的同學(xué),，他提出了一個(gè)大創(chuàng)意。

????“他說(shuō),，‘嘿,，我正在開(kāi)發(fā)一個(gè)新玩意，’”帕瑞克說(shuō),?！啊绻銈z感興趣的話(huà)，我想讓你們瞧瞧,?！鞘堑谝粋€(gè)學(xué)期大約過(guò)了一半的時(shí)候?！?/p>

????他們隨后漫步到他在校外的公寓,。在那里，普爾-莫埃齊興沖沖地描述一個(gè)被他稱(chēng)為Magoosh的創(chuàng)意,，這個(gè)稱(chēng)謂改編自意指“智者”的波斯語(yǔ)“Magush”,。他打算為準(zhǔn)備參加GMAT的考生創(chuàng)建一個(gè)相互幫助的社區(qū)。這個(gè)論壇與現(xiàn)有的備考服務(wù)網(wǎng)站BeatTheGMAT有些類(lèi)似,，但用戶(hù)界面將嵌入一款GMAT備考軟件,。就讀哈斯商學(xué)院前，普爾-莫埃齊也在德勤公司從事咨詢(xún)業(yè)務(wù),，他此前一直與同樣供職于德勤公司、擁有南加州大學(xué)(University of Southern California)計(jì)算機(jī)科學(xué)碩士學(xué)位的朋友維克拉姆?謝諾伊共同開(kāi)發(fā)這個(gè)項(xiàng)目,。

????“這是一個(gè)依靠人力驅(qū)動(dòng),、同時(shí)與一個(gè)論壇相結(jié)合的混合型備考服務(wù)網(wǎng)站,，”帕瑞克說(shuō)?！霸谀情g公寓聆聽(tīng)這項(xiàng)創(chuàng)業(yè)計(jì)劃時(shí),，漢蘇顯得非常興奮。他向來(lái)都對(duì)教育事業(yè)充滿(mǎn)熱情,，還曾擔(dān)任過(guò)一家非營(yíng)利性教育機(jī)構(gòu)的董事,。他知道自己想成為一位企業(yè)家。他是帶著一個(gè)愿景和目標(biāo)來(lái)商學(xué)院求學(xué)的,。而我主要是對(duì)技術(shù)感興趣,。”

????隨后幾個(gè)月,，他們一起投身于這個(gè)項(xiàng)目,。2008年12月，他們推出了一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)陋的網(wǎng)站,，還購(gòu)買(mǎi)了谷歌關(guān)鍵字廣告(Google AdWords),，以方便更多人找到這項(xiàng)服務(wù)。雖然第一個(gè)迭代模型并未產(chǎn)生影響,，但他們也沒(méi)有放棄,。李和帕瑞克決定放棄暑期的實(shí)習(xí)機(jī)會(huì)?！皩?duì)于漢蘇來(lái)說(shuō),，放棄實(shí)習(xí)機(jī)會(huì)是一件想都不用想的事情，”帕瑞克回憶說(shuō),?！岸抑辽龠€在德勤公司擁有一份安穩(wěn)的工作。最糟糕的事情莫過(guò)于我們不再繼續(xù)開(kāi)發(fā)Magoosh項(xiàng)目,。對(duì)于我來(lái)說(shuō),，獲得這種令人驚嘆的創(chuàng)業(yè)經(jīng)歷固然不錯(cuò)，但我隨時(shí)可以重返德勤公司,?！?/p>

????早期迭代模型的失敗促使他們苦苦思索?！?009年1月至5月,，我們發(fā)現(xiàn)這種基于用戶(hù)的備考方式其實(shí)并不奏效，我們隨即開(kāi)始研究出現(xiàn)這種狀況的原因,，”帕瑞克說(shuō),。“調(diào)查了許多最近幾年參加過(guò)GMAT考試的同學(xué)之后,，我們終于意識(shí)到,，人們真正需要的是一群深諳這項(xiàng)考試的專(zhuān)家,，他們需要這些權(quán)威人士來(lái)幫他們答疑解惑?！?/p>

????他們創(chuàng)造了產(chǎn)品的實(shí)體模型,，把它制作成PowerPoint格式，隨后邀請(qǐng)一些同學(xué)像登陸一家網(wǎng)站一樣來(lái)點(diǎn)擊這些幻燈片,?！矮@得了一些反饋意見(jiàn)后，”帕瑞克說(shuō),?！拔覀円苿?dòng)了對(duì)話(huà)框，并更改語(yǔ)言,，讓他們?cè)俅吸c(diǎn)擊,。我們不斷重復(fù)這個(gè)過(guò)程，直至大家說(shuō),，‘這種方式講得通,。我愿意注冊(cè)?！簿褪窃谀菚r(shí),，我們決定建立一個(gè)網(wǎng)站?！彼麄兣c溫哥華一位GMAT考試導(dǎo)師簽約,，由他為這家新生的網(wǎng)站提供教學(xué)視頻。

????就這樣,，在暑期的幾個(gè)月中,，他們?nèi)硇牡亟ㄔ爝@款新產(chǎn)品。謝諾伊返回印度后也沒(méi)有停止開(kāi)發(fā)工作,。李與選擇去謀智網(wǎng)絡(luò)公司(Mozilla)實(shí)習(xí)的普爾-莫埃齊一起在伯克利拱形街租了一個(gè)辦公場(chǎng)所,，那里迅速成為Magoosh公司的首個(gè)總部。他們每天都躲在地下室或后院全神貫注地搭建產(chǎn)品,，而大衛(wèi)?查倫教授此前一個(gè)學(xué)期講授的《創(chuàng)業(yè)教程》(Workshop for Startups)也給予了他們莫大的幫助,。

????李和帕瑞克開(kāi)始碰撞出火花?！皾h蘇和我真的很合拍,，很容易溝通。我們建立了密切的聯(lián)系,，”帕瑞克說(shuō),。“漢蘇和我真正特別的地方在于，我們都為Magoosh傾注了全部心血,?！?/p>

????共同的興趣衍生出一份深厚的友誼，甚至達(dá)到了相互依賴(lài)的程度,。“它遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超出了商業(yè)范疇,，”帕瑞克說(shuō),。“我們花了很多時(shí)間一起參加社交活動(dòng),。我們一起喝酒,，一起吃飯?！彼麄兘?jīng)常去北伯克利一家名叫愷撒的小食吧,，李往往會(huì)痛飲一杯蘇格蘭威士忌，帕瑞克則喜歡喝帝國(guó)黑啤,。他們每?jī)蓚€(gè)星期總會(huì)在星期四騰出一個(gè)夜晚,，出去聚一聚。

????When the two reported to campus in August 2008, they found themselves in the same cohort of 60 incoming MBA students. They also ended up working together on a case competition involving technology and healthcare. "We did this case together and it was okay," recalls Parikh. "Nothing really came of it." Except one thing: They met another MBA student, Pejman Pour-Moezzi, who would bring them a big idea.

????"He said, 'Hey, I'm working on something," says Parikh. ""I'd like to show you guys to see if you would be interested.' That was half way through the first semester."

????They strolled over to his apartment off campus and Pour-Moezzi described the idea he called Magoosh, a play on a Persian word "Magush," which refers to a wise person. The concept was to create a community of users who would help each other prepare for the GMAT exam. The forum would be similar to an existing service, BeatTheGMAT, but the interface would embed GMAT prep software. Pour-Moezzi, who had also been a Deloitte consultant before going to Haas, had been working on it with a friend from Deloitte, Vikram Shenoy, who had a master's in computer science from the University of Southern California.

????"It was people-powered test prep, a hybrid of test prep with a forum," says Parikh. "At the apartment, Hansoo was visibly excited about education. He was passionate about it. He was on the board of an education non-profit. He came to school knowing he wanted to be an entrepreneur. He came to business school with a vision and a purpose. For me, I was interested in technology."

????They worked together over the next few months, launching a crude site in December 2008 and buying Google AdWords to help people find it. The first iteration didn't really take, but none of them gave up on it, either. Lee and Parikh decided to relinquish their chance at a summer internship. "For Hansoo, giving up an internship was a no-brainer," remembers Parikh. "For me, I at least had a safety net back at Deloitte. The worst thing that could happen is we don't pursue Magoosh, but I get this amazing experience to work on a company and I could always go back to Deloitte."

????The failure of the product's early iteration got them thinking. "Between January and May of 2009, when we realized that the idea of user-based test prep wasn't really working, we started researching why it wasn't working," says Parikh. "We surveyed a lot of our classmates who had taken the GMAT in the past few years. That's when we realized that what people want are credible experts who know the test. That's where they want to get their explanations."

????They created mockups of the product, put them in PowerPoint, and asked classmates to come and click through them as if the slides were a website. "As we got feedback," says Parikh, "we would move the boxes around and change the language and have them click again. We kept doing this until we got to a point where people said, 'This makes sense. I would sign up for that.' That is when we decided to build it." They contracted with a GMAT tutor in Vancouver to supply instructional videos on their site.

????So during those summer months, they poured themselves into building the new product. Shenoy returned to India to work on it from there. With Pour-Moezzi, who chose to take an internship at Mozilla, Lee rented a place on Arch St. in Berkeley. It quickly became the first official Magoosh headquarters. They worked in the basement or on the back patio every day, engrossed in the build that was informed by a Workshop for Startups taught the previous semester by Professor David Charron.

????Lee and Parikh started to click. "Hansoo and I had a really good rhythm," says Parikh." It was easy to communicate. We developed a close bond. The one thing Hansoo and I had that was truly special was that we were both completely committed to Magoosh."

????Out of that shared interest came a deep and profound friendship, even a dependence. "It was well beyond a business thing," says Parikh. "We spent a lot of time together in social settings. We drank together. We ate together." They would typically saunter over to Cesar, a tapas bar in North Berkeley where Lee would swill scotch and Parikh would down Imperial Stout. They'd block out the date on a calendar every two weeks on Thursday nights.