Adding Business Fundamentals to a Global Career: Theresa Hoffmann-Mogev’s NUS MBA Journey
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Theresa Hoffmann-Mogev
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Before joining the NUS MBA, Theresa Hoffmann-Mogev had already built a remarkable career across research, startups, and technology. “I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have worked in a variety of fields before my MBA, from tech to research,” she says. “Often, just being in the right place at the right time allowed me to grow in ways I hadn’t planned.”
Her journey began at a startup, where she worked from its early days until its eventual acquisition. “I helped several others with their GTM strategy,” she recalls. “During and beyond my Master’s in Israel, I held a research role at an Israeli think tank under the former Israeli ambassador to the UN. I focused on Israel-Asia relations and wrote for major local and international newspapers on the topic. I later also worked for a large tech company.”
These diverse experiences not only gave her a broad set of skills but also highlighted what she needed for her career. “However, I recognised a real gap: I needed to add a basic business and financial understanding to my skillset. An MBA felt like the most structured way to do this.”
Her decision to study in Singapore was both personal and professional. “I also really wanted to spend more time in Asia, having lived for a while in India and Hong Kong. Singapore, as a melting pot of cultures and the regional business hub, was the perfect choice. Since NUS is simply the best school in the region, that decision was easy.”
Theresa with an NUS backdrop (left), Theresa holding a cap at a VCIC event (right)
Finding Her Path in the MBA Classroom
Before joining NUS, Theresa had never worked in investing. Her background was rooted in tech and research. That’s why the finance courses at NUS became such an essential part of her journey.
On Financial Management and Portfolio Management, she says, “These classes provided me with the fundamentals that I use today in my job. On a personal level, the knowledge I gained helped me build my own portfolio in a way far beyond what had been a basic, index fund-heavy allocation strategy before the program. I believe Financial Management was the core course that truly set me on the track of wanting to pursue a career in Finance after the MBA, and Portfolio Management gave me a lot of the hands-on tools to actually do it.”
Those two courses, she says, shaped the direction of her post-MBA career more than she ever expected. It has transformed someone with no prior investing experience into a professional who now manages portfolios and evaluates ventures for a global VC firm.
Theresa’s time at NUS also deepened her fascination with artificial intelligence. “I’m not sure my excitement about the possibilities unlocked by AI is just a natural trigger to the German in me that’s obsessed with efficiency and optimisation of processes, or if there was a specific moment that sparked it,” she admits.
“But my journey at NUS has definitely fed this excitement in many ways. I remember talking to classmates who were already experimenting with their own agentic frameworks or who were building solutions with vibe coding platforms. I also remember professors who talked us through the benefits and challenges with increasing use of AI in not only academia, but also in our lives in general.”
Memorable Experiences Beyond the Classroom
If the classroom gave Theresa the foundation, the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) gave her real-world application. “I remember the initial envy from many teams when my team won the NUS round of the competition. That quickly changed when people saw us sitting day in and day out, often till late into the night at school, intensely studying term sheets, practising valuation methods, and perfecting our due diligence practices,” she recalls.
The long hours forged a lasting camaraderie. “My VCIC team quickly became the group of people I saw the most—often more than my own family—and we formed a very strong bond,” she says. “Winning the regional round and going to the US to compete there was an incredible experience that made us love, appreciate, and sometimes even almost hate each other (only a bit, haha). We formed truly meaningful connections and friendships that have transformed all of us.”
It also proved career-defining. “On a career note, 3 out of 5 of us actually pivoted into VC/PE careers. So the competition had very real, tangible career impacts for us all.”
For prospective MBA candidates, her experience shows that the MBA program extends far beyond textbooks and lectures. Competitions like these allow students to apply ideas in real-time, test judgment under pressure, and discover new strengths through collaboration.
Theresa and her MBA friends
Advice for Potential MBA Candidates
Like many MBA students, Theresa juggled multiple priorities. Besides the MBA programme, she was managing CFA preparation and competitions simultaneously. What kept her grounded, she says, was a simple mantra. “My husband kept repeating a simple saying to me: ‘You don’t make decisions on the way.’ I think this simple phrase was one of the most impactful ones in my life.”
“When there’s a lot on your plate and things get tough, it’s natural to feel like quitting or wanting to make changes. But recognising that and don’t make any decisions when it’s hard helped me a lot just to move forward. So, through the sleepless nights, while balancing my studies, VCIC, and internships, I just kept repeating this to myself—not to make decisions on the way, but to accept things and keep working hard. Eventually, things paid off, and knowing how hard it had been made the success so much sweeter.”
Today, Theresa is an Investment Manager at Antler, a global venture capital firm. The role brings together everything she loves about her previous experiences. “I’ve been very lucky to have started a job as an Investment Manager at Antler, a global Venture Capital firm, after the MBA,” she says. “In this career, I’m able to combine many of the things I love: being in a fast-paced environment, staying close to innovation and extremely driven founders, and doing constant research to feed my curiosity for discovering new ideas.”
She credits the MBA with enabling this shift. “The NUS MBA gave me the financial knowledge I needed, provided access to the connections that helped me, and introduced me to the friends who supported me to successfully make this pivot from research/tech into Venture Capital.”
Theresa’s graduation at the NUS MBA commencement!
Start Your Own Transformation
Like Theresa, you can redefine your career and join a global network of innovators shaping the future of business. Learn more about the NUS MBA and start your journey today.
