Mgi Group Composition

MGI’s group composition was rich in terms of diversity. On paper, there was a multi-skills team with a variety of backgrounds, expertise, and personalities.

There was a rich composition of backgrounds given by the geographical and expertise variety of its members. The founding partners had Soviet roots. Although Igor and Roman were Ukrainians, Sasha, who born in Russia, was seen as more American by the other two. Sasha refused to speak in his native language and had embraced a lot of the American culture. The other team members were Henry, an American Harvard MBA student, Dana a Romanian Harvard MBA student, Dev an American MIT MBA student, and Alex a Berkeley College Music student.

In addition, each member was an expert in their field. Their expertise range covered from the more rigorous financial aspects of a business to the more creative and artistic aspects of the music industry. Igor, for example, had a well-known reputation in the music industry and had experience and connections within the US and European markets. Roman was an “international acclaimed composer” having won multiples awards. In contrast, Henry and Dana had a little understanding of the music industry but they had a strong business and financial backgrounds, both skills that could add real value to MGI. As Roman said, “we understand from the start that we needed a business plan but we didn’t have anyone to do it.”

Another strength was the shared passion and commitment that each member had in the product/company. The founders had work hard to develop the product and were convinced that it would become a success. The feeling was shared with the other members, according to the Case, “Henry was impressed with MGI’s product, and the company's seemingly desperate need for business planning only heightened his enthusiasm” and Dana was “interested in the product and with the concept for repackaging music into an interactive format.”