We caught Elise Hoffmann, London Business School MBA Class of 2024, right in the middle of a balancing act. We’re not talking about her hobby of slacklining, but rather her recent move to co-founding a startup in the climatetech space. Since graduating from LBS, she worked as Chief of Staff at Beam, a robotics and AI driven offshore wind and marine surveying analytics scaleup; just last month, she launched Roseridge Insights as a co-founder. In this Real Humans: Alumni, Elise shares her journey to and through the LBS program, what she learned along the way and more about her entrepreneurial path.
Elise Hoffmann, London Business School MBA Class of 2024, Co-Founder at Roseridge Insights
Age: 33
Hometown: Ottawa, Canada
Undergraduate Institution and Major: Global Development Studies, Queen’s University (Canada)
Pre-MBA Work Experience: 5 years Consulting – Digital Strategy, PwC. Associate to Manager; 1 year Digital Product Management – Laurentian Bank of Canada; 2 years Strategy & Operations Director – Heliolytics, a climatetech startup.
Post-MBA Work Experience: Since graduating in 2024, I have been working as Chief of Staff at Beam, a robotics and AI driven offshore wind and marine surveying analytics scaleup. However, as of writing this, I will have transitioned to a full-time climatetech startup co-founder role.
The startup focuses on solving the ‘insight to action’ gap on renewable energy sites like solar. There are still major gaps between gathering data, generating insights, and taking action for operations & maintenance activities. While I’ll keep the exact idea under wraps until we develop it further, it will end up being a B2B SaaS platform that will supply advanced data conversion and analytics tools, and will utilise advancements in agentic AI to support and augment users.
Why did you choose to attend business school?
Two reasons: first, because I have a non-business undergraduate degree and felt I needed to gain more business skills to succeed in increasingly senior/independent roles, and second, because I was interested in moving from Canada to the UK/Europe.
Why LBS? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to attend?
I was looking for a top-rated two-year MBA, in the UK or Europe, which narrowed down schools right away. Ultimately, I chose LBS because it provided the most scheduling flexibility, meaning I could choose to study, travel, network, and work part time particularly in my second year. I also felt the greatest cultural fit with LBS, and that’s where networking with current students as a prospective student is essential to choosing the right school.
What about your MBA experience prepared you for your current career?
Having an MBA from LBS gave me the heightened business acumen, particularly finance and fundraising skills, for my Chief of Staff role. It also has given me the confidence to become a co-founder. Four experiences at LBS in particular shaped this: meeting so many classmates with different kinds of business/startup/finance backgrounds, participating in the Turner MIINT impact investing competition and representing LBS at the finals at Wharton, taking the electives that I did (LBS has great finance electives), and spending about seven months supporting the LBS founder of a green hydrogen startup, Ki Hydrogen, in raising their pre-seed round.
What was your internship during business school? How did that inform your post-MBA career choice?
I spent about seven months supporting the LBS founder (Koji Muto) of a green hydrogen startup, Ki Hydrogen, in raising their pre-seed round. This experience proved to be instrumental to my post-MBA career! The fundraising experience I gained opened doors to my current role. Plus shadowing a fellow LBS-er as he built his startup increased my confidence and understanding of what it’s like to be a founder coming out of business school.
Why did you choose your current company? What factors figured most prominently into your decision of where to work?
For my Chief of Staff role (the role I chose right out of the MBA), I wanted to ensure I built on what I had learned in the MBA to solidify my new skills. I also wanted to ensure the job put me on a path to a leadership position in climatetech, either at a scaleup or by founding my own company.
Advice to current MBA students:
–One thing you would absolutely do again as part of the job search?
In person networking played a big part in my post-MBA job search. I travelled to several major European climatetech startup and investing conferences, as well as taking advantage of the many similar events in London. I would check to see if any LBS alumni were present, and also source interesting people and companies to meet with. I ended up not only getting some strong leads, but made some great industry contacts along the way.
–One thing you would change or do differently as part of the job search?
Many people in their first year after graduating realize what they want in a job or career has changed. I encourage everyone to keep an eye out for opportunities even once they have accepted their post-MBA role, and even while in their role (as we all should be doing at all times anyway!) You never know what will come up and when.
–What piece of advice do you wish you had been given during your MBA?
In an MBA you end up missing out on more opportunities (for events, socialising, classes, and more) than you end up doing. There is simply too much going on at once to do it all! Pick a few priorities/focus areas and learn how to feel ok with the FOMO. You’ll look back on the experience and remember all the amazing things you did do. You won’t remember the thing you didn’t do.
