From Nukkad Nataks to Startups: Abhimanyu Gupta’s Journey to Kellogg & Wharton
Abhimanyu Gupta grew up across Delhi-NCR, constantly shifting schools and neighborhoods as his father—an Airtel employee—moved with his job. Amid this steady movement, he found his anchor in problem-solving. “I loved puzzles, tough questions, anything that needed thinking through,” he recalls. That instinct eventually led him to IIT Kanpur, where he studied chemical engineering.
But college did more than sharpen his analytical mind—it awakened a new part of him. “I’d buried my creative side while preparing for JEE. IIT gave me the chance to bring it back.” Abhimanyu threw himself into dramatics, joining the theatre society and eventually leading its street play division. Performing Nukkad Nataks across villages on topics like gender violence and mental health, he found purpose in storytelling. “It wasn’t just acting. It was awareness. It was impact.”
Leadership came naturally. In his final year, he helped organize Antaragni, one of India’s biggest college cultural festivals, managing over 200 events with teams across the country. That experience—juggling chaos with clarity—nudged him towards consulting, where he spent over two years working across sectors—from transportation to personal care. What shaped him most, though, was his work with early-stage startups, a vertical his firm began exploring during COVID. “Every week brought a new kind of problem to solve,” he says. “I found that environment electric.”
This appetite for creation led him to Venviz, an early-stage B2B marketplace for project procurement. As one of the founding team members, Abhimanyu had a front-row seat to the zero-to-one journey: ideating product features, launching GTM strategies, building pricing models, and celebrating the company’s first revenues. “There’s something raw and fulfilling about seeing an idea materialize—piece by piece.”
That’s when he knew he was ready to deepen his exposure and perspectives. “I’ve always known I wanted to build something of my own,” he says. “The MBA was a natural next step—not to change directions, but to build range.”
With a strong GMAT score and an even stronger story, Abhimanyu began his MBA application journey with Admissions Gateway. “I was a bit late to the game,” he admits, “but working with Aparna changed the pace and quality of my process entirely.”
What stood out for him was his MBA admission consultant’s emotional attunement and strategic clarity. “I had this pre-set notion of applying to 5–6 schools in Round 1. But AG made me pause, think about quality over quantity, and helped me reset my timeline.” From helping him distill his goals to guiding every micro-aspect of the application—from form fields to resume line edits—his consultant was deeply involved. “She was relentless in the best way,” he says.
One of his biggest learnings? The importance of pulling out deeply personal anecdotes. “She helped me reflect on moments I had forgotten—family interactions, childhood learnings, failures—and we wove those into stories that felt real and powerful.”
Abhimanyu was interviewed at almost every school he applied to, and ultimately received admits from Kellogg and Wharton, schools that had been at the top of his list from the beginning.
For those just starting out, he offers three pieces of advice:
- Get the GMAT out of the way early. “It gives you the mental space to focus on your story.”
- Don’t blindly chase rankings. “Fit matters more than prestige—choose schools aligned with your goals.”
- Dig deep into your life. “The best essays aren’t about achievements—they’re about who you are when no one’s watching.”
Abhimanyu’s story is one of clarity, courage, and conviction. Whether he’s scripting a street play, breaking into new markets, or building companies from scratch—he brings empathy, structure, and soul. Wharton, it seems, is just the next act.
To read more such stories of folks who got into their dream business schools to pursue their lifelong passion, check out our success stories.
