Our Why
According to research done by the University of Porto, 44% of small business owners have a financial literacy rating of 2 or less on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 indicates “very good” financial literacy.
54% of small business owners surveyed in an American Express Small Business Financial Confidence Report stated they feel very confident in their ability to make sound growth decisions for their business. When broken down by business size, only 29% of the smallest small businesses say they feel very confident in their ability to make sound growth decisions, compared to 64% of the largest small businesses, highlighting a sizeable confidence gap by business size.
Meanwhile, business students everywhere are reeling from a volatile economy wherein traditional employers are even laying off high-performers by the thousands. Techcrunch has compiled over 240,000 job losses in 2023 alone. This number is already 50% higher than the total tech layoffs in 2022, and the trend seems to be continuing in 2024 with companies like Google and Amazon announcing further cuts.
Our Purpose
Unykrn exists to give entrepreneurs everywhere an expert pool of reasonably priced MBA talent, while supplying MBAs with the ability to monetize their degrees before and after graduation.
It’s true that knowledge is power, but applied knowledge is what transforms organizations, communities, and nations. We believe this starts with providing access and building bridges where chronic economic gaps exist.
Our Story
Unykrn was conceptualized at UCLA Anderson’s School of Management during one of the most tumultuous economic times in recent history. On December 5, 2021, David Pailin Jr. returned home from his classes distraught at the fact that many of his fellow part-time, full-time, and executive MBA classmates were sacrificing their time, intellectual property, and tuition to offer free consulting services, ideas, and research for large corporations in the hopes of employment after graduation.
As a third-generation decedent of small-business entrepreneurs, he knew that the knowledge and skills that his classmates possessed were valuable and dedicated his master of business capstone to developing a platform where MBA professionals could share their gifts with the organizations that needed it most. With the academic support of his Entrepreneur Venture Initiation, Business Plan Development, and Business Creation Program teammates: Nicole Djanbatian, Lida Mahabadi, Yue Wang, Bryan Evangelista, Boze Xu, Max Sturm, Scott McFadden, Kevin Farina and his graduate advisor Lauren Accordino, the frameworks of what would become Unykrn were researched and developed.
Immediately after graduation, David launched Unykrn joining forces with his mentor Dr. John Carter and UCLA Anderson Assistant Dean and Faculty Director of Applied Management Programs, Jeff Scheinrock, to develop the first MBA content that would populate the IP Marketplace. After receiving rave reviews from faculty, alumni, and entrepreneurs alike, the stage was set for our unique service offering of executive experience with graduate insight.
