Shaaya S.

Shaaya Sharifi

5.0

(16)

Get Into the Right MBA Program and Actually Leverage It

Haas School of Business (Berkeley) Logo

Studied at Haas School of Business (Berkeley)

Exit Consulting Group Logo

Works at Exit Consulting Group

Successful clients at

Available Friday at 12:00 AM UTC

Questions? Start chatting with this coach before you get started.

Shaaya's Coaching Offerings

Custom hourly · $350/hr

Get help with Recommendations, Cover Letters, and .

Shaaya also coaches for Career Coaching, Private Equity, and Leadership Coaching. View all.

Shaaya’s MBA Qualifications

Shaaya has helped clients get into these schools:

I’ve worked with operators, investors, and founders across different stages of their careers, including many who have used an MBA to pivot, accelerate, or reposition themselves. I completed my MBA at UC Berkeley, and more importantly, I’ve seen how the degree actually plays out in the real world. In my career across private equity, venture building, and now advising founder-led businesses, I’ve seen what the MBA unlocks and where it falls short if not approached intentionally. Getting into a program is only part of the equation. The real value comes from how you position your story, choose the right program, and use the experience to create opportunities on the other side. I work with candidates on both admission strategy and how to think beyond it, so you are not just getting in, but setting yourself up for the outcomes you actually want after graduation.

Shaaya can help with:

Recommendations

Cover Letters

General Exploration

Resume

Testing & Assessments

Supplementary Materials

School Selection

Essays

Secondary Review

Application Strategy

Financial Aid & Scholarships

Interviews

Editing

Ding Analysis

Networking Strategy

Waitlist Strategy

Shaaya also coaches for Career Coaching, Private Equity, and Leadership Coaching. View all.

About Shaaya

Most career decisions that matter are not obvious in the moment. They look like lateral moves, risky bets, or opportunities that are hard to evaluate from the outside. I’ve spent my career working with founders, operators, and investors at those exact moments. Today, I’m a Managing Director and General Manager at Exit Consulting Group, advising founder-led businesses on growth, transitions, and M&A. Before that, I helped build and scale companies inside AAA’s venture studio. Earlier, I worked in private equity, consulting, and startups, so I’ve seen how decisions get made from both the investor and operator side. What I’ve learned is that most people are not stuck because they lack ability. They are stuck because they are making decisions without a clear strategy. That is where I focus. I work with: Operators who want to step into more senior roles People navigating inflection points like staying, leaving, or changing paths Candidates targeting competitive roles in private equity, strategy, and leadership Our sessions are focused on clarity and positioning. What are you actually optimizing for, and what path gives you the highest probability of getting there? If you are looking for basic resume edits or interview scripts, I am probably not the right fit. If you are trying to make a high-stakes decision or take a more intentional approach to your career, I can help.

Why do I coach?

I didn’t get to where I am by following a clear or obvious path. Most of the meaningful decisions I’ve made came with incomplete information, conflicting advice, and real tradeoffs. What made the biggest difference for me was having a few people in my corner who had seen more than I had. They didn’t just give advice. They helped me think more clearly, pressure test decisions, and avoid mistakes that would have been hard to unwind later. That stuck with me. Over time, I found myself naturally playing that role for others. Teammates, founders, and people earlier in their careers would come to me when they were at a crossroads. Not because I had perfect answers, but because I could help them see the situation more clearly and think through the implications. Coaching matters to me because most career decisions are made in isolation, and they shouldn’t be. The cost of getting it wrong is high, and the upside of getting it right compounds over time. If I can help someone make a better decision at the right moment, that tends to have a much bigger impact than any single tactic or piece of advice.

Work Experience

Exit Consulting Group Logo

Managing Director and GM

Exit Consulting Group

August 2025 - Present

I am building and leading ECG’s Orange County / Los Angeles practice, advising founder-led and privately held companies on M&A, exit planning, and enterprise value creation. My role sits at the intersection of investment banking, management consulting, and general management, partnering with owners and leadership teams through periods of growth, transition, and liquidity.

New System Ventures Logo

Advisor

New System Ventures

May 2025 - Present

New System Ventures invests in the world’s leading companies accelerating energy security, reindustrialization, and innovation across mobility, energy and industry and related technologies.

AAA Mountain West Group Logo

Senior Director, Business Transformation

AAA Mountain West Group

November 2024 - Present

Hiring Manager

Reporting to the Chief M&A Officer, lead the planning and execution of transformative initiatives and organizational change.

AI Entrepreneurs at Berkeley Logo

Advisor

AI Entrepreneurs at Berkeley

June 2023 - Present

AIEB is a central club and network for AI-related entrepreneurial endeavors at the world’s leading AI research university. Where Start-ups, students and researcher come together to build the future.

Berkeley Skydeck Logo

Startup Advisor

Berkeley Skydeck

February 2023 - Present

UC Berkeley's official startup accelerator. Providing SkyDeck startup founders with mentorship. Working with several founding teams now. Additionally, participate in interview and selection of startups in collaboration with SkyDeck General Partners.

A3Ventures Logo

Senior Director, Strategy & Business Development

A3Ventures

July 2019 - October 2024

Hiring Manager

A3Ventures is the venture studio and investment arm of AAA, focused on building and scaling new businesses that leverage AAA’s national platform and 60M+ member ecosystem. Lead strategic initiatives, enterprise partnerships, and special projects for A3V.

VIMOC Logo

Head of Sales and Strategic Positioning

VIMOC

July 2018 - July 2019

Hiring Manager

Seed stage startup that built practical applications in mobility and security using proprietary edge computing hardware and AI computer vision software. I learned how to build and fail fast as well as the incredible hard work it takes to get a startup off the ground among many other things.

PayByPhone Technologies Logo

Director of Sales, West

PayByPhone Technologies

April 2017 - June 2018

Hiring Manager

PayByPhone Technologies Inc is one of the fastest growing mobile payments companies in the world processing over $500 million in payments annually in over 300 cities across North America, Europe and Australia. World-class cities that partner with PayByPhone include Vancouver, London, Paris, Geneva, San Francisco, Miami, and Seattle. Through the company’s mobile web, smartphone and smartwatch applications, PayByPhone helps over 50 million global consumers easily and securely pay for parking and transportation services.

Douglas Emmett Logo

Senior Associate, Capital Markets

Douglas Emmett

February 2016 - October 2016

Douglas Emmett, Inc. (NYSE: DEI) is a fully integrated, self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust (REIT), and one of the largest owners and operators of high-quality office and multifamily properties located in the premier coastal submarkets of Los Angeles and Honolulu.

Cohen Asset Management Logo

Acquisitions Associate

Cohen Asset Management

March 2014 - February 2016

Established in 1992 and headquartered in Los Angeles, CAM is a highly recognized, national real estate owner and active operator with a primary focus on the industrial real estate sector. CAM manages approximately $1 billion in real estate assets.

Sabal Financial Group Logo

Acquisitions Associate

Sabal Financial Group

November 2011 - March 2014

Sabal is an international diversified financial services firm specializing in real estate, banking and lending headquartered in Newport Beach, California. The firm’s flagship Principal Investments business has established a strong foothold in the distressed debt arena, acquiring nearly $8.2 billion in real estate assets since the firm’s inception in 2009. The Sabal platform also operates a number of complementary businesses including Real Estate Capital Solutions, Advisory Solutions, and Third-Party Servicing.

Bank of America Logo

Credit Analyst

Bank of America

November 2010 - November 2011

In late 2008, Bank of America acquired Countrywide Financial for $4.1 billion in an acquisition that would be called "the worst deal in the history of American finance." In my role, I helped to mitigate the financial loss in the Countrywide mortgage portfolio. I had a front row seat to the mortgage crisis and the collapse of the industry as it transpired.

Education

Haas School of Business (Berkeley) Logo

Haas School of Business (Berkeley)

Master of Business Administration

University of California, Los Angeles Logo

University of California, Los Angeles

Bachelor of Arts, Economics

2005 - 2009

16 Reviews

Overall Rating

5.0


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Shaaya S.

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