Diego Casabe (ESADE MBA) shares what prospective applicants actually need: how the ESADE experience can support entrepreneurship, what "community" looks like in practice, and how living in Barcelona can shape both lifestyle and venture execution. Diego is a co-founder of Kleta, a monthly bicycle rental company in Barcelona with theft protection and maintenance support; he began developing the idea while earning his MBA. This post extracts the repeatable admissions takeaways: how to evaluate ESADE for founders, how to build a credible "why Barcelona" story, and how to keep your application timeline moving while you build.
After graduating from one of the top business programs in the world, Diego Casabe gives us valuable ESADE school insights. He details his experiences as an entrepreneur and explains his lifestyle as an Argentinian in Barcelona.
For applicants, this kind of story is most useful when you treat it as a blueprint: what did the program environment enable, and what did Diego do with it?
Diego is a proud co-founder of Kleta, a bicycle renting company that was listed as one of the "Most Disruptive MBA Startups" by Poets and Quants for 2020 (Poets&Quants). Diego began developing Kleta while earning his MBA at ESADE in Barcelona.
The company is centered in Barcelona and provides monthly bicycle rentals with theft protection for busy locals. Diego explains the venture as a response to a local problem: security concerns and the friction of owning and maintaining a bike in a dense city environment.
As of January 2021, Kleta had over 100 rented bicycles in circulation. Diego also shared growth goals, including expanding the fleet and exploring electronic models.
Diego founded Kleta on the principles of security and flexibility; every bike is backed with theft protection and comes with a complimentary maintenance plan for breakdowns.
This is a strong founder proof point: a clear problem definition translated into product principles. For admissions, it reads as "I can identify a market constraint and design an execution-focused solution."
If you want to present entrepreneurship in your application, this is the bar: show how you think, what you built, and why it's credible—not just that you're "passionate."
Diego was inspired by his aunt who moved to Los Angeles when she was 18 to start a clothing brand. When Diego used to travel to the United States from Argentina, he fell in love with the lifestyle his aunt was living. The idea of being his own boss was intriguing to him and laid the foundation for his love of entrepreneurship.
This is a useful reminder for applicants: origin stories work best when they connect to action—what you did next, what you tested, and what you learned.
Diego emphasizes ESADE's community feel and describes the environment as "non-cutthroat." He connects that atmosphere to the international nature of the cohort and the way students support each other's professional plans.
For applicants, culture claims are only persuasive when you validate them. The best method: talk to current students and recent alumni in your target outcome (founding, joining a startup, or entrepreneurship roles) and ask what they actually did during the program week-to-week.
Diego highlights an accelerated program open to ESADE alumni, run by Professor Jan Brinkmann, focused on new business development. He describes guest speaker sessions, frequent check-ins, and a final presentation of projects to investors.
The key takeaway isn't the program name—it's the mechanism: structured accountability + external feedback + a forcing function to present ideas. When you evaluate schools for entrepreneurship, look for these mechanisms and how accessible they are in practice.
Diego's story reinforces a critical MBA truth for founders: much of the information is accessible, but the network and the environment change your speed of execution.
If you choose an MBA for entrepreneurship, choose the program where you will actually use the community, mentors, and alumni—then build proof points early.
However, he believes that it is not the basic information that propels students in the professional world, it is actually the alumni network they form along the way.
The original draft includes extensive GMAT advice. Requirements vary by program and can change, so confirm accepted tests with each school (for example, GMAT Focus Edition may be one accepted option depending on the program). The strategic point that remains evergreen: applicants should understand their "why MBA," their goals, and their fit logic—because those elements shape essays, interviews, and school selection.
We'll clarify your goals, pressure-test fit for Barcelona and ESADE, and turn your experiences into a coherent admissions narrative—without timeline drift.