Founder’s Perspective: Launching WitPrep While Navigating Goizueta’s One-Year MBA

For many students, business school is a time to explore new ideas and opportunities. For Fatih Can Yildirim 26MBA, it has also become the launchpad for a new venture.

Originally from Turkey, Yildirim recently launched WitPrep, an EdTech startup focused on helping students prepare for exams like the GRE, GMAT, and IELTS. While completing Goizueta Business School’s intensive One-Year MBA program, he has been navigating the realities of entrepreneurship while building a company from the ground up.

Yildirim shares more about the inspiration behind WitPrep, what it’s like launching a startup during business school, and how his experience at Goizueta has shaped his entrepreneurial journey.

To start, can you tell us a little about yourself and what brought you to Goizueta’s One-Year MBA program?

My professional journey began in law, where after gaining experience at top-tier international firms, I founded and managed my own law office in Turkey for seven years. Parallel to my legal career, I’ve always been driven by social impact. I co-founded the NGO ‘Hayaller Kuruyoruz’ (We Are Dreaming) specifically to tackle educational inequality; we successfully established 12 libraries across 11 cities in Turkey to ensure students in underserved areas had a place to dream and learn.

However, my ultimate ambition has always been to become a global entrepreneur. While my law career provided me with experience in creative problem-solving, negotiation, and pragmatic execution, I realized that leading a world-class venture required reinforcing that expertise with advanced business mastery. I viewed the MBA as the essential bridge to transform from a legal professional into a global founder.

I specifically chose Goizueta’s One-Year MBA because of its high-intensity environment and academic excellence. As a founder, time is my most valuable asset; the accelerated nature of the program allowed me to gain a world-class business education without a lengthy hiatus from my venture. What truly set Goizueta apart for me was the small class sizes and the direct access to faculty—an environment where theory meets immediate application.

You recently launched WitPrep. What inspired you to start this EdTech company?

The inspiration for WitPrep came from my own struggles as a student. While preparing for graduate exams, I realized that most existing tools were either prohibitively expensive or built on a ‘one-size-fits-all’ architecture, which leads to significant inefficiencies and wasted time. I found myself spending hours on topics I had already mastered simply because the platforms couldn’t adapt to my specific needs.

Furthermore, I noticed that while many companies claimed to be ‘AI-powered,’ their integration rarely went beyond a basic chatbot. There was a clear lack of deep, adaptive learning that could truly personalize the study journey. This gap—combined with my mission to tackle educational inequality through my NGO work—drove me to build a solution that was both smarter and more accessible.

For readers who may not be familiar, what is WitPrep and what problem are you hoping to solve for students preparing for exams like the GRE, GMAT, and IELTS?

WitPrep is an adaptive AI test prep company that replaces repetitive study loops with a personalized path to mastery. Most learners are trapped in a ‘one-size-fits-all’ model, often falling into gamified plateaus—much like the ‘Duolingo loop’—where they spend hours repeating mastered concepts to maintain a streak rather than achieving true growth. Consequently, students waste nearly 50% of their study time on material they have already conquered, creating a false sense of achievement while their actual scores remain stagnant.

For high-stakes exams like IELTS and GRE, witprep.com offers tools such as an AI Speaking Coach, a virtual Interviewer, and automated Essay Grading. These features provide granular, instant feedback on everything from pronunciation and fluency to logical structure—simulating the 24/7 presence of an elite private tutor. By leveraging this technology, witprep.com solves the ‘accessibility-quality’ paradox, democratizing world-class coaching for students globally. Just as the libraries I built tackled physical inequality, WitPrep is my digital mission to ensure that no student’s potential is limited by inefficient tools or financial barriers.

Launching a company while completing the One-Year MBA sounds intense. What has it been like balancing entrepreneurship with the demands of the program?

To be honest, it’s a constant sprint. The One-Year MBA at Goizueta is incredibly fast-paced, and during the Core and Fall semesters, the academic workload was so demanding that I had to put active development on hold. There simply weren’t enough hours in the day to build a platform while staying on top of the program’s requirements. I kept thinking back to Dean Brian Mitchell’s advice that an eagle shouldn’t try to catch two rabbits at the same time; that perspective helped me realize I needed to focus fully on the academic foundation first.

However, that time wasn’t wasted. I was constantly absorbing the frameworks I knew I’d need later. It was only after finishing the Fall term—during the winter break—that I finally had the headspace to dive back into development and coding. It’s a tough balance, but seeing a morning lecture directly improves my venture by the afternoon makes the hustle worth it.

How has your experience at Goizueta—whether through classmates, courses, or the broader community—helped shape or support your entrepreneurial journey?

Goizueta’s ‘Small by Design’ culture has transformed my cohort into an informal advisory board. With peers offering diverse expertise in finance, marketing, and operations, I’ve gained a 360-degree perspective that is often missing when building a venture in isolation.

Academically, the impact has been direct and immediate. In Entrepreneurial Private Equity with Professors Klaas Baks and David Panton, the experience truly broadened my horizons, reshaping how I view the entire entrepreneurial journey and what it takes to scale a venture. Simultaneously, the Agentic Based Systems course with Professors Rajiv Garg and Wen Gu has been pivotal for WitPrep’s technical evolution. Their insights into autonomous AI agents pushed me to move beyond basic automation toward a truly intelligent, agentic ecosystem.

At Goizueta, I’ve found an environment where theory meets immediate application. This community provides more than just an education; it offers the high-level mentorship and technical expertise necessary to build a venture at the forefront of educational technology.

As an international student building a startup in the U.S., have there been any unique challenges or perspectives that have shaped your approach as a founder?

Navigating the U.S. ecosystem as an international founder requires a high level of discipline, particularly regarding legal compliance. Currently, I am treating WitPrep as a strategic extension of my MBA, focusing on its development as a ‘live market test’ while preparing for my OPT phase. This means investing time and resources without immediate financial return, all while managing the intensity of a top-tier program.

However, these challenges are outweighed by the advantages of being here. The U.S. remains the premier environment for entrepreneurship due to its unparalleled access to talent, capital, and the sheer speed of innovation. These constraints have actually made me a more deliberate founder; they force you to operate with a level of focus and intensity that is essential for building a world-class venture.

Looking back on the journey so far, what have been some of the most rewarding moments since launching WitPrep?

The most rewarding part has been the organic market validation. As a solopreneur, seeing WitPrep hit over 2 million requests in just 30 days is incredible. Reaching peaks of 20,000 unique visitors in a single day proves that the demand is real.

The real win is knowing that I’ve built a solid foundation that is ready for me to lead full-time once my OPT begins. Knowing I have a functioning structure that can help students the moment I’m authorized to work makes all the preparation worth it.

What advice would you give to other Goizueta students who are thinking about launching a venture while in business school?

Treat every class as a workshop for your venture. Don’t just learn the theory—apply it to your business model that same afternoon. Leverage the community for feedback, but don’t rush to monetize too early. Focus on building a rock-solid strategic foundation while you’re in school, so that the moment you graduate, you’re ready to hit the ground running.

Interested in exploring Full-Time MBA opportunities? Learn more about Goizueta’s Full-Time MBA program.