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PRE-MBA PLAYBOOK

The 30-Day AI Edge.

A structured, no-fluff guide to mastering AI tools before your MBA starts. 80+ tools. 30 days. 29 deliverables. Zero excuses.

CreatorTanmay Narnaware
Duration30 days
Tools covered80+
Deliverables29
Start Week 1 →
The premise

Why this exists.

Every MBA student arrives with the same 24 hours. The ones who compound fastest aren't smarter — they're better equipped. This playbook is the equipment list.

Over 30 days, you'll build a personal AI operating system — from research and writing to career infrastructure, business strategy, and public content. Each week has a theme, daily tasks, specific tools, and tangible deliverables.

What this is
A structured 30-day execution plan. Each day has a specific task, each week has deliverables, and every tool recommendation is tested and deliberate. Follow it linearly or jump to the week that matters most.
What this is not
A theoretical overview of AI. There are no vague "explore AI" suggestions. Every entry has a specific tool, a specific action, and a specific output. If it doesn't produce something, it's not in here.
How to use this
Start from Day 1 and work forward. Each day takes 2-4 hours. If you skip a day, don't skip the deliverable. The checkboxes track your progress across sessions. Press ⌘K anytime to search all 80+ tools.
01
Foundation Layer
Set up your AI operating system
02
Career Infrastructure
Build your professional presence
03
Business & Strategy
Think like a strategist, execute like an operator
04
Publish & Deploy
Ship your work to the world
80+
AI tools covered
30
Daily tasks
29
Deliverables
4
Weeks
Week 1

Foundation Layer

Set up your AI operating system

AI Writing & Reasoning Tools

Claude (Anthropic)
Your primary reasoning engine. Use for long-form thinking, nuanced analysis, document generation.
Freemium
ChatGPT (GPT-4o)
Use for fast drafts, brainstorming, and when you need web browsing + image generation in one place.
Freemium
Perplexity AI
AI-native search — replace Google for research. Every answer is cited.
Freemium
Gemini 1.5 Pro
1M token context window. Upload an entire PDF textbook.
Freemium
Notion AI
AI embedded in your workspace. Auto-summarise meeting notes, generate action items.
Freemium
Otter.ai
Record any meeting or lecture — it transcribes, identifies speakers, generates summary notes.
Freemium
NotebookLM (Google)
Upload PDFs, textbooks, articles — it builds a custom AI from those sources.
Free
Grammarly + GrammarlyGO
Real-time writing quality layer. Install the Chrome extension.
Freemium
Hemingway Editor
Highlights sentences that are too complex, passive voice, adverbs.
Free
Elicit
AI research assistant trained on 200M+ academic papers.
Freemium

Document Production & Productivity

Gamma.app
Type a topic → get a fully designed presentation in 60 seconds.
Freemium
Beautiful.ai
Smart presentation tool where slides auto-format.
Paid
Canva AI (Magic Studio)
Design anything — social posts, infographics, CVs.
Freemium
PDF.ai / ChatPDF
Upload any PDF → chat with it.
Freemium
Taskade
AI project management. Describe a project → full task breakdown.
Freemium
Speechify
Text-to-speech at 2-4x speed.
Freemium
Obsidian (+ AI plugins)
Local-first note-taking with knowledge graph.
Free
DeepL Translator
Best-in-class AI translation.
Freemium
HARPA AI (Chrome)
AI co-pilot that sits in your browser.
Freemium
DALL-E 3 (in ChatGPT)
Free AI image generation inside ChatGPT.
Freemium

Daily Tasks — Days 17

Week 1 Deliverables

Week 2

Career Infrastructure

Build your professional presence

AI Resume & Profile Tools

Teal
AI-powered job tracker + resume builder. Tailors your resume to each JD automatically.
Freemium
Jobscan
ATS optimization scanner. Paste your resume + JD, get a match score and fix suggestions.
Freemium
Resume.io
Clean, ATS-friendly resume templates with AI writing assistance.
Freemium
Kickresume
AI resume and cover letter generator. Uses GPT to write bullet points from job titles.
Freemium
Rezi
AI resume builder specifically designed to pass ATS filters.
Freemium
Hiration
Resume review + LinkedIn review + cover letter builder in one platform.
Freemium
Enhancv
Modern resume builder with AI content suggestions.
Freemium
Huntr
Job application tracker with AI-powered resume tailoring.
Freemium

LinkedIn & Personal Brand

Taplio
LinkedIn growth tool. AI generates post ideas, carousels, and scheduling.
Paid
AuthoredUp
LinkedIn post editor with formatting, hooks library, and analytics.
Freemium
Shield Analytics
LinkedIn analytics dashboard. Track impressions, engagement, follower growth.
Paid
Crystal Knows
Personality AI for networking. Shows DISC profile of any LinkedIn contact.
Freemium
Lavender
AI email coach. Scores your emails and suggests improvements in real-time.
Freemium
Loom
Async video messaging. Record quick video intros for networking and applications.
Freemium
Carrd
One-page websites in minutes. Perfect for a simple personal landing page.
Freemium
Read.cv
Beautiful minimal portfolio. Show projects, writing, and work experience.
Free
Peerlist
Professional profile for builders. Combines resume + portfolio + proof of work.
Free
Calendly
Scheduling tool. Set up a booking link for networking calls and informational interviews.
Freemium
Durable
AI website builder. Generates a full personal site from a few prompts.
Freemium
Wix AI
AI-powered website builder for more complex portfolio sites.
Freemium

Daily Tasks — Days 814

Week 2 Deliverables

Week 3

Business & Strategy

Think like a strategist, execute like an operator

Market Research & Intelligence

Statista
Market data, industry reports, infographics. Essential for any case study or business plan.
Freemium
CB Insights
Startup and venture capital intelligence. Track funding, market maps, emerging tech.
Freemium
Crunchbase
Company database. Funding rounds, founders, acquisitions, employee count.
Freemium
SimilarWeb
Website analytics and competitive traffic intelligence. Compare digital footprints.
Freemium
Google Trends
Search trend analysis. Compare interest over time, by region. Essential for market sizing.
Free
Think with Google
Consumer insights, marketing trends, and data-driven case studies from Google.
Free
Exploding Topics
Spot rapidly growing trends before they peak. Great for business ideation.
Freemium
AlternativeTo
Find alternatives to any software. Useful for competitive landscape analysis.
Free

Presentations & Financial Modeling

Pitch
Collaborative presentation tool with beautiful templates. Better than PowerPoint for team decks.
Freemium
Tome AI
AI-first presentation builder. Generates narrative-driven slides from a prompt.
Freemium
Rows.com
AI-powered spreadsheets. Natural language queries on your data.
Freemium
Causal
Financial modeling tool. Build projections, scenarios, and dashboards without Excel complexity.
Freemium
Julius AI
Upload data → get instant analysis, charts, and insights. No coding required.
Freemium
Fathom
AI meeting recorder and summarizer. Auto-generates action items and highlights.
Freemium

Automation & Data Extraction

Zapier
Connect 5,000+ apps. Automate repetitive workflows without code.
Freemium
Make (Integromat)
Visual automation builder. More powerful than Zapier for complex workflows.
Freemium
IFTTT
Simple automations. "If This Then That" logic for apps and devices.
Freemium
Browse AI
Extract data from any website without code. Monitor competitor pages automatically.
Freemium
PhantomBuster
LinkedIn and web automation. Extract profiles, auto-connect, scrape data at scale.
Paid
Bardeen
Browser automation. Record workflows and replay them. Great for repetitive research tasks.
Freemium

Daily Tasks — Days 1521

Week 3 Deliverables

Week 4

Publish & Deploy

Ship your work to the world

Content Creation & Publishing

Substack
Newsletter platform. Start a weekly MBA insights newsletter. Build an audience before campus.
Free
Medium
Publishing platform with built-in distribution. Write long-form MBA insights and career reflections.
Free
Hashnode
Developer/builder blog. Perfect if you're building anything technical alongside your MBA.
Free
Typeshare
Write once, publish everywhere. Templates for LinkedIn, Twitter, newsletters.
Freemium
Buffer
Social media scheduling. Plan a week of LinkedIn posts in one sitting.
Freemium
Hootsuite
Social media management. Schedule, monitor, and analyze across platforms.
Freemium
Later
Visual social media planner. Great for Instagram content if building a visual brand.
Freemium
Hypefury
Twitter/X growth tool with AI-powered scheduling and engagement automation.
Paid

Video, Audio & Creative

Descript
Edit video/audio by editing text. Remove filler words automatically. Create polished content fast.
Freemium
CapCut
Video editing with AI features. Auto-captions, templates, effects. Perfect for short-form content.
Free
Runway ML
AI video generation and editing. Text-to-video, image-to-video, background removal.
Freemium
ElevenLabs
AI voice generation and cloning. Create professional voiceovers for presentations.
Freemium
Riverside.fm
Studio-quality podcast and video recording. Record remote interviews in high fidelity.
Freemium
Opus Clip
AI short-form video generator. Upload a long video → get viral clips automatically.
Freemium

Portfolio & Deployment

Vercel
Deploy websites instantly. If you build a Next.js portfolio, Vercel is the gold standard.
Free
Framer
No-code website builder with pro-level design. Faster than Webflow for portfolios.
Freemium
Super.so
Turn Notion pages into beautiful websites. If your MBA OS is in Notion, publish parts of it.
Paid
Mixo
AI landing page generator. Describe your idea → get a live page in 30 seconds.
Freemium
Notion (Public Pages)
Share Notion pages publicly. Quick way to publish research, notes, or portfolios.
Free
Bento
Link-in-bio tool. One page with all your links, projects, and social profiles. Clean and minimal.
Free

Daily Tasks — Days 2230

Week 4 Deliverables

Daily rhythm

Sample Daily Schedule

Here's how a typical weekday could look during your 30-day prep.

7:00 AM
Morning review + journaling
REVIEW
8:00 AM
Tool exploration + tutorials
LEARN
9:30 AM
Active building (deliverables)
BUILD
11:00 AM
Research + reading
LEARN
12:00 PM
Break + lunch
1:00 PM
Content creation + writing
BUILD
2:30 PM
Networking + outreach
APPLY
3:30 PM
Practice + experimentation
BUILD
5:00 PM
Review + reflection
REVIEW
Final word

You're already ahead.

If you've made it this far — even just reading — you're thinking about preparation in a way most students won't. The gap between "I know about AI" and "I use AI to produce better work faster" is the gap this playbook closes.

The 29 deliverables are not busywork. Each one is something you'll either use directly in your MBA or point to in an interview. The tools are not exhaustive — they're curated. And the schedule is not rigid — it's a starting frame you can adapt.

From Tanmay

I wrote this because I wish I had it. When I landed in Bamberg for my exchange semester, I realized that every hour I'd spent learning AI tools before the MBA started was an hour I didn't have to spend catching up. The students who arrive prepared don't just survive — they compound.

This document is not about being perfect. It's about being ready. Use it as a starting point, not a rulebook. Adapt it. Skip what doesn't fit. Add what I missed. But whatever you do — don't arrive empty-handed.

— Tanmay Narnaware, MBA '26 · WeSchool Mumbai · Exchange: Bamberg, Germany

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