First, if you can, take other professor's 161, if you cannot, this class is also doable. The workload depends on your willingness to work, it can be easy if you do not care, and very stressful if you do. The professor is more a businessman than a professor. His reviews on our presentations are constructive mostly. But he is not a good professor. The class is not well organized as mentioned by other reviews, and not fair from the beginning. Some people get projects with real serial entrepreneurs outside the school, some develop the business based on the idea they came up on the first class. And yeah, he is very much a big ego guy who loves to show off... Even though this has nothing to do with the class, but it kind of piss people off... I did not want to give him a review until he sent out emails blaming students who wrote bad reviews on bruinwalk (honestly they are not hate comments) and ask other students to write good reviews... He values his bruinwalk rating more than students' true feelings towards the class. And he gives out critiques to students saying it helps you improve, but won't take critiques from students. Both good reviews and bad reviews on here are saying the truth, I guess if you are his kind of person, and you don't mind his personality, this class is fine for you.

This class was all over the place. The Professor himself was not helpful, ask him a question and he would reply with a rude response making you feel dumb for asking such a question or not knowing the answer already. His TA never replied to emails which was frustrating as well, the TA would also email the class last minute to submit a project on the same day with no prior notice, which was frustrating because our team would have to scramble last minute and get together to turn in the work. You could tell the class was organized poorly and both the instructor and the TA were not on the same page together. His lectures were sometimes really engaging but at other times repudiative. What I didn't like the most was the comments the Professor would make at teams projects and their progress, definitely not encouraging. Overall, it was an okay experience could have been better.

Professor Aghili overall was a very smart professor, with relevant business experience and interesting lecture topics. He brought in some great guest speakers that were very applicable to real life and gave some great insight on their own entrepreneurial journeys (Sant & Abel Founder, Winc Founder, Nike Executive, etc.) I appreciated the overall concept of the class in challenging students to build their own business in a real-life, shark tank-like arena. With that being said, my critique is more about the overall organization and communication of the class, as multiple times expectations were not clear at all, and feedback from the TA and Professor were often times conflicting, leaving our group a bit flustered. This occurred in instances where students did not know what format to turn in deliverables, or even what specifically was due for said day. There were conflicting expectations on the format and length of presentations, as well as advice and direction for our business. While Professor Aghili seemed very busy with duties beyond the class, there were many times where he lacked clear communication and expectations. It was evident he wanted to help in some way, but he came across as condescending and patronizing in how he talked to our group, and at points I for sure felt belittled in front of the whole class. There’s no doubt the purpose of his feedback was to better our product and pitch, but his overall demeanor was off-putting at times.

There are a lot of positives about this class. For one, the workload is really light. No readings. Only two cases. We pretty much work on the business plan throughout the quarter. The professor's curve is also so generous. It's pretty easy to do well.
However, I thought the class was really disorganized. The TA never responded to emails. There were times that we would see something on the syllabus that was never communicated to us in class / via email so we were unsure if it still held. There were also times when we would get asked to turn in something with literally a couple hours notice. Also, we didn't know how to turn in the first case; the professor thought we were emailing them but the TA had told some people to print it out...? It was a whole mess.
Overall, the class was okay.

MGMT 161 with Professor Aghili was by far the best class I've taken in the entrepreneurship minor. The lectures were engaging, relevant, and interesting. The cases on Nike were not too difficult and were really fun and relevant. The group project was quite intense and I got to see the first hand of creating a business, which is quite different from the textbook lessons we often learn. Professor Aghili was is very patient and helpful. He has a great sense of humor and has a way of providing constructive criticism in an encouraging manner. He is also quick to acknowledge and appreciate good work. Participation is very important in his class but he creates a very welcoming environment to make it easy for students to participate. No matter what you have to say, he is very respectful and always extracts the good content from students' answers. The only drawback to the class would probably be the lack of clarity on certain assignment deadlines. But honestly, it never hurt us in terms of grades, since the grade distribution was very very generous. Overall, if you're looking to learn about real entrepreneurship go into this class with an open mindset. I've definitely learned a lot from the class and am really grateful for the experience!

The most entitled and the rudest Professor I have ever taken and dealt with in my entire academic career. From his disrespectful comments to students presentations to how he responds to emails. He was the absolute WORST! All he cares about is letting you know how "successful" he is and showing you his sneaker collection in class. Literally his whole class is around his Nikes. He has no respect for his students one bit, and he will show it to you throughout the course. Hopefully you will not have to take him and someone more qualified as a professor and as a simple human being will be teaching.

Professor Aghili is very entitled and has the biggest ego. He makes participation mandatory but then ridicules you, making you less inclined to participate. He would also rip our group’s presentations apart and make us feel stupid. Overall he was more discouraging than encouraging. I’m not sure what he was more into: himself or the Jordan shoes he brought in to show off.

Some of these reviews are really unfair! Professor Aghili is the sweetest. Yes, he gives you feedback (very kindly mind you) on your work but he also rewards improvement and good work. Honestly, if you can't handle a little bit of constructive criticism, entrepreneurship really isn't for you.

It is important to analyze this class in two ways: from a strictly academic perspective and from a life-learning perspective. The whole class revolves around the creation of a business plan to be turned in at the end of the quarter. Whilst the syllabus outlines a very linear path, lectures did not follow the lectures verbatim. We found that communicating directly with the professor about the project is the best way to really get more precise directions since classes are not strictly structured. HOWEVER (and it is a big however) there is A LOT to learn from Prof. Aghili. His classes are almost like a seminar where he talks about what he deems helpful and that most often is really helpful in a broad-learning way. He teaches you stuff that goes beyond the textbook and the course is a really enriching experience. He i s a businessman so he is really direct and really incisive in his comments but I find that helpful given that that's how the world goes in Business. If the classes followed the syllabus a little more and the TA was more in-line with the professor the class would be the absolute best MGMT class at UCLA. Therefore there is room for improvement in the organization but that should not deter anybody who's interested in management to take this class. Overall I would take it again.

Some of the reviews for this class are really rude and unfair to the Professor. To clarify a little about the way the class was structured: yes, sometimes the syllabus was a little confusing and some logistical issues were present such as not being aware/reminded of deadlines, the TA was not very aligned with the professor sometimes, and the work was not graded until the final grade came out.

I will also say that the class was really engaging. The lectures were really fun despite it being an 8AM, and it was broken down into a lecture section and a guest speaker lecture. Prof. Aghili made a lot of effort in tapping into his own personal network to bring engaging and a diverse range of entrepreneurs and executives. Any student in his class who wants to do well should be able to do well - he was always responsive to emails, and in my experience, the TA was also willing to meet whenever we requested it. I learned a lot in this class because it was so hands-on, and we were constantly receiving feedback from the professor because we were in constant communication throughout the whole project.