Some people go to business school to get their ticket punched before heading to Wall Street or a big accounting firm. Others go with something more specific in mind -- as Jeremy Miller did.

Miller, 32, graduated from Columbia Business School (full disclosure -- so did I) in May 2010, but it's how he entered the school that's interesting. For the previous eight years, Miller worked as operations manager for Gehry Technologies Inc., the unit of mega-architect Frank Gehry's company that specializes in 3D architectural modeling.

Miller handled a variety of responsibilities, including IT, HR and finance. As part of his job, he created a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) plan for the company. He found during the process of setting up the plan that participants were confused about how to use their plans, and he started thinking about how the FSA process could be more efficient. That led to contemplating doing his own startup, perhaps having something to do with FSA plans. He then applied to Columbia's MBA program to get some entrepreneurial training.

What Miller got was more than training.

"I embraced the school and took all they were offering," Miller said. The school's entrepreneurship program incubated the startup he conceived while an MBA student, FSAStore.com, granting it $25,000 in seed capital. That's not a lot of money, admittedly. But "it was the best spent money we had. We did a lot with it." That included attending a conference of FSA administrators (companies that help employers set up FSA programs for their workers) and building its first website.

Miller then secured the company's first angel investor round of financing from Opal Moon LLC., which found out about the company through the school's Entrepreneurial Greenhouse Program, And in May 2011, the company received $800,000 in venture capital financing from Point Judith Capital.

Miller said 35 million Americans are covered by flexible spending accounts, which allow them to purchase thousands of healthcare products and services with pre-tax income. The inefficiency in the FSA model is that the accounts are use-it-or-lose-it: when the funds are not used by year-end they are usually forfeited back to employers. This amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars a year that consumers leave on the table -- $400 million in 2010 alone, Miller estimates.

The 8-employee company has about 5,000 registered users so far. The fly in the ointment now, so to speak, is being involved in a fast-changing part of the health care delivery market. In 2013, there will be a cap of $2500 on FSAs, compared with the current system of letting employers set their own cap. FSAStore.com helps its customers keep abreast of the changing landscape with extensive FAQs.

In addition to the grants and investments from Columbia, Miller also admits to hanging around after graduating and squatting in an unused conference room in Warren Hall -- and even to sneaking a few meals when food was free on Fridays. He stayed until they disconnected the phone line he was using. Now the company has offices in midtown Manhattan.