

Dear MBAs, go the extra mile when pursuing a startup internship - jaf12duke
http://www.humbledmba.com/dear-mbas-go-the-extra-mile-when-pursuing-a-s

======
maukdaddy
_Engage with the general startup community: Build up your twitter account,
blog readership, and Hacker News karma score_

If someone makes a hiring decision based on my NH karma score or # of twitter
followers, I don't want to work there.

~~~
billclerico
no one is advocating making a hiring decision based on 2 numbers. but they can
show involvement and engagement in an online community, which can be valuable
to a startup

~~~
tjmaxal
Why? I'd rather have an employee who was the best at the job I need them for
than an employee who is good at tweeting.

~~~
notauser
All other things being equal I'd rather have an employee who had a personal
following of the right kind.

This is because it shows:

\- They care enough about what they do to do it in their off hours.

\- They do it well enough to gather some respect.

\- "Marketing" is much easier, and much less distasteful, when it can be done
by and to people who respect each other about things they genuinely like. And
start ups need all the marketing help they can get.

There are only a few people out there who have skill sets that are so unique
that there isn't someone just like them who also has a valuable on-line
reputation.

I'm certainly not a special snowflake, and I'm a domain expert in three
fields. I meet people who are better than me all the time.

Are you sure you are one of the ~500 people in the world who are so good that
only their specialist knowledge matters? Or should you think that every asset
you can bring, no matter how seemingly unrelated to your job description, adds
something to a start up that may help them succeed.

------
bryanh
I'm surprised this blog keeps popping up. I realize the guy got an MBA and
wasn't impressed with his experiences, but isn't constantly harping on MBA's a
little like the 14th century flagellants? Bad MBA. Bad MBA. Forgive me of my
sins. /rant

I guess being in an MBA program myself means I know the realities of the
system, so maybe these articles aren't for me, but all the same...

------
yumraj
Full disclosure: I'll be starting in a parttime MBA program this fall, in a
top-10 B-school. I write code for living, but want to explore what else is out
there for me.

I find some of his advises interesting, especially proposing your own
internship project.

However, I strongly disagree with him just dissing a person who wants to get
involved and is willing to do "anything". I really would like an MBA like
that. One, who is willing to learn, take on projects beyond his/her comfort
zone, make a contribution where it is needed. That person, IMO, is almost an
entrepreneur, as s/he is taking a risk, which most other MBAs aren't.

Saying "I'll do anything" doesn't make the MBA-intern clueless, rather makes
him a lot more motivated and open-minded about his career and future path.

Just for example, imagine a Product Manager/Marketing person who can actually
do QA and comes up with product vision after playing with a product, rather
than just doing surveys. Imagine an HR person who would actually work with the
Dev/QA to understand the company culture, as it grows, rather than just follow
the path that has been laid out before him/her. Etc...

Edit: I take criticism very well and would love to learn the fallacy of my
argument. If you do decide to downvote me, please do but I'd love to
understand why.

~~~
aberman
"Saying "I'll do anything" doesn't make the MBA-intern clueless, rather makes
him a lot more motivated and open-minded about his career and future path."

When you say "I'll do anything", I hear: "I'll do anything that you want me to
do"

That's the problem. I don't want to spend more time figuring out shit for you
to do than you spend actually doing it.

I would rather hear you say: "I'd be willing to do anything, but I know that I
could really help with ________"

~~~
yumraj
Fair enough. I can totally agree with that.

------
astrofinch
I'm not trying to be mean, but right now my perception is that a guy with an
MBA is probably not much more useful to a startup than a thoughtful guy who
reads TechCrunch and gets microeconomics.

Could anyone summarize the core insights they got from their business
education?

------
Finster
"8. Do an unsolicited SEO analysis if you want to do marketing."

Great. That's all we need... more unsolicited SEO "improvements".

~~~
billclerico
there's a difference between being solicited for SEO "consulting" and a
potential intern at your company showing he or she is knowledgeable about
online marketing and willing to get his or her hands dirty

------
gsiener
Great advice. The main thing that seekers should takeaway is that an extra
body often creates MORE work, not less. The more self-sufficient someone can
present themselves as, the better.

~~~
billclerico
totally agree

------
nileshtrivedi
I did my MBA internship with a startup (15 employees) by helping them find
some channel partners in south-east asia. This was a startup where the product
was out and sales team was being expanded.

Overall, I agree that there is very little application for MBA framework in a
startup environment. If nothing else, the MBA candidate should be put in
charge of closing some sales.

------
mhuber
I agree with a lot of this. I tried for the good part of a semester trying to
get a non-technical startup internship before Rich @ WePay had a similar post.
Being able to explain what I can bring to the table besides "I'll do anything"
is the reason why I have the internship I have now. Vague terms like analysis
got me no where; specifics they liked.

------
anamax
> 8\. Do an unsolicited SEO analysis if you want to do marketing

Not very humble....

When you see something that is wrong, there are two possibilities - it's
actually wrong or you are.

Even if it's wrong, your analysis may not add any value even if it's
completely correct. For example, better SEO may be 9th on their list of
priorities and they only have resources for the top 5.

It's not about you.

~~~
DTrejo
"You may not care about SEO, but here's what I noticed..."

