

Are MBAs Necessary for Start-ups or VC? - vibhavs
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2009/09/08/are-mbas-necessary-for-start-ups-or-vc/

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webwright
A guy I really look up to (A VP of Engineering type of guy with a lot of
startup experience) said once:

"At a startup, you need people who build shit and you need people who sell
shit. IF you succeed on those fronts, eventually you might need people to
manage/organize shit."

Time and again I see startups with technology that's inferior to their
competition kick ass because they have a salesgod out there getting early
customers or bizdev relationships. But I don't think an MBA is ideally suited
for this role-- in fact, I think they've probably been well trained to
manage/organize shit and wouldn't lower themselves to a cold call/email.

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ashishk
I'd even say MBA's are often detrimental to those entering startups.

1\. It's expensive, increases the need for a low-risk/ high-pay job (i.e.
consulting) once you graduate

2\. As the article says, it increases expectations wrt. compensation, but also
authority (most MBA's wouldnt want to start out as entry-level biz dev as a
startup).

3\. You don't learn enough about technology businesses.

Overall, an MBA doesn't help you "get" startups, but often convinces you that
you do.

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ajross
Really, an MBA is only "necessary" for a middle-management position at a large
corporation, where it's the standard entrance ticket. Everywhere else, you can
get by without it. Clearly in technical circles, people see little value in
the degree.

That's not quite the same thing as saying the the degree _has_ no value
though. I think the jury is still out on that one. I think it can be easily
argued that "stupid business tricks" are an important area of specialty, with
lots of subtlety. Not knowing those tricks is going to put your startup at a
disadvantage in some situations (as other point out though, that probably
doesn't include early stage development). And there's probably a lot you can
learn in a classroom about that stuff. So I'm not going to condemn the MBA
without evidence.

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mildweed
Start ups require balls, time, money, and a good idea.

Everything else can be hired.

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tptacek
Even the MBAs I know say not to bother with the MBA.

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jasonlbaptiste
No.

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noodle
probably learn more and network more from starting up than you would from an
mba.

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nuweborder
You can be the greatest web programmer in the world, but if you cannot develop
and articulate the ideas that are in your head, you have nothing. Thats what I
learned among other things when getting my MBA. I learned how to think in the
terms of taking a new idea from idea to reality, and making it a success.

I greatly appreciate the value that programmers bring. As it is, I cannot use
my MBA to program my ideas into a working and successful web startup. I do not
think that an MBA is absolutely necesssary. Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and
many other successful tech moguls have proven that. But, MBAs could can
definately help in lowering the failure rates of startups by using their
experience in finance, management and accounting. The best formula of all is
to have both on hand. The MBA and the programmer. With the two, you cant go
wrong.

Why do you think Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar hired Harvard MBA Meg Whitman as
CEO?

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ashishk
_Why do you think Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar hired Harvard MBA Meg Whitman as
CEO?_

Yes but who would you rather be in that example?

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nuweborder
Omidyar himself during the 2008 "Bubble" tv episode of "Download, The True
Story of the Internet" on The Science Channel hosted by John Heilemann, stated
that he hired Meg Whitman as CEO because he is not a business person and did
not do any resarch to begin with, before he began writing the code to develop
Ebay. He started with no business plan,and at first the site has very slim
pickings of things to auction. In 1998 they hired Whitman because they he
realized he need an "A List" business person on their team in order to define
the company, direct it, and get it to be taken seriously. Whitman led Ebay to
its IPO.

I am not a greedy person at all, and though I enjoy being a founder myself as
I currently am one, I have both an MBA and am a founder. So I represent both
sides and the best of both worlds. Whitman my not be the founder, but her
efforts and that Harvard MBA has led her to the tune of of starting salary of
$175k per year with an annual bonus of $100k. in 2008 this had grown a salary
of $11 million per year,and today she still owns 3.9 million shares of Ebay
stock. Not too shabby I'd say.

Meg Whitman's Ebay Employment Letter [http://www.allbusiness.com/human-
resources/workforce-managem...](http://www.allbusiness.com/human-
resources/workforce-management-hiring/2975537-1.html)

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joshkaufman
Agreed. Here's the data to back you up:
<http://www.aomonline.org/Publications/Articles/BSchools.asp>

There's nothing you need to know about business you can't teach yourself via
reading or mentorship. Here's the list of books I used to teach myself:
<http://personalmba.com/best-business-books/>

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jherdman
Relatedly, and I mean this question with the utmost sincerity, what is an MBA
exactly good for?

Far too many people I know are dismissive of MBAs and their degree ("Master in
Bullshit Administration! Hur hur hur"), but this same crowd tends to think
Ph.D's are always useless ("Piled High and Deep! Hur hur hur").

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jpwagner
I will try to tackle this one.

Imagine you finished college and 4 years of working at hypermegacorp as a sr.
software developer or a product marketing manager.

Now around you, you see some of your superiors have MBA's (certainly not all),
you are single, you have been working very hard, and you have saved up $100k.

MBA = up the ladder + meeting other career driven, socially not awkward people
+ free time + you have the money.

4 years later, you're a "director of...", married, well-read, and went to
europe, australia, japan, and hawaii twice.

It's not for me, but that's my impression of an MBA.

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ashleytowers
The money an MBA costs would be better spent as seed capital to get something
released! Even if your start up fails, it still could be cheaper than what
you'd spend on the MBA and you'd have REAL experience.

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rw
Empiricism says: no. Neither necessary nor sufficient.

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abalashov
No.

