
Is a top tier MBA considered positive from Silicon Valley investors ? - switzerland
Is a top tier MBA considered positive from Silicon Valley investors ?
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itcrowd
Not sure. I looked up what Paul Graham had to say on the subject:

> If you work your way down the Forbes 400 making an x next to the name of
> each person with an MBA, you'll learn something important about business
> school. After Warren Buffett, you don't hit another MBA till number 22, Phil
> Knight, the CEO of Nike. There are only 5 MBAs in the top 50. What you
> notice in the Forbes 400 are a lot of people with technical backgrounds.
> Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison, Michael Dell, Jeff Bezos, Gordon
> Moore. The rulers of the technology business tend to come from technology,
> not business. So if you want to invest two years in something that will help
> you succeed in business, the evidence suggests you'd do better to learn how
> to hack than get an MBA. [3]

>[3] Learning to hack is a lot cheaper than business school, because you can
do it mostly on your own. For the price of a Linux box, a copy of K&R, and a
few hours of advice from your neighbor's fifteen year old son, you'll be well
on your way.

from:
[http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/start.html)

~~~
duxup
Yeah and if you look at those guys biographies and the critical decisions they
made time and again ... a non technical person would make a fatal mistake a
high % of the time.

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rahimnathwani
(I'm not a 'silicon valley investor')

If you were to tell me you managed to get a top tier MBA in much less time
than normal (e.g. a year instead of two) and for free (instead of $XXk), I'd
be super-impressed at your resourcefulness and determination.

If you tell me you spent 2 years and a whole bunch of money to get some
letters after your name, instead of devoting those resources to the business
you're asking me to fund, then it might be a negative signal.

Would you rather invest in a company that spends time and effort to enter and
win startup competitions, or one that is fully focused on getting product-
market fit?

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gnicholas
I would guess that having one person on your team with a top-tier MBA would be
a positive. If you're mostly/all MBAs, that would be a negative.

The benefits of having one top-tier MBA are: (1) networking for
hiring/selling/partnerships, (2) someone who can give pitches better than the
stereotypically average engineer, (3) background in marketing/operations/sales
that most engineers don't have. Basically, it can round out a team and provide
a network that helps with certain important functions.

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thiago_fm
To think that a bootstrapped company that is breakeven and has a lot of
potential to grow is a very positive signal for investors...

Makes me think that if you are doing a MBA and you want to become an
entrepreneur OF SUCCESS(not those that get dad/angel/whatever money and
fail)...

You should be building a business, like... now. This second. Everything else
is a waste of time.

Now, if you aren't and have no idea what to do, you are no different than me,
then a MBA won't do anything for you. I believe people who are getting
investment they are doing stuff, building teams and shit. For nothing of that,
a MBA counts to be honest.

They want to invest in a business and they expect you to have one. If they
wanted to employ somebody, they could hire some graduates

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d--b
I'm surprised to see most answers are very negative. I am not sure that paying
for an MBA is worth the money, but if you take out the money aspect, I'd say
there is no reason why having a MBA should be anything but positive...

I think:

1\. there is a tough selection process to get in, so chances that if you get
an MBA from Harvard, you're a pretty smart person

2\. MBA classes should give you valuable lessons, that you won't get from
Startup School or YC.

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GFischer
But they´re the wrong lessons if you want to do a startup... an MBA is very
focused on an existing firm.

That´s why Paul Graham et al advise against it. There´s some very useful
knowledge, especially financial and accounting and knowing organizational
dynamics if you want to go B2B (not to mention connections).

I personally sometimes regret spending the money and effort on my master´s (a
Tech MBA). It definitely didn´t give me the career advancement I was hoping
for.

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matttheatheist
I don't know exactly what you would bring to the table. What would you be able
to do that others could not? I'm interested to know.

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natalyarostova
It's so context dependent that asking a question suggests you may be thinking
the wrong way.

