

All I need is an MBA - Maven911

This is a quote to counteract the misleading view that hackers are commodities, rather, it is the MBA's.<p>Guy Kawasaki was one of the original players that got Apple on its feet with the Macintosh. He now works as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley as CEO of Garage Technology Ventures<p>Kawasaki remarked, "I don't think an M.B.A. matters very much for starting a company. A much better educational background is an engineering degree. You can always hire MBAs, but if you don't have the ability to conceptualize and deliver a product, you've got nothing."<p>Link:
http://www.insidecrm.com/features/mbas-are-overrated-081307/
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snowbird122
Learning is fun. Get an engineering/cs undergrad, then get an MBA. This way
you can understand the entire spectrum of a technology company from code to
financials.

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Maven911
I totally agree with you snowbird, I want to get that broad spectrum too. But
its just too bad that a cs/engineering degree does not carry the same prestige
and job security (or at least ease of job change by not super-specializing)as
an MBA.

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snowbird122
It is interesting that you mention that MBAs have job security. I'm not so
sure it is true. MBAs are often "middle management" and can be the first to be
dismissed in hard times. Companies that think programmers are commodities
aren't worth working for anyway.

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pchristensen
Sure, it's fun to trash MBAs, but why does anyone think business is different
from hacking? There are tons of crappy MBAs, just like there are tons of
crappy programmers. There are elite, valuable MBAs just like elite, valuable
hackers.

If there was a Hacker News equivalent for MBAs, wouldn't you want one of those
guys on your team? The best hackers might be able to do business better than
an average MBA, but not nearly as well as the best. I'd take a Phil Knight or
someone like that on my team anyday. I'd also take a killer salesman because
it would lower the bar for producing highly profitable B2B software.

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noodle
in my experience, if you can get an engineering degree, you can get an MBA if
you want one. but not necessarily the other way around.

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Prrometheus
However, an MBA will cost you a lot more. The demand is higher because the
returns to a degree holder are higher at the margin.

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noodle
they cost more because they need a reasonable barrier of entry. if pretty much
anyone can get an MBA, they need to be expensive, or pretty much everyone will
get an MBA. don't need that for an engineering degree -- if you price people
out of the degree, even fewer people will sign up than already do.

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Prrometheus
The acceptance rate to the good MBA schools is very low, which is already a
barrier to entry. In MBA land, it makes a big difference if you go to a top 10
school or Local U. A degree from Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, Sloan, or Kellogg
pretty much guarantees you a hedge fund, private equity, or investment banking
position, if you want one. Also, a LARGE portion of Fortune 500 CEOs come from
the top schools. However, you must be rather smart and have great work
experience (or have very good work experience while being female/minority) to
get into those schools.

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noodle
indeed, the school also makes a difference, but, IMO, the biggest difference
among schools is not in the quality of the MBA, its the networking and
prestige that comes along with it.

you don't go to harvard to get an MBA from harvard, you go to harvard so you
can say you got an MBA from harvard; to form the connections, networks, and
for the prestige that comes with the harvard name. thats what you pay for --
you pay for that up front so you can get paid more later by waving your
diploma around.

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morbidkk
its irony but "why MBA?" is the typical question before/after MBA is done. I
think it is just like any other masters degree but with lot more generalistic
focus on business rather than dedicated domain(physics/electronics/DSP). It
helps you understand the theory of the business from mostly "only theory
people".

Startups are exciting and excruciating both.

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Maven911
its funny how you mentioned Digital Signal Processing as a specific
masters...you must be an EE

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morbidkk
yes :)

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edw519
The only thing I remember from Business School:

"A degree in business is a degree in nothing."

