

Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job - mmaunder
http://www.currentlyobsessed.com/2010/05/10/unexpected-startup-lesson-1-quitting-the-day-job/

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scottporad
Something to keep in mind: the MBA wasn't intended for entrepreneurs...way
back when it originally was created it was designed for major corporations,
like GE and GM, who needed professional managers. Business schools and MBAs
are designed to produce them.

I'm not going to say that an MBA is useless, but it serves a specific
purpose...and that purpose is not to foster creativity and entrepreneurship.

Like Dave has suggested in the past, there's a need for some sort of EBA--
entrepreneur business school. Steve Blank also talks about this idea...his
point of view is that the E-School (as opposed to B-School) should be attached
to the engineering department (as opposed to the business department).

Here's a link to Steve Blank:
[http://steveblank.com/2010/05/10/entrepreneurial-
finishing-s...](http://steveblank.com/2010/05/10/entrepreneurial-finishing-
school/)

~~~
snowbird122
We have an entrepreneur focused MBA school here in Austin called Acton MBA
(<http://www.actonmba.org/>). I almost went there, but decided to go to the
University of Texas for my MBA instead. I learned entrepreneurship from
several killer professors: Rob Adams and John Doggett. I am an entrepreneur
and always will be, and I learned a tremendous amount from my MBA. It wasn't
anywhere near worthless. In fact, I think it was the opposite. I feel that I
can do any job in the realm of business or technology in big or small
companies. Just like an undergrad degree, an MBA provides options. If you know
you want to be a programmer and have the discipline to read all the
programming books on your own, then you don't need that undergrad CS degree.
Same with MBA.

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credo
This post looks like a great example of networking :)

It looks like the blogger, the guy who posted the link (1 hour ago) and all
the 8 commenters are based in the same town.(I also know that many of them
know each other) Most of the commenters have karmas less than 25 and it is
probably not unreasonable to assume that most of the 29 upvotes came from
people who know these 8 commenters.

Nothing wrong with any of this, and no offense intended, but I often see posts
asking how posts get to the front page. Well, for all of you, here is one
example of how posts can get to the front page.

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mmaunder
I'm a friend of Joe's and I read his blog so I posted this. I know some of the
commenters - some of them were in the YCombinator program. If I knew you and
you wrote a great post I'd probably be inclined to vote for you too and my
comments might be a little more positive so that you're more likely to buy me
a beer next time we run into each other.

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webwright
I had a similar experience. No doubt, it's an expensive education, just a
different kind.

If you set aside a $100k a year job to make nothing, you're "leasing-to-own"
that equity and that education for $8,500 per month. Once you can pay yourself
an insulting $50k salary, you're leasing it for $4,250.

Financially speaking, it's a helluva lot more painful than an MBA... But (for
me) it was worth it.

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chegra
I have to say this again, be careful with giving advice like this. To me, what
should be encourage is people to think for themselves; just as you can figure
out this start up game most other's can too. 41% of Entrepreneurs succeed on
their first go; I think advice like this just taken as static algorithm for
success without considering the context of your situation can be very
detrimental.

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RiderOfGiraffes

      > 41% of Entrepreneurs succeed on their first go;
    

That's awfully precise. Not 40%? Not 42%? What is the sample size? Where did
you get the data?

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chegra84
That's the source:
[http://www.kauffman.org/uploadedFiles/ResearchAndPolicy/TheS...](http://www.kauffman.org/uploadedFiles/ResearchAndPolicy/TheStudyOfEntrepreneurship/Anatomy%20of%20Entre%20071309_FINAL.pdf)

~~~
RiderOfGiraffes
You claimed that 41% of Entrepreneurs succeed on their first go, and then
quote the above link, but now you've got me very confused. The paper says that
of those being surveyed, 41.4% were on their first business.

Interesting paper, but I don't think it supports your assertion.

For example, it may be that 100% of entrepreneurs succeed on their first go,
but that 41% of those interviewed are on their first (of many yet to come).

On the other hand, it may be that all of these on their first business will
fail, but potentially go on to succeed on subsequent attempts.

In short, that 41% doesn't at all say that 41% of entrepreneurs succeed on
their first try.

Can you explain your thinking further?

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daveschappell
Once a person has made the decision that they'd like to start a company, I
only see one reason to consider an MBA, and that's the networking element. OK,
a second could be to have a great support infrastructure during ideation,
testing, development, etc.

But, the cost/benefit just isn't there, especially not for people who already
have solid professional networks -- for those, they'd be much better off
diving in with a good partner.

And, if things don't work out after 1-2 years, there's always the MBA option
then, and you'd have so much more knowledge about how businesses work, and
what makes you excited.

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jheitzeb
Great advice. Part of my decision to do the MBA was based on market timing...I
applied just as the web 1.0 bubble was bursting. I hadn't considered much just
doing a startup during the down economy, but that would have been a good time,
and I know many others who did and it paid off big for them.

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ozres1
I like the ideas expressed in this article except it lacks specifics, examples
etc. For instance, he says "about 4 to 5 months after quitting my job I was
already ROI positive in terms of networking, learning and satisfaction." And
he leaves it at that. He doesn't expand on how he networked, whether they're
from school, social group or whatever. And it's short. No offence but I don't
see how this article got this much upvotes

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aarong
Joe seems to be one of those hybrid hungry entrepreneur types that happens to
have an MBA. I went through the same debate and decided to skip the MBA, but I
have friends that went Joe's route and it can clearly work. So in the end,
it's more about the person and whether they have the stuff and circumstances
than any particular degree - at least imo.

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jmatt
_Chewing on these types of questions was totally unproductive and made me feel
shitty. I’ve come to realize that doing startups is mostly an irrational
choice. Just effing do it._

Right on. I went through this same unproductive time and finally came to a
similar understanding. Though I'd argue that instead of "irrational" I'd
characterize it as "extremely risky". To many people in technology and
business those are the same thing. Which leaves the rest of us to take on such
irrational risks and occasionally succeed...

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jheitzeb
Right on! Good way to characterize it. If you are strafing from zero, the
downside risk is low, relatively speaking....so might as well go for it. This
is why (in my view) it is good to go for it when you're young and/or it is a
bad economy,

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daryn
I think the MBA gets an overly bad rap these days, but looking forward to
reading the next installment.

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mmaunder
I think the MBA in the post is just a story of "How I got into debt after some
entrepreneurial education". It could have been "After my first 4 startups
failed to go huge and I was in debt up to my eyeballs I decided to start
another".

~~~
jheitzeb
Yes, totally (that was my point). Not dissing the MBA -- it was also an
amazing experience and investment / risk. My real point was about weighing the
financial considerations of taking the startup plunge against the intangible
benefits. There are many forms of "debt", from forgone salary, stress on one's
marriage, sacrifices to personal health stemming from high sodium intake from
top ramen, etc.

