

The Great Re-Branding: MBAs in Tech Startups - besvinick
http://ventureminded.me/post/39061757622/the-great-re-branding-mbas-in-tech-startups

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wpietri
To me it depends a lot on the stage.

A fresh-minted MBA can't, by virtue of their degree, do anything useful for a
small outfit. (They may have useful skills as well from a previous life, but
if so they're not, for the purposes of this discussion, an MBA; they're a
developer or a designer or a product manager or a VP of engineering who
happens to have gone and gotten a degree.)

I can see a 30-100 person shop taking on an especially bright and unusually
humble fresh-minted MBA as a junior product manager or something. Because at
that size, you can afford a person who won't pull their weight for a while
while they're learning. And it can be great to have somebody who doesn't have
to unlearn the bad habits gained elsewhere.

This guy, though, wouldn't be at the top of my list. A 25-year-old with circa
2 years of work experience? One who's blogging about how MBAs are the new
black? He doesn't really seem to have the "humility and willingness to learn"
that Ben Horowitz was talking about.

~~~
besvinick
Not arguing that MBAs are the "new black." I'm simply saying that one
explanation is how many MBAs who have been successful at tech startups are
known for other things - not the degree.

And as for your jab after reading (or rather, misinterpreting) one blog post,
we can simply agree to disagree.

Thanks for commenting and checking out my blog, though - happy holidays!

~~~
wpietri
No jab intended. I just think it's a self-serving argument, and it's hard not
to consider the source.

I agree that many people with MBAs have been successful at startups; nobody
disputes that. Of course, so have many people with literature degrees. And,
famously, so have many people with no degrees.

My personal view is that MBAs have little value, positive or negative, in a
startup context. A view that many people share. Most recently, Mark Cuban:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/15doqt/mark_cuban_this...](http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/15doqt/mark_cuban_this_is_my_ama/)

My main concern with entrepreneurial people getting them is that it can make
them unwilling to put in the time necessary to learn useful skills. The recent
MBA grads I know see their peers taking high-level jobs with fancy titles at
large companies; starting at the bottom in a startup context doesn't look very
appealing in contrast, especially with student loans kicking in.

Happy holidays to you as well.

