

To MBA or to not MBA - flacon

I apologize in advance if this has been asked before or gets asked a lot.<p>The question at hand is, whether as an entrepreneur, going out and getting an MBA makes sense?<p>A little background. I have an engineering background and have already started 2 separate companies, one of which is a software company. Things are going well but I feel like I am lacking some core business background if I want to take things to the next level such as: 1. Start a bigger company, 2. Defend against huge competitors, 3. Understand deeper intricacies international business (current have the opportunity to enter into a global partnership with another company). 4. To be able to rely less on Lawyers, accountants and other business professionals.<p>I am totally down with the idea of DIYing it. Have read a bunch of books, etc but really want to arm myself with all the knowledge possible to help my current companies and future companies succeed.<p>Oh, I have a BA in Philosophy from UC Berkeley and would only go to MBA school if I got into a top school.<p>Any thoughts or experiences would be appreciated.
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kls
_4\. To be able to rely less on Lawyers, accountants and other business
professionals._

Why, that is their area of expertise and unless you are going to bring
yourself to their level of education in their field of expertise then you
should rely on them. Especially accounting and major legal situations. Missing
a detail on either of those could cost you far more than it is worth. Law and
accounting are the two disciplines I specifically advise people to cover first
when getting out on their own.

As for the MBA, if you are on your own then numbers don't add up. You can get
the education for free so why would you pay for it if a piece of paper is not
going to affect you bottom line. As well, there are serious concerns that
formal documented education outside of some specific disciplines may have past
it's golden age (in relation to job qualifications). The market is hyper
inflated due to lending practices so the numbers are really bad on a degree
for a degrees sake.

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flacon
Agree that nothing can replace good counsel in a sticky situation. I just want
a greater comfort level on the topics.

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waterside81
If you can do it part time, I say go for it. I did an undergrad in CS and then
did my MBA after working for a few years. At the same time, I started my first
company and the knowledge from the MBA really helps. Little things like basic
accounting principles to big things like contracts and corporate finance
really do help out.

Perhaps the biggest benefit is becoming more comfortable with working in
groups where not everyone is an engineer, which is _very_ challenging.
Engineers have a certain way of thinking and it's easier to deal with those
who think like you.

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flacon
Thanks for the advice. Yeah I would definitely be doing it part-time. Yeah I
too want a better comfort level with accounting, finance, contracts esp and
hopefully topics like big acquisitions ;)

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andrewtbham
Most people that I know that get mbas are trying to move up in a big company.
It seems like to me a lot of the information is theoretical... like Porter's
five forces. I would research the curriculum and see if it matches up to what
you want to know. where are you thinking about going?

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flacon
I live near Chicago so I am thinking either the part-time program at
Northwestern or UChicago. Definitely considering the Berkeley-Columbia program
also.

