How much MBA is essential for a startup

[amith]

Guys,
I have a basic question.
How much useful it will be to get a managament degree for venturing out in a new business.
What point of our career we should get a management degree.
how much difference it makes for career in my present job.

Please throw some ligh based on your eperience.

cheers
Amith

[Sam Barona]

I launched a multi million company in 1999 with only the education I received in the military. After this venture went sour, I decided to gain an MBA as part of my bounce back.

I learnt many great things and many great tools to make my management more effective, my employees more productive, my products better designed, my company more profitable, etc, etc. However, the biggest lesson I learnt was that I was extremely arrogant before my bad experience, and although an MBA would not have saved the company from what happened, the knowledge I learnt would have allowed me to have avoided it to begin with.

Having said all this, my experience of having my own company tought me many other lessons that they dont teach you at uni; like the types of unconventional deals you can strike to gain business and/or a competitive advantage; the types of marketing intelligence that can lead you to make better strategic decisions and steal the thunder from your competitors; the means to get waht you want from a deal using non-conventional methods, etc, etc.

In hindsight, I would still do the MBA. It does give you a basic (the longer you are in business, the more you realise how basic it is) understanding of the ways to do things more effectively, which give you an advantage over those who have not done MBAs, but only puts you on a par with those who do have them.

Professional development needs to be an ongoing project, never ending and always improving. This is one of the reasons why I post on this forum; it helps me remember things that I have learnt, but have not put into practice in my own businesses and to develop my own thinking for the benefit of my companies.

So, is an MBA a NEED? only if you want to have a competitive edge over those who have them, or if you are not in a position to recruit staff with MBAs.

It is my belief that everything you do counts; with each single thing either enhancing your situation, or detracting from it. An MBA WILL open doors, but its your call as to whether its the right thing for you.

Hope this helps

Sam

[akula]

great question, and great points from Sam

I have to make a decision to do an MBA so here's some thoughts I can share....

1) Things are made for a purpose. A two year traditional MBA with management concentration is designed to give you promotional opportunities with a Fortune 500 consultancy like BCG. That's the most important reason why these MBAs get manufactured and that's what you should expect if you buy one. With entrepreneurship, there are better, more specialised graduate programs, specifically designed for entrepreneurial challenges. Something like that, with part time flexibility and plenty of involvement with b-planning comps, is a much better product suited to your particular needs.

2) When is a good time? personally, I think that you employer should sponsor the MBA, in other words, you should do one when they ask you to do one.

I'm really uncomfortable with founders investing in these programs for the purpose of starting ventures. I think there are better alternatives available.

Overall: The MBA is a product. It was conceived for a certain purpose. That was the purpose of training managers to manage large companies. If you're looking for the best entrepreneurship education product, then you gotta look at specialized vendors like Babson, but also keep in mind that entrepreneurship education is a new and experimental area of study. Sure, they're starting to teach postgrad programs in this field, but the jury is definitely still out on whether these programs lead to better exits/valuations/wealth for entrepreneurs.

On the other hand, with traditional MBA's the evidence is very clear - do an MBA and you will have a substantially higher salary. The product is proven to do what it's supposed to do - unlike entrepreneurship MBA's.

[Sam Barona]

I agree with Akula. MBAs are products and its up to you if its the right product for you to do what you need it to do.

Most business schools now run master degrees in entrepreneurship, as the demand for this type of product has grown in the last 6-8 years tremendously.

I take back what i said that i would take my MBA again if I had the chance; i most probably wouldnt, although i do value the knowledge I have gained. instead, i would probably do a degree in nanotechnology, but the reasons for that are for another thread

Sam

[amith]

thanks a lot sam and akula..

great insight...

cheers
Amith