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MBA = Entrepreneur?

October 11, 2007

I wrote about Madhukar’s thoughts on MBA students in 2005:

Not so says Madhukar Shukla in his post: Why MBAs can’t normally become Entrpreneurs.

Basically he concludes that most MBA students are looking for security and during their studies they spend time looking at established companies and not startups. This may be true for most business schools, but a growing number have entrepreneurship programs.

Here are his major points: 1. Motivation to get MBA is security, 2. Curriculum is primarily about established businesses, 3. Admission does not require an aptitude or discipline.

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Written by Alexander Muse · Filed Under Blog ·

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I think this is valid for the majority of MBA students who are going back to school to either get into higher level management consulting gigs or Wall Street gigs.

However, there are MBA programs that have a focus on entrepreneurship, such as the USC Marshall School of Business where I went.

I went to get my MBA to become an entrepreneur. Having worked in the corporate world for the first six years of my career, I needed a breaking point in order to start a company, and shift industries. Going back to school full-time granted me this opportunity, and I started my first company during the first semester of my MBA program.

I think that an entrepreneur is an entrepreneur whether or not they have an MBA degree.

Being an entrepreneur is at the core of most people who start businesses. Those with an MBA are just a subset of the greater pool of entrepreneurs. But making a generalization that most MBAs “can’t normally become entrepreneurs” is a sweeping statement that misses the mark in my mind.

Sure, most MBAs don’t become entrepreneurs. But most people don’t either. Only a special few.

Comment by Chris Schultz — October 11, 2007 @ 2:22 pm

I will agree with the stereotype that MBAs spend all of their time looking at large established companies (mainly to get a larger paycheck that a startup can’t afford).

As far as the MBA programs ‘teaching’ entrepreneurship….what a bunch of bologna. You can teach how to set up a business, how to account for it, how to market, etc…. but you can’t be taught the drive and desire of succeeding (or teach how to come up with a good idea).

Mr. Schultz, you may be one of the few that goes to get an MBA to become an entrepreneur. Most entres wouldn’t spend the time waiting for school to get out. In the time that it takes to fill out the application, they have already thought of 10 ideas for companies.

Comment by Chris — October 11, 2007 @ 6:21 pm

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Pingback by Vesselyak.Com » MBA = Entrepreneur? — October 11, 2007 @ 6:51 pm

Sure, most MBAs don’t become entrepreneurs. But most people don’t either. I agree with your opinion while there are many successors at millionairematch.com with MBA.

Comment by steven — October 12, 2007 @ 1:53 am

It is true that not many folks graduating from top MBA programs immediately jump into entrepreneurship, and there are lots of reasonable reasons for it.

However, if you look at the longer-term stats at say, Harvard’s MBA program, the percentage of people 10 years or more out of that program who have founded or co-founded businesses is pretty staggering (i forget specifics but remeber that it’s north of 40 or 50%).

Texas Startup Blog written by Alexander Muse

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