Comment by waderyan | Hacker News Reader

Comment by waderyan | Hacker News Reader

Excellent back and forth. As someone considering an MBA post a failed startup, the meat, for me, was here:

> Michael: Because I think a lot of people here in the valley would argue ... spending two years at an early stage startup in the Bay Area might be more fruitful than spending those two years at an HBS or a like school.

> Jeff: Look, I think there’s an argument for that trade off in the short term. I think the harder question for people is 10 years from now, 20 years from now, 30 years from now, where am I gonna end up? Because if I spend two years stepping off the treadmill at a Harvard, or a Stanford, or an MIT, I’m gonna come back with a network, a set of relationships, and a skillset that may not be immediately high ROI.

Well worth the listen to / read.

If you can't choose a good start up to join then most likely a b school is the better option.

If you choose a good start up, then the start up (and payout) will most likely be much more valuable 10-20 years down the line.

the difference is that it's pretty easy to tell a good b school (lots of objective rankings). at an early stage, it's really tough to tell a good startup- as a candidate you are at a significant disadvantage in choosing a startup employer due to the lack of available information. not saying one is better than the other, but that making that choice is far more difficult than the couple of sentences you mentioned.

On the other hand startups pay you money, B schools cost you money. With the delta easially being 300+k. So, you can take a fair amount of risk and still have the startup being a better bet.

As an MBA from a long time ago, I think it is important to point out that an MBA has the most impact on your career trajectory within the first five years. In my own cohort, some people leverage their MBA to get on fast tracks, some people chose careers that they did not stick with. If you recently got an MBA a lot of people will hire you for your pedigree and education. If you got an MBA ten years ago, people care about your most recent job experience. Employers will always screen for college graduates, but once you get to a certain point in your career they care less about an MBA and more about experience.

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