Ask HN: I'm a successful founder biz-dev guy. Should I get an MBA? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: I'm a successful founder biz-dev guy. Should I get an MBA?

2 pointsgsaines2 comments

Back in 2008 my two best friends and I founded a startup straight out of college. It was tough, but earlier this year the venture started to really take off.

As the business guy for the startup, I would like to eventually transition to project management at a larger tech company. Since the startup is successful, I'm not in a hurry, this is more of a longer-term goal, which is why I'm thinking about MBA programs.

A family member who is a senior project manager at a large tech consultancy said I should just go to b-school right now because I will definitely need it. My cofounders disdain MBA programs.

I'm a light web developer, a designer, and I live and breath the internet, but I don't have any formal qualifications for the job, so I've been favoring the idea of getting an MBA.

Hacker news if full of people with more experience than I, so I thought I would ask and see if anyone would like to help a young grasshopper like myself.

Business school and MBA are not the same thing. Have you considered an AA or BA in (say) accountancy, or finance and economics? You probably need to learn the nuts and bolts of corporate structure rather than the leadership and vision skills touted by so many MBA programs, which are geared more towards meeting the challenge of expanding/restructuring an existing organization. If you want to build your startup or move up to a corporate business job later, work on the foundation skills.

There's a great set of college review books from Barron's covering business basics, which are some stupidly low price like $12 a pop on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dst... This particular series is produced to a much higher standard than their other study guides and seems to come from a different business unit - well written, properly proofread, and they make for accessible but challenging introductory texts. At this price, you might as well grab a few different volumes and see which ones you find especially interesting. You're a bit late if you were thinking of going to school this fall, so see where your curiosity leads you and then go into 2012 with a strategy.

Have you considered a part-time MBA? This might fit your needs to keep working on your start up and at the same time working towards your MBA degree. Although I don't know your life circumstances, in general I would not recommend leaving a successful company. If you look at the MBA graduates many try to do what you do right now: start and run a successful business. UCLA and Berkley for example offer great part-time MBA programs.

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