Which is more useful, MBA or starting something? | Hacker News Reader

Which is more useful, MBA or starting something?

5 pointsshimoda8 comments

I asked a few startup founders, MBA graduates, and industry figures such as David Heinemeier Hansson what they thought on the idea of an MBA vs starting a startup.

www.short.ie/mba

The impression I got back was generally in favor of a startup, but that an MBA was definitely worthwhile. What do you guys think?

Dave

View on HN

I would agree on DHH, If you really think you can build something cool, why would you wait for two years to learn business aspect of it. As PG says in how to start a startup, "I found that business was neither so hard nor so boring as I feared. There are esoteric areas of business that are quite hard, like tax law or the pricing of derivatives, but you don't need to know about those in a startup. All you need to know about business to run a startup are commonsense things people knew before there were business schools, or even universities" so, why not try out building a startup

I think that the question isn't answerable. It's sort of like asking someone "which way should I turn at the next intersection" when they don't where you are or where you're trying to go.

If you prefer, the answer depends on who you are and what you're trying to accomplish. And, even then the answer isn't "MBA" or "startup", it's within a set of MBA programs and/or startups. (For some people-goal combinations, there are startups that are better than some MBA programs but worse than others.)

HN is not a good place to look for contrary views - it is almost a given here that:

Start-up = Good MBA = Bad

Depends upon where you expect to be in the future - working for a large corporation then an MBA would be just the ticket - working in a start-up / small enterprise then the opposite would be true.

I am (was?) in the same situation and am currently aiming for the start-up route. If I was to go for the MBA I would go for a school that has a strong emphasis on entrepreneurship: http://tinyurl.com/dgablv

Even if they're equal, (and the startup seems to be accepted as generally better), the MBA costs about $150,000 at a top institution. A startup (or several) shouldn't cost you more than 50k$ over two years; and if it does, you're doing it wrong.

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/46584,opinion,mba-the-letters-...

do you want to have your success credited to an institution that bugs you for alumni donation every year?

isn't it much cooler to credit all to yourself (or startup) and pay no tax?

some cool people even have priviledge to say "i'm a college dropout" :D

awesome bias there

Reply on news.ycombinator.com