Seth Godin's MBA Program Candidates & the Startups they're launching | Hacker News Reader

Seth Godin's MBA Program Candidates & the Startups they're launching

sethgodin.typepad.com

28 pointscwan33 comments

Godin's MBA is pure marketing stuff. It's nice that these people are learning how to be better marketers and salespeople, but to call it an MBA is misleading.

So, (1) a free ebook, (2) a niche social network, (3) a social network consultancy, (4) another ebook (I think), and (5) a conference.

I know this isn't exactly the same model, but these aren't exactly YC or TechStars type startups. I don't see much in the way of products with growth potential–just hourly service type work at best.

It would be interesting to have some real MBA profs review and critique these business plans.

So the first thing we did in the program was to spend a full week talking about our goals. The reason I'm doing the conference is that it's a good way to pick up some of the skills I'm missing, earn enough money to give myself a runway, create a platform to help me later, build a personal brand, etc. I am going to do a startup after this. And at the end of the day you need to ask yourself whether the goal is to spend six months working on something Mike Arrington thinks is cool, or whether the goal is to be successful in the long term.

The reason two people made the ebook is because they wanted a quick way to learn how to sell $50,000 dollar sponsorships and they needed a product they could make in a couple weeks to do that. The ebook is cool but it's not the point, just a tiny piece of the puzzle.

Fair enough ... but ... if you guys are just doing stuff to prepare for your "real" startups, how is that an alternative to a real MBA (other than not spending the money or extra time).

Why not just dive into the startup you really want to do?

Oh, and I never said anything about M Arrington.

"Why not just dive into the startup you really want to do?"

Right now being a freelancer is the best way for me to fulfill my current goals. There are a few things I'd love to do as venture backed startups one day, but those projects aren't as good a match for building the assets I'm trying to build right now.

One week to talk about goals? You don't need Seth Godin's voodoo to do what you describe. You need self-confidence and self-discipline.

More Godin overhype.

Neat experiment, but most people would not consider this troupe on-par with any MBA program after hanging out for 6 months.

Maybe if this was an 18 month program, or maybe if Godin could better articulate how this is more "MBA" than "self-study" the "students" might have some merits.

"Maybe if this was an 18 month program, or maybe if Godin could better articulate how this is more "MBA" than "self-study" the "students" might have some merits."

Self-education invariably triumphs educational process. The key of successful educational institutions is access to the teachers, mentors and environment that students need to advance their own educational goals. From reading a few bios, these students are self-starters and will be constrained by an MBA-style program.

Self-education invariably triumphs educational process

Completely agree. Made my first $1M before 30 and am a college drop-out.

However, 6 months of working in what is quite frankly a sheltered environment is not exactly "self-education".

His MBA program seems, to me, like so much of this marketing hype that is going around today... It is constant promotion and talking, and producing very little product of actual value or interest. Some of the projects seemed interesting. None seemed any more significant (and a few less significant) that what we've seen come from some motivated folks who have neither a real, or a Godin, MBA.

Spending time in the classroom is bullshit. Merit comes from shipping.

Let me ask you this, did anyone not pass these MBA classes or fail to get the certificate or whatever he gives you at the end? (I assume you'll all be putting this on your resumes in some form).

We're all doing this because we want to learn from Seth. I don't understand how you could frame that in any sort of pass/fail context. Seth might print out some sort of diploma at the end, he might not, I don't think anyone really cares.

The piece of paper wasn't my point but rather if there was any standard of performance to be met.

Part of the deal is that all of our goals have to be falsifiable. That is, you have to be able to point to a goal six months later and be able to say, "I didn't meet my goal." So an example of a falsifiable goal would be to get 1000 RSS subscribers. A non-falsifiable goal would be organizing the world's information. Because there's no way you can be held accountable if you don't succeed.

So in general we each set our own falsifiable goals, and we're responsible for helping each other succeed. So in the sense that there's a performance standard to be met, your punishment for not meeting that standard is not accomplishing your goals.

Fair enough, thanks for the clarification.

Presuming that everyone wants to follow a hacker-esque pursuit, which it does not appear all of these people intend to do.

There is much value in class-room learning on subjects like Finance, Accounting, Publishing (books, etc.). You can learn these things yourself, but when the material is well defined and relatively unchanged over time, a classroom environment can present the data in a structured and efficient format.

Why would 18 months versus 6 increase the merit of the program?

At the very least it would give you a year and a half of fiscal cycle. Even 18 months is not exactly a lot of time, but in the business world 6 months does not, IMO, give you a statistically valid experience.

Indeed, 2 quarters give you nothing. I was looking at VW U.S. sales and in 2 quarters it looked like sales were raising, but then you add another quarter and they hovered around a certain amount and looked stable.

More data points = more accuracy.

Interesting, but let's review in ten years, shall we? Specifically, let's compare the average accomplishments of these "graduates" with graduates from the top 20 MBA programs.

Seth Godin takes a pretty radical approach to developing his "unaccredited, residential and free" MBA program. Godin's obviously a marketing guy, so I have to wonder whether or not he glosses over the importance of at least understanding the basics of accounting and finance. While I don't know that these areas are critical, I think as a business develops they're pretty important assets to have. That said, a few of those startups seem pretty interesting.

We spent a couple days on accounting and finance, but not much. I think the general feeling is that while these skills are important to have, it's also possible to learn them from a book in a few days. Whereas there are lots of other skills that are really important but that no one has ever written a book about.

(Also, I took corporate finance as an undergrad so I don't feel too left out.)

I'll write a post on what I got out of the program at one point, but my website actually just launched today so I'm busy working on that. If you want to see the project I'm doing check out swagapalooza.com. I don't know of any traditional MBA programs that don't let their students graduate until their own business is up and running, so that in and of itself is pretty cool.

So you are going to be in this program for a couple of years?

I don't know of any traditional MBA programs that don't let their students graduate until their own business is up and running

I would consider a business to be "up and running" when it has proven to be at least semi-viable. Putting up a website and organizing a meeting is not exactly an up and running business, but it is a good start and one of several necessary steps.

I think the Indiana University Entrepreneurial MBA requires something similar. Don't quote me on that though.

I think what Seth did was great. I deeply regret not applying. I think real MBAs is a crock of S#$%&% and they are in any case sooo 90s.

The personal MBA has had more value for me personally that most of University (http://personalmba.com/)

Depends on your motivation for the degree.

I'd wager a majority of people who apply to MBA programs (or any degree granting program) are more interested in the doors they open vs the knowledge they'll gain.

Knowledge is cheap these days, thanks to that whole blasted internet thing.

It would be great if MBA programs both credentials and skills for the future.

There are plenty of those around but unfortunately the entrance qualifications are slightly more rigorous than "out-schmooze everyone else at a cocktail party".

Godin wonder's why people pay for MBA's but he doesn't shrink from having his Stanford MBA on his resume. In a sea of ambition noise people use pedigree as a filter; perhaps having been chosen for this MBA alone will be the real resume and career boost.

"Another lesson: I kept an oversized (perhaps giant is a better word) Moleskine by the door, and we wrote down great moments and quotes as the days wore on. We’ve already worked our way through it frontwards, and now we’ve turned it over and are working back the other way."

I don't get it. Then what? Does it ever get read, or by writing things down do people remember the quotes and moments better?

My comment is off-topic but related. Different people have different learning senses. Visual, audio, and kinesthetic among them. I'm a kinesthetic learner and the act of writing something helps me internalize it in a way the other modes don't. I wouldn't be surprised if Seth Godin was doing different visual and audio things as well. Whoever commented on the Moleskine is probably kinesthetic and that stuck out to them. Just a thought.

Ooh -- I found out about one of these clowns earlier today: http://www.metafilter.com/82187/Susan-Hires-A-Boss

Here is her LinkedIn profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/susanvlewis

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