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Comment by leelin | Hacker News Reader

Maybe MBA candidates and "seed accelerator" founders aren't so different after all!

Replace the top founder reasons below:

  Connections to future capital: 8.51
  Brand/Alumni connections: 7.83
  Business support: 7.42
  Product support: 7.13
  Pre-money valuation: 5.25
  Level of funding: 4.14

with the analogous reasons to go (or not go) to business school?

  Connections to finance/consulting interviews: 8.51
  Branding from prestigious degree / alum network: 7.83
  Learning and honing crucial soft skills: 7.42
  Technical Learning in the classroom: 7.13
  Opportunity cost: 5.25
  Level of tuition: 4.14

Disclaimer: I have never gone to bschool.

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So I'm the OP and author of the paper. I figured I might get criticized for it because it was for my MBA, and there are a ton of stereotypes around MBA's. (Many for good reason, unfortunately.)

But I have my degree in aerospace engineering, have designed and built solar-powered road cars, and used to operate a nuclear reactor. So don't think I don't have my fair share of geek cred.

I understand the sarcasm, but would personally appreciate honest feedback on the content.

Disclaimer: I have gone to bschool.

I don't think he was being sarcastic.

Perhaps not... I'm probably a little sensitive to MBA stereotypes.

As long as you wear your MBA badge front and center you will probably continue to be so.

Hot tip: Your education level is a good indicator of what you are capable of, but not the only indicator and probably not even the best indicator.

So, if instead of trying to 'leverage the title' and looking at yourself as an 'MBA', you'd change that into 'serious professional that is out to make a difference' your sensitivity will melt away and you'll realize that those that use their MBA as a means to differentiate themselves are exactly where the problem lies.

I could say the same thing about my self, "I'm sensitive to people being negative about high school dropouts", because I'm a high school drop-out. Instead, I don't care. You can judge me by who I am, what I've done and how well I've done it. Some of my buddies have PhDs, all kinds of fancy degrees, I wouldn't trade with them for any money (or title) in the world.

Be good at what you do, be excellent if you can and if you're not try harder. And don't let your MBA hold you back ;)

Yikes, definitely not being sarcastic here.

It is an honest comparison of two transforming functions (bschool vs. seed accelerator); the preconditions and postconditions are surprisingly comparable even though the algorithms are quite different.

Yeah... sorry about that. I misunderstood what you were saying.

In that case, the only issue I have is the first transformation. Instead of "connection to capital" -> "connection to finance/consulting interviews", I would instead say "connection to capital" -> "connection to more lucrative jobs". Though perhaps my opinion is colored by the fact that the consulting and finance interviews were hugely cut in the last year, and so a lot of my classmates have gotten interviews/jobs in other sectors. And those jobs are still quite lucrative.

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