In my opinion, any type of experience is beneficial when starting a business. Early on and often out of necessity, founders are forced to take on a variety of jobs – accountant, strategist, marketer and publicist – and having knowledge of or experience in any of the roles is a definite asset.
However, looking at successful start-up founders, it’s obvious that an MBA is not a prerequisite for success. I imagine that most successful founders did so without an MBA.
So what are some of the reasons to get, and not to get, an MBA if you aspire to launch you own business?
Get The MBA
The power of an MBA network: Some people spend money on a prestigious MBA in the pursuit of knowledge. Some people do it for the experience. In my opinion, those are not the best reasons to pay sky-high MBA tuition. The best reason is to build/acquire a strong network.
Down the road, the friends that you make in business school could prove invaluable, as advisors and business leads. Most entrepreneurs will have to call in a few favours along the way – having a contact list of established and respected professionals in a variety of fields is priceless.
Access to Talent: One of the most important tasks is assembling a great team. Good talent is hard to find. During an MBA, you’re surrounded with intelligent, hardworking people – a deep pool of talent that you can leverage to build and grow your business.
There’s a strong possibility that there are other people in your program hoping to travel the entrepreneurial path after graduation – if you’re able to find someone with similar goals and a complimentary skillset, you’re off to the races.
Knowledge is power: There is no downside to knowledge. As the founder of a company, you’re forced to wear many hats. Having a basic understanding of different fields will give you a good foundation and will help you avoid mistakes.
There are also many MBA programs that offer classes on entrepreneurship – though I can’t speak for how useful these classes are in general, I know that the Rotman School of Management has a course that allows students to work directly with start-ups and successful entrepreneurs.
Being able to see how things are done behind the scenes can be a competitive advantage.
Opportunity: If you’re spending all of your time at business school studying, you’re doing it wrong. MBA coursework is designed to leave you with time to socialize with your classmates, and learn about potential careers.
If you manage your time effectively, there can also be time to launch your start-up as a side-project. If it works you can pursue it full time; if it doesn’t, you still have your MBA to fall back on.
Access/Mentorship: With the growth of entrepreneurial courses at business schools, there are courses that are taught by professors who have launched successful start-ups or who can bring in successful entrepreneurs as guest speakers. This type of direct access is something that you’ll have to work hard to establish when you’re out on your own.
No MBA? No Problem
MBA programs are designed to teach you how to run a business – not start one: Somewhere along the way people seem to have forgotten that it’s a Masters of Business Administration – not a Masters of Start-ups (currently only offered by the School of Hard Knocks at the University of Life).
Managing a business and launching a start-up couldn’t be more different. In the words of Steve Blank: “A start-up is a temporary organization designed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.” Business school programs give students the tools necessary to execute proven business models – not the tools to search for them.
The crushing burden of debt: 90% of students finish business school with jaw-dropping levels of debt (ok, I made that statistic up, but I’d be willing to bet that the percentage is high).
It’s one thing to live on the cheap for a couple of years while rolling the dice and launching a start-up, but it’s another thing to do it with a $100,000 cartoon piano hanging over your head.
There’s no substitute for hands-on experience: You’ll learn more about business in two years trying to build a company than you ever could in two years at business school. What I can say with certainty is that even if your start-up fails, you’ll come out of the other side more knowledgeable and with a wealth of experience.
However, unlike an MBA, it’s unclear whether or not your start-up experience will help you get your next job.
The MBA mind-set: Business school can be a very competitive environment. You’re constantly competing for grades and jobs, and it can feel like failure is unacceptable.
This is a tough mind-set to carry into a start-up, where you’ll encounter failure on a daily basis. Take it from me – after spending over five years in financial services, I’m still learning how to see failures as learning opportunities, rather than, well, failures.
Jon Chow is the founder of SecureTheJob.com and has an MBA from the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. He is the founder of SecureTheJob.com, a crowd-sourced platform where industry insiders share the secrets to getting the best jobs.
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