I am, to some degree, running the concluding thought experiment in real life—I dropped out of business school to try to build my own company. (Left after one year, at least partial credit?)
Some thoughts:
—I can't speak to how widespread the entitled-MBAs-in-startup-roles (no direct experience) problem is, but MBAs definitely have good job prospects (in the traditional sense), which has made it much harder for me to convince former classmates to "take the leap" and try to start companies instead.
—At least on the West Coast, the startup classes treat leanness as a central principle. I didn't meet many MBAs (especially ones who took those classes) who believed strategy could be laid out and then executed by underlings. Your mileage may vary.
—I went to business school because I wanted to get out of the consulting job I didn't like, and loved technology and wanted to move to the Bay Area. That said, it didn't sit well with me that I didn't pursue my dream and try to start a company instead of going, which made me unhappy all year. The question of what motivated someone to go to b-school is generally a good one, though, as most MBAs will gleefully admit that their goal was to spend two years kicking back at "summer camp for adults."
—The limits to the degree's usefulness, in my opinion, come from the fact that much of the good learning is in the hard-won experience of visiting founders and leaders (a la Startup School speakers). Unfortunately, to quote Clayton Christensen: “Questions are places in your mind where answers fit. If you haven’t asked the question, the answer has nowhere to go...You have to ask the question – you have to want to know – in order to open up the space for the answer to fit.”[1] I often felt like visiting speakers were giving good advice, but that I didn't have the place in my mind for the answer to fit yet. Another reason to try to start something and accumulate better questions.
The opportunity cost was the strongest motivator for me. As a twenty-something tech nerd, another year felt like an eternity. And I'm already five months better at programming and building a product than I would have been. Which feels like a win vs. another piece of paper.
I deeply believe my cofounder and I have a better chance of success because we took this path instead (he quit his job). I guess we'll be one more piece of data for the experiment in a few years.
Some thoughts:
—I can't speak to how widespread the entitled-MBAs-in-startup-roles (no direct experience) problem is, but MBAs definitely have good job prospects (in the traditional sense), which has made it much harder for me to convince former classmates to "take the leap" and try to start companies instead.
—At least on the West Coast, the startup classes treat leanness as a central principle. I didn't meet many MBAs (especially ones who took those classes) who believed strategy could be laid out and then executed by underlings. Your mileage may vary.
—I went to business school because I wanted to get out of the consulting job I didn't like, and loved technology and wanted to move to the Bay Area. That said, it didn't sit well with me that I didn't pursue my dream and try to start a company instead of going, which made me unhappy all year. The question of what motivated someone to go to b-school is generally a good one, though, as most MBAs will gleefully admit that their goal was to spend two years kicking back at "summer camp for adults."
—The limits to the degree's usefulness, in my opinion, come from the fact that much of the good learning is in the hard-won experience of visiting founders and leaders (a la Startup School speakers). Unfortunately, to quote Clayton Christensen: “Questions are places in your mind where answers fit. If you haven’t asked the question, the answer has nowhere to go...You have to ask the question – you have to want to know – in order to open up the space for the answer to fit.”[1] I often felt like visiting speakers were giving good advice, but that I didn't have the place in my mind for the answer to fit yet. Another reason to try to start something and accumulate better questions.
The opportunity cost was the strongest motivator for me. As a twenty-something tech nerd, another year felt like an eternity. And I'm already five months better at programming and building a product than I would have been. Which feels like a win vs. another piece of paper.
I deeply believe my cofounder and I have a better chance of success because we took this path instead (he quit his job). I guess we'll be one more piece of data for the experiment in a few years.
P.S. We joke around about our travails once a week at http://uncannyvolley.com/why-not-combinator-podcast/ if you're bored.
[1] http://37signals.com/svn/posts/3225-what-are-questions