How Should Business Schools Prepare Students for Startups?
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How Should Business Schools Prepare Students for Startups?
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Re: How Should Business Schools Prepare Students for Startups?
#2easy:
- get students to drop out of b-school
- encourage them to learn about deep tech field (cs, bio, etc.)
- help them raise $$ for said endeavor
more seriously, I have had numerous people from the b-school world (now VCs) tell me this, more or less. they want people w/ technical know-how, not b-school skills.
Re: How Should Business Schools Prepare Students for Startups?
#3Mildly related, I really appreciate it when someone puts the effort in to transcribe audio interviews.
Re: How Should Business Schools Prepare Students for Startups?
#4By explaining to them what start-up options are really worth, what the hours really look like, what the office "culture" is, etc. All this so they can make an educated decision about joining one.
Ever wonder why startups prey on mostly young naive people?
Because they do not YET know better.
Re: How Should Business Schools Prepare Students for Startups?
#5I can't remember where I saw it, but recently it was pointed out that business schools are there to teach you to run someone else's business, where as startups make you learn to run your own. I think I was looking into the benefit of an MBA at the time and in the end, what do you want to do?
Re: How Should Business Schools Prepare Students for Startups?
#6I thought the Columbia Startup Lab had an interesting approach: if you form a team consisting of one MBA and one Engineering M.S., they will provide $50K and 6 months residency. Networking events, alumni contacts, seminars, city government resources and much more are all available. But for the most part, they get out of the way and let the team figure things out.
Re: How Should Business Schools Prepare Students for Startups?
#7I can't remember where I saw it, but recently it was pointed out that business schools are there to teach you to run someone else's business, where as startups make you learn to run your own. I think I was looking into the benefit of an MBA at the time and in the end, what do you want to do?
I wouldn't necessarily put it that way. The top tier business schools teach a good amount of universally applicable soft skills like negotiation, conflict resolution/deescalation, performance management, etc. You just need to enroll. And those skills are applicable regardless of where you go.
Having seen friends go through business school, the real value is without a question the network you build during those two years. That's also applicable regardless of where you go.
I personally applaud Harvard's new combined major, especially because it supports the thesis that business leaders should also pay more dues than they currently do as technical practitioners.
Re: How Should Business Schools Prepare Students for Startups?
#8As per PG:
Two Types: I think you only need two kinds of people to create a technology hub: rich people and nerds. They're the limiting reagents in the reaction that produces startups, because they're the only ones present when startups get started. Everyone else will move.
I guess that could be a good clue onto what to teach. And I'm not sure this is enough actually. For example, you probably need rule of law. My guess, you also need ethics, trust, culture of working handshake agreements. Remove it, have a kind of people to which it doesn't apply, and this would ruin the valley. I would suggest to anyone who is organizing programs of training entrepreneurs to add business ethics as a cornerstone of the program. Please, think long term.
Re: How Should Business Schools Prepare Students for Startups?
#9How about b-schools working with creditors to establish a new kind of student loan where first payment isn't due until 5 years following graduation? Financial constraints are life limiting. If a student attends a top-tier program, student loan debt could easily reach mid-$100k
Re: How Should Business Schools Prepare Students for Startups?
#10Same way engineering colleges should prepare students of startups: promote co-ops and internships. Forge ties with industry to ensure that such gigs are actually substantiative, i.e. the intern works on something that's more than drudge work.