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Why we have never hired an MBA

mattjackrob.com

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Re: Why we have never hired an MBA

#11

Post by andrewcooke »

i imagine there's a load of cultural baggage here, but the two mbas i know did it in evenings, while raising children, and holding down jobs (that they were good at). the fact that they got theirs is a credit to their determination.

more than that, i helped one of them on some module, because they knew i "knew about computers" and it turned out that they were learning how to configure firewalls (!) (in a very abstract way - the idea was to understand what a firewall was, not how iptables worked - and we got top marks for that assignment ;o). i guess it was some kind of i.t. security basics. anyway, the breadth of what they were covering surprised and impressed me.

Re: Why we have never hired an MBA

#12

Post by MattRogish »

debacle wrote: post #3
sritch wrote: post #2

It's kind of ridiculous that HN and the whole startup community has a vendetta against MBAs. Seeing it as a blackmark? You are quick to judge an MBA based on their education. Maybe if people working in startups weren't such elitists and thinking you don't need business skills to run a startup, you wouldn't have so many fail.

An MBA is like an engineering masters - you're more valuable with a BS/BA and 3 years experience. After you have ~5 years of experience, that graduate degree becomes highly valuable compared to additional years of work experience. An MBA is an important step towards becoming a stronger manager for most people, however it probably shouldn't be the first step you take out of undergraduate studies.

Absolutely. I have an MBA after being in the software industry for a while. MBA fresh out of undergrad is insane and all of the MBA programs I looked at required years of industry experience. I'd really question the value of a MBA program that lets in 22 year olds fresh out of undergrad.

Re: Why we have never hired an MBA

#13

Post by loboman »

benbataille wrote: post #10
fear91 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you think that being a MBA equates to having business skills? Being MBA is just being MBA. People who don't get higher education and just start their companies fresh out of high-schools will have WAY more business skills than MBA. I'd say that 2 years of running your own business gives you more business skills than 5 years of MBA education.

Doubtful. In the same way being an hobbyist programmer will never give you the same skill set than a CS degree. It's highly unlikely you are ever going to study extensively algorithm, os and databases design, compilation or declarative and functional programming all by yourself because objectively it's not something you need to get the job done. Nevertheless, this knowledge becomes really useful as soon as you start…

"In the same way being an hobbyist programmer will never give you the same skill set than a CS degree." Never? Despite the countless examples, including Torvalds and Carmack? I really disagree on that.

Re: Why we have never hired an MBA

#16

Post by randomdata »

sritch wrote: post #2

It's kind of ridiculous that HN and the whole startup community has a vendetta against MBAs. Seeing it as a blackmark? You are quick to judge an MBA based on their education. Maybe if people working in startups weren't such elitists and thinking you don't need business skills to run a startup, you wouldn't have so many fail.

You are quick to judge an MBA based on their education.

People are judged by their education all the time. Why should MBAs be exempt?

Though I do agree that the arbitrarily judging of someone based on what learning they have done in their life is ridiculous. Though I can't help but feel that even you have done the exact same judging: "Maybe if people working in startups weren't such elitists and thinking you don't need business skills to run a startup, you wouldn't have so many fail." Not having an MBA doesn't mean you do not have business skills.

Re: Why we have never hired an MBA

#17

Post by sritch »

randomdata wrote: post #16
sritch wrote: post #2

It's kind of ridiculous that HN and the whole startup community has a vendetta against MBAs. Seeing it as a blackmark? You are quick to judge an MBA based on their education. Maybe if people working in startups weren't such elitists and thinking you don't need business skills to run a startup, you wouldn't have so many fail.

You are quick to judge an MBA based on their education. People are judged by their education all the time. Why should MBAs be exempt? Though I do agree that the arbitrarily judging of someone based on what learning they have done in their life is ridiculous. Though I can't help but feel that even you have done the exact same judging: "Maybe if people working in startups weren't such elitists and thinking you don't ne…

People look at successful dropouts and think "not having a degree MUST be the key to success". People are judged better by their lack of formal education than those having attended post-secondary.

Re: Why we have never hired an MBA

#18

Post by comatose_kid »

Hi Matt,

You just haven't found the right MBA :)

Some quick background: I'm attending school part-time for my MBA (Richard Ivey, case-based). I've also been with a successful YC startup from the the ground floor as a technical hire, and am currently the co-founder of a very early stage startup.

Your article raises some really good points - most of which I agree with completely. Execution is key, and becoming a PM at an early stage startup is misguided if you're not able to implement your ideas.

That said, should a startup outright ignore applicants with MBAs? Like most things...it depends. The leadership, communication and (yes) strategic skills that a good MBA provides are important. Coupling these strengths with a technical background is a pretty powerful combination.

Re: Why we have never hired an MBA

#20

Post by pdubs »

loboman wrote: post #13
benbataille wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doubtful. In the same way being an hobbyist programmer will never give you the same skill set than a CS degree. It's highly unlikely you are ever going to study extensively algorithm, os and databases design, compilation or declarative and functional programming all by yourself because objectively it's not something you need to get the job done. Nevertheless, this knowledge becomes really useful as soon as you start…

"In the same way being an hobbyist programmer will never give you the same skill set than a CS degree." Never? Despite the countless examples, including Torvalds and Carmack? I really disagree on that.

Torvalds has a masters in CS. "Never" is a strong word, but the rest of the paragraph you're harpooning makes a different point than the one you're refuting.
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