Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job
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Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job
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Re: Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job
#2I think the MBA gets an overly bad rap these days, but looking forward to reading the next installment.
Re: Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job
#3I had a similar experience. No doubt, it's an expensive education, just a different kind.
If you set aside a $100k a year job to make nothing, you're "leasing-to-own" that equity and that education for $8,500 per month. Once you can pay yourself an insulting $50k salary, you're leasing it for $4,250.
Financially speaking, it's a helluva lot more painful than an MBA... But (for me) it was worth it.
Re: Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job
#4I think the MBA gets an overly bad rap these days, but looking forward to reading the next installment.
I think the MBA in the post is just a story of "How I got into debt after some entrepreneurial education". It could have been "After my first 4 startups failed to go huge and I was in debt up to my eyeballs I decided to start another".
Re: Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job
#5I think the MBA gets an overly bad rap these days, but looking forward to reading the next installment.
I think the MBA in the post is just a story of "How I got into debt after some entrepreneurial education". It could have been "After my first 4 startups failed to go huge and I was in debt up to my eyeballs I decided to start another".
Yes, totally (that was my point). Not dissing the MBA -- it was also an amazing experience and investment / risk. My real point was about weighing the financial considerations of taking the startup plunge against the intangible benefits. There are many forms of "debt", from forgone salary, stress on one's marriage, sacrifices to personal health stemming from high sodium intake from top ramen, etc.
Re: Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job
#6Once a person has made the decision that they'd like to start a company, I only see one reason to consider an MBA, and that's the networking element. OK, a second could be to have a great support infrastructure during ideation, testing, development, etc.
But, the cost/benefit just isn't there, especially not for people who already have solid professional networks -- for those, they'd be much better off diving in with a good partner.
And, if things don't work out after 1-2 years, there's always the MBA option then, and you'd have so much more knowledge about how businesses work, and what makes you excited.
Re: Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job
#7I think the MBA gets an overly bad rap these days, but looking forward to reading the next installment.
I think the MBA in the post is just a story of "How I got into debt after some entrepreneurial education". It could have been "After my first 4 startups failed to go huge and I was in debt up to my eyeballs I decided to start another".
Good point, I've just seen a lot of 'screw business school, spend your money on a startup instead' type posts recently, which certainly wasn't the case in this post.
Re: Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job
#8Joe seems to be one of those hybrid hungry entrepreneur types that happens to have an MBA. I went through the same debate and decided to skip the MBA, but I have friends that went Joe's route and it can clearly work. So in the end, it's more about the person and whether they have the stuff and circumstances than any particular degree - at least imo.
Re: Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job
#9Something to keep in mind: the MBA wasn't intended for entrepreneurs...way back when it originally was created it was designed for major corporations, like GE and GM, who needed professional managers. Business schools and MBAs are designed to produce them.
I'm not going to say that an MBA is useless, but it serves a specific purpose...and that purpose is not to foster creativity and entrepreneurship.
Like Dave has suggested in the past, there's a need for some sort of EBA--entrepreneur business school. Steve Blank also talks about this idea...his point of view is that the E-School (as opposed to B-School) should be attached to the engineering department (as opposed to the business department).
Here's a link to Steve Blank: http://steveblank.com/2010/05/10/entrepreneurial-finishing-s...
Re: Unexpected Startup Lesson #1: Quitting the day job
#10I have to say this again, be careful with giving advice like this. To me, what should be encourage is people to think for themselves; just as you can figure out this start up game most other's can too. 41% of Entrepreneurs succeed on their first go; I think advice like this just taken as static algorithm for success without considering the context of your situation can be very detrimental.