Go do that MBA

After a long hiatus, I posted an article on Linkedin last week. I also shared it on my undergrad and B-School WhatsApp groups, curious to see what the reaction might be. The feedback was instantaneous - from private messages on WhatsApp to spirited debates on group chat to phone calls, I got a barrage of reinforcing and opposing views.

While my primary contention was that classroom courses do little to help foster entrepreneurship, the opposing view was that an MBA is less about the classroom and more about who you meet and what you learn from them. In fact, a good friend of mine had an interesting take - he said that he would not have tried entrepreneurship if it weren’t for ISB. He said the degree, the brand and the network he built there imbued him with the confidence that if things went south, there would still be a decent job waiting for him at the end of the journey. Good point, isn’t it?

Also, there were others who were categorical that the brand really helped them recruit more easily, opened doors for fundraising and gave them a network that they could lean on when they were stuck during their entrepreneurial journey. In short, the overwhelming counter argument was that the network you create for yourself at an MBA matters.

To that, I couldn’t agree more. My classmates from B-school were the early investors in my first startup. Then, they invested in my second startup. They made introductions to potential customers. One friend helped in arranging a line of credit when we were stretched for working capital. Another classmate from ISB was our banker and got us our first institutional funding. I’d be ungrateful if I didn’t acknowledge how helpful my B-School network has been.?

F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote: “The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function."

So, let me argue for the other side and see where it takes us. Here’s where an MBA is useful

• You want to move from a technical role into a management role
• You want to change your industry (for e.g. from IT to FMCG) or function (for e.g. from Sales to Finance) or both
• You want to pick up the language / vocabulary of business
• You want to enhance your earning potential in your chosen field
• You are early in your career and want to break into Investment Banking or Consulting
• You believe that success in your chosen career path needs a strong network of business contacts

However, I’d caveat the above statements with the following

• If you’ve done your undergrad from a good, prestigious college with a strong alum network, then the network argument (above) may not really hold good for you. You already have the network.
• Don’t do that MBA if the college isn’t a good one. Good is subjective and relative. Rule of thumb: Go for it if you believe that a particular college can enhance your current street cred.
• Don’t do an MBA without getting 4-5 years of work experience. One needs on-the-ground training to really make the most of the classroom training.
• For most people, an MBA means an education loan, and that means suspending entrepreneurial dreams for a few years before you take the plunge. A few years post an MBA, the opportunity costs tend to be significant leading to higher resistance to start a business. (Sidenote: A low opportunity cost, and a large pool of potential co-founders with low opportunity cost, is one of the biggest reasons that a much higher percentage of grad school students start a business straight out of college than MBAs)

There you go. This is the other side of the coin. If these reasons make you feel that you’d do well by getting an MBA - Go do that MBA :)