I am fresh out of oven, just now completed my engineering course. Along with my friends I have started a start-up company & running along with it to unleash my thirst.
I have planned to do MBA, is it necessary as of now.
I need a guidance for that from expert like you. Sense my doubt & spell out a solution for it.
asha chaudhry
welcome to trhs sam!
you will get a great response to this question!!
pls read this post of alok’s and all the comments there as well 🙂
https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/do-entrepreneurs-need-an-mba-at-all
Do Entrepreneurs need an MBA at all?
My column in the April issue of Entrepreneur magazine:
Do Entrepreneurs need an MBA at all?
Often, I run into a spat with the MBA gang about my views on why an MBA is just the worst thing you can do to yourself if you are trying to become an entrepreneur.
On the other hand, I revere engineers and personally regret not being one. I think being an engineer would have really benefited me in my entrepreneurial journey.
So, what is the role that Education plays in Entrepreneurship? These are my views on the ‘how’, ‘when’, ‘what’ and ‘why’ of education:
Learning ‘How’
How do things work? How is a factory layout planned? How are workflow and logistics organized? I guess no one can ever argue that knowing ‘how’ helps.
Take for example the subject of accounting. I believe that you have to learn accounting in a class. It’s very difficult to ‘self-learn’ how to extract a trial balance and then bifurcate that into a profit & loss statement and balance sheet.
During my I.C.S.E exams, I blundered in Accounting. That silly mistake in the ‘bank reconciliation’ sum (a method in which you reconcile bank and cash books), cost me an additional 3% in my overall results. I scored 87.2% instead of crossing into the 90% range.
I was so embittered by that mistake, that I never forgot Accounting. And I am talking about 1985 and 10th standard level accounting. Even today, I routinely teach a thing or two to chartered accountant CFOs.
Lesson –Learning ‘how’ is critical for entrepreneurs so that they can apply it as and when they have to, in their entrepreneurial journey.
Learning ‘When’
I love public speaking. The bigger the audience, the larger the venue and the more controversial the topic, the more it excites me! How and where did I acquire this strange fetish? From the elocution and public speaking classes in school! The late Pearl Padamsee personally taught me. She was probably the finest teacher one could hope for and she left a very formidable impression on my young mind.
When I was in the 8th standard, I remember reciting Martin Lurther’s “I have a Dream” in school and inter-school competitions. If you are not familiar with it, please google and read. It’s one of the most inspiring and ‘goose bumpy’ speeches you can ever read.
Modulating “I have a Dream” correctly (in the 80s when there was no youtube!) taught me the secret of ‘when’. ‘When’ was I supposed to raise my voice, ‘when’ was I supposed to gesticulate and ‘when’ was I supposed to almost explode with passion was the secret of delivering this epic speech. I learnt in earnest and won most of the competitions I participated in.
Lesson – Reflect back on education and seek out the ‘when moment’. Something will teach you timing and that’s a prerequisite for entrepreneurship. For me it was a speech; for you, it could be something else!
Learning ‘What’
In 1989, I was studying B.Com at Sydenham College of Commerce and Economics. In India, B.Com is widely considered to be a ‘useless’ degree.
The B.Com Economics course extensively teaches Economics. Apart from the intricacies of Demand, Supply, Monopoly and Duopoly, students also get a chance to learn about the philosophies of the great economists like Schumpeter, Adam Smith, Keynes, etc.
The economist who always intrigued me (and still does) was Karl Marx. I could not fathom Marxism and what it really implied. Marx’s diktat of “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need” as well as his theory of how the ‘proletariat’ (labour workers) would eventually overthrow the ‘bourgeois’ (rich capitalists), actually annoyed me.
I could not understand ‘what’ Marx was implying or how realistic it was.
In November 1989 (my final year of graduation), I finally learnt the ‘what’ I was seeking. The Berlin Wall that divided East and West Germany came tumbling down. And with it came down everything that communism and perverted socialism stood for. The Marxist notion that the capitalists would be thrown away and a second ‘French Revolution’ would come true was rubbished. The fall of the Berlin Wall proved the reverse.
This live event taught me a lot about ‘what’. While theory is very important, great entrepreneurs should observe ‘what’ they have learnt and ‘how’ it’s being practiced and implemented.
Learning ‘Why’
This is my big debate against formal education. I believe that ‘why’ is zen-like and can rarely be learnt or ‘classified’ (pun intended).
Take for example the MBA method of teaching via case studies. Sure, there are some amazing companies that can be put into nice binders to be read, discussed and debated. But what is the permanence of their success?
If there was a case study of Apple’s success in the early 80s, would it be relevant to business school students to study in the 90s (when Apple went through its decline)? And if by that logic, there was no case study on Apple in the 90s because it was not doing well, would students be underprivileged not to read about it in the early 2000s when Apple resurged and peaked in performance?
The ‘why’ in business education is tricky because it presupposes many things that will change. There is no ‘why’, because consumers and their choices are very unpredictable.
Zynga is a great case study as a gaming company, but in just a few months it’s gone from hero to zero. The same can be said for most of the ‘social’ game companies that were heroes just a few months back.
I believe that entrepreneurs should learn the ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘when’ while they are studying and apply that to ‘why’.
No one taught me ‘why’ companies used contesting postcards for consumers to submit contest entries for many years. I asked that ‘why’ myself and created a business called contests2win.com. Yeah, just by asking ‘why, why, why’!!!
*******
2nd April 2013:
Irony of Ironies! The famous Vivek Wadhwa wrote this article in the Wall Street Journal today!!!
Tanutejas Saraswat
A very simple answer but very much useful.
NO, YOU DON’T. PERIOD
Nishant Agrawal
tl;dr: no
Ashwin C Parulkar
If you Aim to Hire someone No MBa reqd. But if you want to be Hired ….not a bad idea ..as long it is from stern,XLRI,SJMSM IIT …………..LONg list
Geetha Ravi
Hands on experience teaches you what an MBA doesn’t.Day to day business is getting different experience from different people practically.But my sincere advice would be either start small or get in to a job atleast for 6 to 8 months connected to a business which you want to start.That will give you an idea on many points where you should be careful.—many positive & negative points of the business.Your business move will go smooth if you have some experience working under somebody than directly jumping heads on in to your own from the start.
You can think of doing MBA after some experience in business for more knowledge on proffessional front, for growth.
Samuvel Rajasingh B
The words of alok screws me deep in my heart, it firmly insist me that ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘when’ is to learn along with the life. ’why’ is a powerful tool, it is a game changer in entrepreneurs life.
By asking to myself why MBA is necessary to me right now?
It strikes like lightening before thunder comes which is highly powerful. So let me learn ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘when’ rather than studying it as a lesson.
Thanks asha chaudhry for your most valuable collective information to make me understand the words of mine.
Samuvel Rajasingh B
Thanks for your information
Samuvel Rajasingh B
thanks 4 ur valuable real time advice.. As of considering today’s scenario, getting into a job on the field v ve interest and making ourselves satisfy will not happen to all. Few people who couldn’t find the job to their satisfaction, their next intention would be to click a start up. Starting up a company without having any knowledge on business strategies, will it make my career in right track? Or as of u said, i need to get experience for atleast 4 to 6 months and start my business ????
Samuvel Rajasingh B
Yes thanks for your most valuable point.
Samuvel Rajasingh B
Obviously if i need to graduate then i ll choose one among the list which u shared. But I m already in the middle of the ladder(My startup company is in progress). Do I need to be graduated right now to make my business life successful??
Shathyan Raja
Hi,
MBA gives you just a theoretical knowledge on what to do and what not do but not Why. To answer the Why, it is all your real time experience which will teach you a better understand where you will make mistake and learn on why it should be done or why not it do it. MBA teaches only What, When, Where, and How. If you want to learn Why, then do it practically and experience it.
So as of now, you are into a running a company, so do it your best and learn from it practically.
Naveen Bachwani
Hey, it’s a great question to ask. And not an easy one to answer because of the “opportunity costs” involved.
In my opinion, an MBA gives you two things:
Everything else it offers can be self taught, including Accounting. (Here, I differ from Alok’s views)
Network – you can still build over time if you do the right things. But the vocab and jargon you pick up is typical to that world and not really a disadvantage unless you need to deal with other MBAs!
For good measure, have a look at https://personalmba.com/
Hope that helps…
Geetha Ravi
Geeting a job to your satisfaction is not possible. Initially we dont even understand what we are really interested in. But to an extent what ever you are interested, get some experience under somebody. This experience will never go waste under experienced person.maybe you may take up a business something different also. but the basic experience you need to get is necessary.All this advice is because of my personal experience since 33 years.8 years i worked under my father (photo studio) even though i knew (being a girl in those days) i wont be taking up photography as my proffession.My the basic knowledge of client servicing, how to maintain cash flows which is very important, small problems which we have to face everyday(which matters most)nity grittys of business i learnt since they are same for any business.
Take up a job in small organisation. Since you are not investing & with your efforts if you can grow their business, that will mean you have the capacity to enter into your own .enter in to job not thinking about satisfaction or money but for learning, gaining knowledge which you can use for your business.
You have already started a business?Then try to have some mentor who have an experience of business.senior citizen who may not charge much.
Abhik Prasad
Samuvel, work on your startup for sometime.
After that, if you can find the time to do an MBA, by all means go ahead and do it.
While most folks go in for an MBA for a salary bump / career jump, there are quite a few things you can learn and be exposed to during a short period of time if your focus isnt only placements.
Samuvel Rajasingh B
Probably for me placement is not a main focus. I am into a start-up community as a baby. All my focus is to shape and build my start-up. In that case I need to enhance & expose myself, so what I asked about MBA.
Parixit
How practical does it sound to do an MBA just for vocab? If i go and tell my dad that I wanna apply for b-school for vocab, he would straightaway do my admission into MA with English(something that he always wanted me to do) 🙂
Ashwin C Parulkar
I think MBA just teaches you : how much less we know and how much more we need to know