startups, mba’s, and buckets
There’s been an interesting conversation happening in the world of blogs I read over the last week or so about the role and value of MBAs in startups. It started with this post by Charlie O’Donnell. This post was tweeted around the HBS community with some fervor last weekend and I read it and this reply by Rob Go shortly before embarking on an errand expedition (and ultimately a debate about these posts) with Rafael Corrales last Sunday night. Rafael wrote a great response to them, which I mostly agree with, and Kyle Doherty then added his two cents here.
I really have no desire to engage in a debate about MBAs’ approach to recruiting here (at startups or elsewhere) because I think most of the issues have been covered by Rob and Rafael and Charlie (particularly in the comments on Rafael’s post). I do, however, want to say one thing. And I should caveat that this is general commentary inspired by the above conversation and my experiences over the past year and a half, not a response directed at Rob, Charlie, or anyone else.
It frustrates me to no end when people bucket MBAs. An MBA is not a race or a religion. It is a graduate degree. That’s it. There is almost nothing I can generalize about any of the people I’ve ever met in this MBA program (or from any other MBA program for that matter) except to say that they either have or have had an interest in studying business administration.
People who make the assumption that MBAs are X, Y, or Z, simply because they have an MBA are as guilty of lunacy as the MBAs who throw themselves at startups with the expectations of red-carpet-rollouts simply because they have an MBA.
Contrary to popular belief, not all MBAs are flocking to finance and/or consulting. Further, not all MBAs *come* from finance or consulting. There are a ton of people here who come from interesting operational and functional backgrounds and have every intention of returning to operational and functional positions. These are the same types of positions that any startup seeks to fill.
So, what’s my point?
When Kyle said:
While it seems unfair to bucket a whole group based on the actions of a few, it’s human nature to do so.  Those who are really dedicated will figure it out, the perception doesn’t matter.  So I guess my approach is to think: who cares?
My answer to this?
I do.
I care a lot. I don’t want a few people who lack a social compass representing me in the world. I don’t want anybody to assume anything about me when they see MBA on my resume except for that at one point in my life I had an interest in studying business administration. And I want to fight those generalizations that get made (and the people who cause them to be made) for the sake of the rest of us who don’t behave like this. Then maybe the people who use criticism of MBAs and B-schools as a way to sell newspapers and display ads will have to find another way to write about us.
gmat prep
Going into my final 3 days of analytics and the last week before officially matriculating into the mba program here… I’ve leared a ton. And I feel extremely well prepared to begin tackling the real challenge that lies ahead.
Several times in the last week, people have emailed to ask what I did to prepare for the gmat. Granted, I think that prep for the exam is going to be an individual thing and no one method will guarantee any one result, I thought I’d quickly post what I did, so that it’s here and on the record. I started out with the big purple kaplan book and then went to the big orange gmat book. Then I started taking practice exams on the computer. I then went back and focused on specific problem areas with the help of selected mahattan gmat prep books. No right or wrong thing about this method, it just worked for me. One thing I will say, is that I felt the kaplan questions were harder (or worded more poorly) than the actual exam questions. So, starting with that book freaked me out into working extra hard, only to find the exam a little easier than I was expecting.
Not telling anyone what they should or shouldn’t do, just sharing what I did.
accounting. kablamo.
I just took my accounting final. Everyone wonders why I am taking exams/classes even though I haven’t started school yet (let alone moved out of new york yet)…
In addition to the accounting, finance, and quantitative analysis online-tutorials that all incoming HBS students have to take, I was required to take actual CLASSES in accounting and finance before matriculating. (I am also required to attend “analytics” on campus in August, before classes start, but we’ll save that for another post.) This was a requirement for me because I am a non-traditional MBA student (read: non-finance, non-consulting). I’ve had some people react negatively when I’ve said to people that HBS labels me “non-traditional” but I don’t mind it, and because of the nature of the MBA program, it’s a statistical fact – I am non-traditional.
So, I set out to find classes to take. Realizing that NYU’s class schedules would not mesh with my moving out of NY schedule, I asked HBS to recommend online classes – and they recommended BYU.
I took the accounting class. It was interesting. I learned things I wish I’d better understood before: like the financial implications of renting/buying/leasing houses and cars, the financial implications of tax-withholding, etc. The structure of the class was compelling. A 3 hour computer based lecture for every lesson (16 lessons) followed by an online quiz. Plus 3 exams (non-comprehensive… the best kind). So I just completed my “final” (non-comprehensive) exam. It went well – the last question on the exam was to the effect of “What is the best way to succeed at life? A)challenge yourself B)learn new things C)be a good person D)all of the above.” I liked that they asked something like this at the end. Not only because it’s obviously an slam-dunk question (if you miss this, you should fail the class), but also because it put everything into perspective, forced me to stop saying “must get an A, must get an A” and just appreciate the fact I’d learned something new.
