MBA Entrepreneur: An Oxymoron?
Paul Kedrosky, whose blog you MUST put into your RSS... right now... has a great post on MBA Entrepreneur: An Oxymoron (he has it in the declarative, I've changed it to a question above.)
Paul writes:
Most real entrepreneurs blanch at the idea of putting their business venture on hold to pursue an MBA degree. Not only that, most of them realize in retrospect that they learned more about business in the six months of creating a new venture than they would have learned in two years in the classroom.
And for the most part, that could be true. But, as I posted in his comments, and I suppose I'm a bit unique in that I started a business before business school -- a company specialized in the export of U.S. made pet food to Japan (yes, yes, *that* hoary old chestnut) -- and ran it all thru b-school. Joined a couple companies after school but started my own gig again 3 years ago -- www.TheLadders.com, the world's largest $100K+ job site.
I found business school to be the most rewarding 2 years of my life up to that point. Not because I learned *more* than I did as the owner of a little $3 mm business, but because I was able to put what I had lerned into perspective, a bigger framework; and the people I met were and have been invaluable advisors, friends, and inspirations.
Might not be for every entrepreneur, but for those with a considered view of the world and interesting in knowing more about *how* they were successful (kinda like the trick shot pool artist who wants to, but doesnt need to, know physics) it is an invaluable life experience.
