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MBA or Startup?

5 points by matt1 ↗ HN
I'm 23 and recently graduated a good college with a degree in computer science. I have a standard 9-5 day job, which pays the bills, but my true passion is when I get home and hack.

I'm currently looking at a few options for what to do with my free time: - Play it safe: Go for an online Entrepreneurship MBA or - Risk it: Try founding a startup.

Or maybe the solution is to do both? I just worry that both the startup and the studies would suffer as a result of trying to do both with the little free time I have.

I'm looking for a little advice from people who have been faced with a similar decision. What did you do and if you could go back, would you still have done it?

12 comments

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brk
I would personally suggest to you (and almost anyone else) that you do neither right now. Go out and get a job at an actual established mid-sized company (ie: not just some other startup). Do that for about 3-4 years (not too long, but more than a year).

It is extremely valuable (IMO) for both the MBA and the found-a-startup tracks to know what a "real" business is supposed to look like and work like.

Learn about all the socio-political stuff that goes on in a typical organization

Learn about sales, booking sales, recognizing revenue and other aspects of cash flow

Learn about product design, development, testing, etc.

Learn about manufacturing, shipping, operations, logistics.

Basically, you get the idea. This experience will, again IMO, give you a far better knowledge (and financial) basis upon which you can then launch into your next trajectory.

Trust me, you have more time than you are led to believe to found or participate in a startup.

cmos
"my true passion is when I get home and hack"

You've answered your own question! Your true passion isn't going to school, or taking business classes online, so why do it?

I started a company out of college, made every mistake possible, and loved every minute of it.

ryan_is_hungry
Working on a startup will be very valuable experience for once you decide to get your MBA (if ever). I also find that a lot of business schools tend to prefer students who have a couple years of work experience, as opposed to students fresh out of college.
ssharp
A lot of schools don't wish for you to have experience they REQUIRE it. The MBA should come after you've worked full-time for a couple of year. And online doesn't sound that great. A lot of the value of the MBA coursework is learning and discussing material in-class and analyzing problems and cases with other students. Most MBA courses are more interactive than undergrad, so I think you're better off in a standard classroom environment.

Also, many companies hiring MBA grads are looking for people who also have good domain knowledge or past full-time experience. Big companies will hire fresh MBAs with no work experience but they are heavily recruited and if you're not coming from a top tier school, you're going to have a harder time...and you probably don't want to work for a big company anyway!

tstegart
I second. If you're going to pay for an MBA, do it in person.
rms
If you go to the right MBA school you can get hooked up with investors. CMU has a "meet the VCs class" and it's one of the best ways to meet the illusive Pittsburgh investors. I don't think you will get the same connection at an online school.
matt1
Thank you for the responses so far. Its amazing how varied they have been.

Trying to found a startup is a very risky business. Statistically, I'll wind up with some very good experience, but no company to show for it. In the long run, wouldn't it be wiser to get the MBA, even if it slows down my work?

pg
In efficient markets, risk and reward are always proportionate. So all other things being equal, the rational choice is to take as much risk as your life can stand at any given point.
byrneseyeview
Most startups implicitly disbelieve the efficient market hypothesis, since they'd be able to get the same level of risk by using leverage. Most of them seem to think they might have an edge, in which case the proper criterion is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_criterion

solost
I think there are two factors you need to use to decide for yourself.

One, what would you rather be doing? You're young you have time so you cannot go wrong in either direction.

Two, what opportunities are available to you? Can you go to a really good MBA program? Is there a start up you are going to join that you are passionate about? Are you going to start your own business? If so do you really know what that entails?

So my advice analyze your opportunities, decide what it is you really want to do, but unless you have a killer idea and some people to help both technical, marketing, and business wise don't start your own start up yet.