Getting an MBA before starting a company or directly starting a company?

[Fortify]

Getting an MBA is beneficial because it sets you apart from the rest of the pack. One of the advantages of an MBA is that it forces you to read and learn, which helps you expand your knowledge about any business you want to venture into. I strongly believe that one of the reasons why start-ups fail is because they lack a solid foundation in understanding frameworks and conducting their own research, instead of relying solely on purchased data. While it is true that not everyone may be able to afford an MBA program, the truth is that there is so much to learn from it. If you had the opportunity to pursue an MBA before starting a company or directly starting a company, which option would you choose?

Higher education is pushed on a lot of youngsters these days but the reality is that not everyone can or should be academically gifted. There are plenty of other roles in society where a medium level of education is completely sufficient, or they would be better served learning a trade skill instead - whether that is electrician, plumbing, mechanic, or many others. Everything in the media tries to teach you that you are unsuccessful if you go to university and that's definitely a poor portrayal. With the advent of the internet it's never been easier for people to pursue entrepreneurial activities with things like reselling online, or many thousands of jobs that exist. The price of university also seems obscene and it can be a huge burden especially on young minds.

[tjtonmoy]

A degree means nothing if you are not learning anything. I have seen many people have this degree yet they are unemployed. Gaining knowledge is always the best option in one's life. But it is not always necessary that it will only come through getting an MBA degree. The eagerness of learning new things will push you to pursue more knowledge. I think the experience will give you more advantages than getting a degree to start a business. You can gain all the knowledge you want, but if it's not applied in the field, it will have less value. On-hand experience will make you successful. I am not saying that it is not important to get a degree. It does give you an advantage. But if you can do something better rather than giving time to achieve that degree, then you should choose the first one. I have some friends who do not have higher degrees, yet they are successful in opening their own businesses and still doing great.

[icalical]

Getting an MBA is not necessary to start a business, but depends on what type of business you want to start, getting MBA could give much advantage. If your business is something that doesn't need a technical skill and it can be started at a micro level, then getting an MBA before starting it would be a waste of time, you can start the business now while getting the MBA later if you think you needed to make the business more advance.

On the other hand if your business need a sophisticated technical skill, and it means nothing if you don't make it big, then getting MBA will give you much benefit. You will definitely have better understanding of the required skill, and with a degree you will get more trust from your business partner and maybe investors.

[nesty]

Getting an MBA is beneficial because it sets you apart from the rest of the pack. One of the advantages of an MBA is that it forces you to read and learn, which helps you expand your knowledge about any business you want to venture into. I strongly believe that one of the reasons why start-ups fail is because they lack a solid foundation in understanding frameworks and conducting their own research, instead of relying solely on purchased data. While it is true that not everyone may be able to afford an MBA program, the truth is that there is so much to learn from it. If you had the opportunity to pursue an MBA before starting a company or directly starting a company, which option would you choose?

- https://producthq.org/career/product-manager/how-to-decide-if-you-need-an-mba-as-a-product-manager/

Not necessarily having an MBA can make your business successful. MBA could be a plus factor and additional knowledge for you in some aspects. Success of a business would depend on your marketing strategies and how well you know the business. Another thing that you should know the needs of your clients and customers to be able to quantify what support needed to be able to gain their trust and loyalty on your products. There are MBA and Doctorate degree holders but they did not use it to run a business and even if they used it they also fail. To be able to be successful in a business you must have a good marketing strategy, make sure you know your products well and you know how to sell it, know customer needs, being considerate to your staffs / sales force motivate them for them in return they will give their 110% to work on your business. And also proper compliance to the government in example paying taxes on time, getting the proper licenses to be able to operate legally, etc.   

[carlfebz2]

Getting an MBA is beneficial because it sets you apart from the rest of the pack. One of the advantages of an MBA is that it forces you to read and learn, which helps you expand your knowledge about any business you want to venture into. I strongly believe that one of the reasons why start-ups fail is because they lack a solid foundation in understanding frameworks and conducting their own research, instead of relying solely on purchased data. While it is true that not everyone may be able to afford an MBA program, the truth is that there is so much to learn from it. If you had the opportunity to pursue an MBA before starting a company or directly starting a company, which option would you choose?

- https://producthq.org/career/product-manager/how-to-decide-if-you-need-an-mba-as-a-product-manager/

Not necessarily having an MBA can make your business successful. MBA could be a plus factor and additional knowledge for you in some aspects. Success of a business would depend on your marketing strategies and how well you know the business. Another thing that you should know the needs of your clients and customers to be able to quantify what support needed to be able to gain their trust and loyalty on your products. There are MBA and Doctorate degree holders but they did not use it to run a business and even if they used it they also fail. To be able to be successful in a business you must have a good marketing strategy, make sure you know your products well and you know how to sell it, know customer needs, being considerate to your staffs / sales force motivate them for them in return they will give their 110% to work on your business. And also proper compliance to the government in example paying taxes on time, getting the proper licenses to be able to operate legally, etc.   

Having one would be better but its not something compulsory or needed if you do really have the knowledge on how to handle your business or on how you would be running it. It would really be just that normal for

a certain individual would really be making that sufficient research in regarding on the business that they would tend to do because it would be no sense that you would really be making a business without having that proper preparation or analysis into it because you would really be just basically be wasting up your capital if you have done so. Starting a business or investment is never been that simple on which there are lots of factors which you would really be needing to study or would really be needing learnt up and the rest would really be adding up on real experience.

 Marketing does really play a big role on companies or business success but of course it would be overall boils down on the product or services that you are really that offering
whether it would really be getting much demand or not.

[Maslate]

MBA's are losing value, among other college degrees, for the fact that educational institutions are becoming diploma mills and offering these degrees to anyone who wants to pay for it. The internet doesn't require you have a degree for anything, experience matters.

Save yourself the costs and political indoctrination most universities made you endure, skip the degree and enter the labor market.

That could be true as universities nowadays are already accepting under the table payments in exchange for an MBA certificate or diploma. So the purpose of enrolling yourself into an MBA program will not be totally as worthy and beneficial just like before and it would only be a waste of money and effort in the end. That’s the reason why most newbies quickly start their business once they gained sufficient amount of capital and prior knowledge on how the business will work. I guess with proper management and determination on your goal, your business will still be successful even without engaging yourself in an MBA course. Experience is still the best teacher.

[Renampun]

Getting an MBA is beneficial because it sets you apart from the rest of the pack. One of the advantages of an MBA is that it forces you to read and learn, which helps you expand your knowledge about any business you want to venture into. I strongly believe that one of the reasons why start-ups fail is because they lack a solid foundation in understanding frameworks and conducting their own research, instead of relying solely on purchased data. While it is true that not everyone may be able to afford an MBA program, the truth is that there is so much to learn from it. If you had the opportunity to pursue an MBA before starting a company or directly starting a company, which option would you choose?

- https://producthq.org/career/product-manager/how-to-decide-if-you-need-an-mba-as-a-product-manager/

without a strong foundation it will be difficult to build a start up and an MBA is a good foundation for someone to start a company, maybe there are some people who without an MBA are able to make their company grow big, but can everyone do that? there is nothing wrong with starting a business directly without an MBA, but the struggle required is very heavy, even management knowledge is mandatory to master. My senior kept telling me not to be hasty in starting something, first strengthen the foundation and mentally.

[doomloop]

A degree means nothing if you are not learning anything. I have seen many people have this degree yet they are unemployed. Gaining knowledge is always the best option in one's life. But it is not always necessary that it will only come through getting an MBA degree. The eagerness of learning new things will push you to pursue more knowledge. I think the experience will give you more advantages than getting a degree to start a business. You can gain all the knowledge you want, but if it's not applied in the field, it will have less value. On-hand experience will make you successful. I am not saying that it is not important to get a degree. It does give you an advantage. But if you can do something better rather than giving time to achieve that degree, then you should choose the first one. I have some friends who do not have higher degrees, yet they are successful in opening their own businesses and still doing great.

Well, your success isn't dependent on what you've done in the past and what you are doing right now, it's not even subject to what degrees you have and what knowledge you've acquired, it simply comes when the time is right and when you have done the right things at the right time, otherwise, no matter how hard you work or how many degrees of high level you have, you are not guaranteed to get success at all, it's just a matter of time.

You can see a lot of successful people who have not completed even a high school degree, they haven't even graduated, but they are successful and earning a fortune for themselves and for their generations to come. Similarly, you can also find people who have degrees that actually matter to the world but they are not successful, they might even be struggling to find a job to earn a living.

[teosanru]

Getting an MBA is beneficial because it sets you apart from the rest of the pack. One of the advantages of an MBA is that it forces you to read and learn, which helps you expand your knowledge about any business you want to venture into. I strongly believe that one of the reasons why start-ups fail is because they lack a solid foundation in understanding frameworks and conducting their own research, instead of relying solely on purchased data. While it is true that not everyone may be able to afford an MBA program, the truth is that there is so much to learn from it. If you had the opportunity to pursue an MBA before starting a company or directly starting a company, which option would you choose?

- https://producthq.org/career/product-manager/how-to-decide-if-you-need-an-mba-as-a-product-manager/

I think the best advantage of an MBA is that it gives you branding and also gives you a lot of contacts. It gives you contacts that you can cherish forever in your business. It gives you that personal branding which can be very helpful while raising funding for your own business. So I would always say it's better to go for an MBA and then start your business it gives you a much wider set of opportunities than just doing business straight away.

[tjtonmoy]

Well, your success isn't dependent on what you've done in the past and what you are doing right now, it's not even subject to what degrees you have and what knowledge you've acquired, it simply comes when the time is right and when you have done the right things at the right time, otherwise, no matter how hard you work or how many degrees of high level you have, you are not guaranteed to get success at all, it's just a matter of time.

But that does not mean you should stop acquiring knowledge and also trying out every opportunity that life gives you. If you just wait for the right time to come, it will never come. You have to go out and seek for that right time. You are talking about successful people, you only see their success but not the struggle they have been through to get that. If one has never acquired any knowledge throughout his entire life, how is he going to do anything to become successful?
Knowledge holds a higher value in our life. But degrees do not have the same value. One with many degrees could still be unsuccessful and have less knowledge compared to the one who has experience. We need to keep trying and not just wait for the right time. Because we don't know when it will come and through what.

[Cryptomultiplier]

I would rather start a company before going for an MBA, because if the plan is clear and well articulated on paper, with how to proceed with the implementation of the business idea, what need would an MBA be if not just to teach me how to keep the business from failing and helping me make reasonable long term investment into other areas should the need arise.

If perhaps the idea is still foggy and I know I want to launch my own company big and perhaps trade its stocks on the Forex market, I would need to save the time of doing a personal research and paying more than necessary to brokers.
An MBA could be one way to strengthen the mind to proceed with the business and go corporate with the right documents to acquire and right persons to meet. MBA will teach one how to own and manage a company.

[mirakal]

Getting an MBA is beneficial because it sets you apart from the rest of the pack. One of the advantages of an MBA is that it forces you to read and learn, which helps you expand your knowledge about any business you want to venture into. I strongly believe that one of the reasons why start-ups fail is because they lack a solid foundation in understanding frameworks and conducting their own research, instead of relying solely on purchased data. While it is true that not everyone may be able to afford an MBA program, the truth is that there is so much to learn from it. If you had the opportunity to pursue an MBA before starting a company or directly starting a company, which option would you choose?

- https://producthq.org/career/product-manager/how-to-decide-if-you-need-an-mba-as-a-product-manager/

For me, that’s not very important these days as your success will not matter anymore on your degree and achievements but most likely from your experience. Knowledge is power but know that experience will matter the most. Regardless if you are a newbie or not in a business, the fact that you have related experiences in managing a business, then for me that is very vital for your upcoming success. Also, not just experience but you should also take in high consideration the business location. If there’ll be less consumers in that area, then your business will never achieve its target sales, hence making your business insufficient to provide active and big sales.

[freedomgo]

MBA's are losing value, among other college degrees, for the fact that educational institutions are becoming diploma mills and offering these degrees to anyone who wants to pay for it. The internet doesn't require you have a degree for anything, experience matters.

Save yourself the costs and political indoctrination most universities made you endure, skip the degree and enter the labor market.

It’s actually a real talk. Getting MBA is not just a degree to be taken but also it’s becoming a business for some universities. As long as there will be someone who’s willing to pay, then rest assured that you will have that diploma fast and clear. That’s why I don’t think having an MBA will greatly matter. If you know your own capabilities in that field, then you should take some due diligence to learn more and improve your knowledge and skills more. And with experience, that will pave way for a successful business in the future.

[Johnyz]

Having your own company is a real world already and if you have the means to start having your own business the better. Education can wait, but the learning that you can get from the actual business is something that you cannot learn in school. Having an MBA is not an advantage as well since your customer will not look to that title, they will look about your company itself. So start having your own business and learn along the way, there should be no pressure and rush at all.

[serjent05]

I agree that getting an experience on the planned business is the best thing if the goal is just a single proprietorship.  Having the knowledge of a business and personal experience on how it operates is a must.  MBA does not teach that instead it was created for a more complex form of business establishment like corporation.  So if a person planned to just setup a simple business then it is better to have a personal experience than MBA.

[libert19]

Start-ups from people having MBA degree fail and the ones from not having it succeed. I don't personally think degree matters that much. Read and learn can be done anywhere as long as you are curious about the subject.

[darewaller]

without a strong foundation it will be difficult to build a start up and an MBA is a good foundation for someone to start a company, maybe there are some people who without an MBA are able to make their company grow big, but can everyone do that? there is nothing wrong with starting a business directly without an MBA, but the struggle required is very heavy, even management knowledge is mandatory to master. My senior kept telling me not to be hasty in starting something, first strengthen the foundation and mentally.

But without a strong foundation or a strong knowledge, I don't think it's easy for one to handle an MBA course. Another requirement would be money and we know that not many are fortunate to have that both, which is why they will just start their business immediately with only minimal knowledge and money on their head and hand. They can still be successful if they get lucky but if they fail, they can still learn from it and try again.

I too believe that not all who have an MBA course are successful on their business. Sometimes knowledge is not enough but other traits are necessary too. Skills for example and then passion for the thing that interests us.

[panganib999]

Getting an MBA is beneficial because it sets you apart from the rest of the pack. One of the advantages of an MBA is that it forces you to read and learn, which helps you expand your knowledge about any business you want to venture into. I strongly believe that one of the reasons why start-ups fail is because they lack a solid foundation in understanding frameworks and conducting their own research, instead of relying solely on purchased data. While it is true that not everyone may be able to afford an MBA program, the truth is that there is so much to learn from it. If you had the opportunity to pursue an MBA before starting a company or directly starting a company, which option would you choose?

- https://producthq.org/career/product-manager/how-to-decide-if-you-need-an-mba-as-a-product-manager/

I think getting that degree is more important If you're shooting for a jumpstart on your career as an employee for an already established company. It gives you that leverage you need to stand out as you said and become remarkable against the competition. In other cases, like when setting up your own enterprise, the knowledge itself is beneficial but your degree's not gonna help you that much. But still, if you're trying to start out a business and you don't have a capital yet I suggest you actually go get that degree and find yourself a well-paying job that will help you raise funds for that business you're looking to build. That way you're not only setting your business, but you're readying yourself for everything that you may need preparation for by acquiring experience and first-hand knowledge of what goes on in a business.

[Sanitough]

I agree that getting an experience on the planned business is the best thing if the goal is just a single proprietorship.  Having the knowledge of a business and personal experience on how it operates is a must.  MBA does not teach that instead it was created for a more complex form of business establishment like corporation.  So if a person planned to just setup a simple business then it is better to have a personal experience than MBA.

It’s good to get an MBA prior to business investing and managing. However, that will never guarantee its success as the best key to success is through experience that will hone your skills and strategies to make your business work and successful. One thing that even if you are the most knowledgeable on the said business, you will never be reliable enough to bring success to your business, as knowledge alone becomes futile without application and it’s mastery.

[molsewid]

I agree that getting an experience on the planned business is the best thing if the goal is just a single proprietorship.  Having the knowledge of a business and personal experience on how it operates is a must.  MBA does not teach that instead it was created for a more complex form of business establishment like corporation.  So if a person planned to just setup a simple business then it is better to have a personal experience than MBA.

It’s good to get an MBA prior to business investing and managing. However, that will never guarantee its success as the best key to success is through experience that will hone your skills and strategies to make your business work and successful. One thing that even if you are the most knowledgeable on the said business, you will never be reliable enough to bring success to your business, as knowledge alone becomes futile without application and it’s mastery.

You will also build connections when you finish your MBA, it will be good to have a good connections especially if you want to export your products or you want to have an office internationally. You will also create connections by taking MBA not only knowledge and concepts but it will enhance your confidence and social engagement , sometimes you will find your future business partner as well.