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The Forbes statistics are misleading, firstly they only represent a tiny percentage of businesses and secondly most people in that list made their money before

by ig1 17y ago

The Forbes statistics are misleading, firstly they only represent a tiny percentage of businesses and secondly most people in that list made their money before MBAs were widespread. The Forbes 400 in 40 years time is likely to be considerably different. Thirdly Gates, Jobs, Ellison, Dell also all dropped out of school, it doesn't mean dropping out of school makes you more likely to succeed at business. It's a classic case of selection bias. You need to look at the whole population otherwise there might be a million technology founder businesses that fail for everyone that might succeed. What you need to do in order to have a fair test is take the graduating classes at an MBA course versus say a CS course, look at the number of graduates who start businesses and then analyse how many of them succeed from each each group.

alex1 17y ago
I personally think there are more CS graduates that start businesses than MBAs. From what I have seen, most MBAs become consultants or executives of existing companies. I could be completely wrong here though as I am speaking based on people I have met and not actual statistics. I think the point that's trying to be made here is that you don't need an MBA to make it in business, which I think is a very valid point. You just need the entrepreneurial spirit and drive, along with the technical expertise (if you're in software), not the MBA.
- ig1 17y ago
  About 10% of Oxford's Said Business School graduates start businesses, I'm guessing that's quite a bit higher than most CS degrees. LBS run an entrepreneurship summer school which concentrates on the entrepreneurship parts of their MBA program. Over the last 9 years they've had 350 graduates, and produced 90 businesses. Of those 90, 80 are still operational, which is a fairly good success rate. Although I completely agree with you that you don't need an MBA to be successful in business, much like you don't need a CS degree to be a good developer. But if you're weak in those areas that the degree covers then obviously there will be value in studying those areas.

by ig1 17y ago

alex1 17y ago

I personally think there are more CS graduates that start businesses than MBAs. From what I have seen, most MBAs become consultants or executives of existing companies. I could be completely wrong here though as I am speaking based on people I have met and not actual statistics. I think the point that's trying to be made here is that you don't need an MBA to make it in business, which I think is a very valid point. You just need the entrepreneurial spirit and drive, along with the technical expertise (if you're in software), not the MBA.

ig1 17y ago
About 10% of Oxford's Said Business School graduates start businesses, I'm guessing that's quite a bit higher than most CS degrees. LBS run an entrepreneurship summer school which concentrates on the entrepreneurship parts of their MBA program. Over the last 9 years they've had 350 graduates, and produced 90 businesses. Of those 90, 80 are still operational, which is a fairly good success rate. Although I completely agree with you that you don't need an MBA to be successful in business, much like you don't need a CS degree to be a good developer. But if you're weak in those areas that the degree covers then obviously there will be value in studying those areas.