As an MBA, take this with a grain of salt, but the hiring decision is all about managing risk. Most companies, not just American ones, are risk-averse. As such

As an MBA, take this with a grain of salt, but the hiring decision is all about managing risk. Most companies, not just American ones, are risk-averse. As such they hire vetted candidates, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Hiring decisions carry the same risk & reward pairing of an investment. You can take a risk on an un-credentialed candidate that you have a good feeling about, and in turn they won't expect the same pay as someone with a well-respected degree. Graduates from top schools get good salaries because there's a sense that these schools adequately vet candidates and prepare students for the real world. You could argue this is untrue, but it all depends on what you're looking for. The truth is academia is less relevant to startups. MBA programs focus on case studies on Fortune 500 companies with multinational reach and departmentalization of business functions. Startups don't act this way, so hiring an MBA doesn't necessarily mean that candidate is going to perform better than someone without the same degree. What it does tell you is that they have some ability to organize, manage priorities, and ultimately complete a plan, which is still valuable. As any statistician will tell you, citing anecdotal examples is misleading. Steve Jobs may have dropped out of college, but there's millions of dropouts that don't go on to create multi-billion dollar companies. I've worked with plenty of amazing people who were great at what they did without credentials behind their names. I've also worked with people I still have no idea how they managed to completed their programs.