Thinking of attending a university business program? Think again.

[MVProduct]

I did two years at a BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) program before dropping out. Long story short- I wasn't learning much, and I realized I didn't want to go into accounting or finance- which is the end-goal for most students in my program.

My main reasons behind going to business school were the following:

"Oh, I'll learn important business concepts I can apply directly to running my own technology business!"

"I'll meet smart business-minded people and find my co-founder!"

"I'll grow my business network which will prove to be valuable later on life!"

Boy, if only I could go back and tell myself how wrong this mentality was. I could do all of that WITHOUT attending a university business program. With the rise of hackathons and tech meetups, you could build a network faster than any typical university student.

Here's the thing. Business school doesn't teach you anything about how to run or start a business. It teaches you how to be the manager of a large corporation- a scenario which, quite frankly, you'll unlikely find yourself in for a long time. In other words, the material being taught in business administration/management programs are irrelevant if you're planning on going into startups/entrepreneurship full-time. Business school is, ultimately, designed to churn out accountants, financial analysts, and investment bankers.

I came to the stunning realization that I could pick up a couple of business books and learn far more than the courses I was taking in my business administration program.

So what am I doing now? I've been voraciously engaged in my self-designed education curriculum- which consists of studying the following topics:

• Startup strategy & business development (for early-stage tech companies)
• Sales & negotiation
• Communication & public speaking
• Marketing and customer acquisition
• User experience design
• UI and product design
• Coding and programming (to become 'fluent' in technology) Note: At this point I don't intend on becoming a programming wizard/code monkey- but if I could at least study the 80% most important concepts in this area and speak 'tech' with developers- that's good enough for me)
• Emotional intelligence / social psychology / consumer behaviour

I think these are far more important topics to learn if you're looking to go full-time into entrepreneurship or startups.

And of course- acquiring knowledge through reading and MOOCs doesn't equate to taking action. Therefore, I've also been working on an actual startup, and we're going into private beta very soon.

But wait- what about organizational behaviour? Human resources? Accounting/Finance? Statistics? Marketing management? Eh...

Let me know what you think. If you disagree with what I have to say- do assert yourself. I like being challenged and having other people point out my blindspots or wherever my thinking may go astray.

 

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[GuestUser113]

 

[MVProduct]

My only concern now is that I won't be getting a degree.

No degree = no job.
No job = no income.

At some point, I believe entrepreneurs DO need some money coming in, otherwise they'll have a hard time supporting themselves.

For those of you building a startup and have no regular income, how are you guys coping?

 

[ralphoi]

All the stuff you're self-learning is super important. But as you grow your business, you'll realize accounting and finance will be super useful as well. That said, you really don't need a university course to learn those skills either!


SeqSent from my iPhone using TapatalkqqqyAsasqqas

 

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[MVProduct]

All the stuff you're self-learning is super important. But as you grow your business, you'll realize accounting and finance will be super useful as well. That said, you really don't need a university course to learn those skills either!


SeqSent from my iPhone using TapatalkqqqyAsasqqas

Haha, I knew somebody would point out something relating to accounting & finance. I don't mean to dismiss these topics entirely- I think it'd be useful to have a working knowledge of accounting for cash flow / budgeting / stock purposes and what not. But going to university solely for these skills would be the wrong move, unless you plan on becoming an accountant.

 

[eliquid]

If you honestly think:

"No degree = no job.
No job = no income."

Then you are hopelessly lost brother.

 

[Ninjakid]

"Hey Elon, don't go back to school. What happened to going to Mars? Besides you've already got two degrees" :/

"Yeah Ninjakid, but what if it takes too long to get to Mars? I need some income, and you can only get hired if you have a degree."

"Well, as you know, business degrees are for people who plan to get hired by a big business in a management position. Entrepreneurs don't really need them, but then again, knowing about business terms and stuff won't hurt. More knowledge is usually better than less."

"And come to think of it, my degrees didn't really play a big part in me starting my business. My physics degree helped a bit with building the rocket though."

"Exactly!"

"I'm going to stick to my mission to go to Mars, because that's really the most important thing for me right now. Besides, I'm Elon Musk. I don't need school. Bye earthlings."

*Sir Elon The Great gets into his spaceship and flies away.

 

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[DeletedUser394]

Anyone out there jobless? Create some kind of script that automatically blocks anything related to college/university/degree/no degree.

I will make you rich.

 

[Phones]

I'm currently at my 2nd year on one of the top30 Business schools, I can confirm, you won't learn anything that you wouldn't learn outside, doing it.

Don't go to school just for the sake of going to school, even if it's free, value your time wisely.

 

[ilrein]

You do write well and are obviously well spoken. Such a thing does not occur without being surrounded by other educated people. You should appreciate that the social nature of school has brought you this not-so subtle skill.

That's not to say you should commit to a 4 year degree, of course. I went to a coding bootcamp, and now I'm getting paid well to build web apps full time.

But the fact of the matter is: money talks. Those who drop out of school because their business is getting too big are quite a bit different story. Not everyone is Elon Musk guys.

 

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[MendeGames]

I am currently a first year marketing student. I go back and forth a lot about going to school and whether it is worth it. The way I see it right now is, even if a lot of the information I am learning is useless (pre-reqs) or I could learn them off the internet, it is not worth the risk to drop out if I do not have any current income. If at some point during college I did manage to create a steady stream of income with a startup, I would strongly consider dropping out since the only reason I would get a a degree would be so that I could get a job.