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Home>Blog>Why MBA>MBA for Entrepreneurs: Why It's a Good Idea
To MBA or not to MBA? Recently, this question has sparked a big debate amongst entrepreneurs, with business incubators and accelerators often being mentioned as alternatives to business school. For the next few months I will share my opinions as to why, for some, business school can be very beneficial for starting a business, just as it was for me starting Flat-Club.
In this post, I will look into the reasons why an MBA gave me the confidence to take the plunge and start my own business, despite having no intention of doing so when I decided to go to business school. I will also examine the importance of reputation in starting a business, and how my MBA helped me with it.
How I Became Interested in Entrepreneurship
Like many others, when I decided to go to a business school, it was to accelerate my banking and finance career. Starting my own company had never entered my mind. Over the course of the MBA, however, something changed. Initially, the inspiration came from meeting successful entrepreneurs like Tony Wheeler, founder of the Lonely Planet and an alum of London Business School, as well as reading case studies and meeting other MBA entrepreneurs. Later, the idea for Flat-Club arose when I saw there was a need. MBA students are always searching for short term accommodation – going on exchanges, internships, travelling, and having family and friends come to visit. I also realised that with the support of the MBA course I had a strong advantage before I had even begun.
Business School As a Time for Reflection
For me, if I had never gone to business school, I would not now be running Flat-Club. It gave me two years to consider all the options and form a strategy. I even did a proper internship with American Express and was made a full-time offer to join them after graduation. But the MBA gave me the time to decide where I really wanted my career to go as well as the opportunity to try it out during my second year, and make the final decision when I had more experience.
Why Business School is Better than a Startup Accelerator
The Safety Net
As with any major attainment, an MBA from a top business school stays with you forever -- noone can take it the degree away once you've completed your two years. Along with the qualification goes a quiet confidence that, if and when you should need it, the corporate world is out there waiting for you to return. And that is what swung my decision to start Flat-Club -- at the very best it would succeed, and at the worst, I would have the option of returning to my banking career. This “safety net” allowed me to take greater risks without being as concerned about failure. Should I decide to begin another venture, the stature and reputation of my business school is something that will still be there to support me. I don't believe that all startup accelerators and incubators can provide such an effective alternative if the specific venture you are working on fails.
How Business School Helped Me Build Customer Relationships
For any start-up, winning the first customers and building initial relationships with stakeholders is a challenge and key to building the business. The reputation I gained as student of a top business school helped with this enormously. In our case, it helped me to build relationships with top universities. Flat-Club is helping alumni and students of top universities find short term accommodation, so working directly with the universities is a key factor for success. It’s not easy to gain the support of a university, but in the first few months mentioning that I was a student at London Business School really helped. The reputation of the school was again on my side and helped build these early and very important relationships.
How MBA Networking Helped Me Grow My Business
Networking is another facet of an MBA that will always be there for you. There is a network of highly successful professionals who will always be willing to meet you for a coffee and to listen to a fellow LBS alumni; it is a bond which stays for life. This is invaluable in business where networking and reputation are vital to reaching out to suppliers, investors and clients. With Flat-Club this was one of the keys for our quick expansion. I connected with our alumni community and many of them helped me with introductions to potential hosts and offered advice on growing the business. They also made the first bookings on Flat-Club, and some were even interested in becoming our investors creating the foundations for success.
The contacts, network and provenance gained by attending business school have certainly made a huge difference to the success of my business. These are all by-products of doing an MBA. But this is only the beginning. In my next post I will discuss more about the benefits of the business school network as well as looking at the skills and techniques I learned which have helped me build Flat-Club.
About Nitzan Yudan
Nitzan Yudan, 33 years old, lives in London, graduated with an MBA at London Business School, and has 12 years’ experience in finance, IT, and tourism. Nitzan is the founder of Flat-Club – short term renting within social networks. Flat-Club helps alumni and students of top universities find short term accommodation (from 1 night up to 6 months) with others they trust from their existing networks Flat-Club was founded in November 2010 with 5 flats in London and within its first year grew to 2,000 rooms and apartments in 20 cities and a team of 15 from 12 nationalities as part of the London Business School Incubator.
This article was originally published in February 2012
.
It was last updated in May 2016
MBA for Entrepreneurs: Why It's a Good Idea
By QS Contributor
Updated May 26, 2016 Updated May 26, 2016To MBA or not to MBA? Recently, this question has sparked a big debate amongst entrepreneurs, with business incubators and accelerators often being mentioned as alternatives to business school. For the next few months I will share my opinions as to why, for some, business school can be very beneficial for starting a business, just as it was for me starting Flat-Club.
In this post, I will look into the reasons why an MBA gave me the confidence to take the plunge and start my own business, despite having no intention of doing so when I decided to go to business school. I will also examine the importance of reputation in starting a business, and how my MBA helped me with it.
How I Became Interested in Entrepreneurship
Like many others, when I decided to go to a business school, it was to accelerate my banking and finance career. Starting my own company had never entered my mind. Over the course of the MBA, however, something changed. Initially, the inspiration came from meeting successful entrepreneurs like Tony Wheeler, founder of the Lonely Planet and an alum of London Business School, as well as reading case studies and meeting other MBA entrepreneurs. Later, the idea for Flat-Club arose when I saw there was a need. MBA students are always searching for short term accommodation – going on exchanges, internships, travelling, and having family and friends come to visit. I also realised that with the support of the MBA course I had a strong advantage before I had even begun.
Business School As a Time for Reflection
For me, if I had never gone to business school, I would not now be running Flat-Club. It gave me two years to consider all the options and form a strategy. I even did a proper internship with American Express and was made a full-time offer to join them after graduation. But the MBA gave me the time to decide where I really wanted my career to go as well as the opportunity to try it out during my second year, and make the final decision when I had more experience.
Why Business School is Better than a Startup Accelerator
The Safety Net
As with any major attainment, an MBA from a top business school stays with you forever -- noone can take it the degree away once you've completed your two years. Along with the qualification goes a quiet confidence that, if and when you should need it, the corporate world is out there waiting for you to return. And that is what swung my decision to start Flat-Club -- at the very best it would succeed, and at the worst, I would have the option of returning to my banking career. This “safety net” allowed me to take greater risks without being as concerned about failure. Should I decide to begin another venture, the stature and reputation of my business school is something that will still be there to support me. I don't believe that all startup accelerators and incubators can provide such an effective alternative if the specific venture you are working on fails.
How Business School Helped Me Build Customer Relationships
For any start-up, winning the first customers and building initial relationships with stakeholders is a challenge and key to building the business. The reputation I gained as student of a top business school helped with this enormously. In our case, it helped me to build relationships with top universities. Flat-Club is helping alumni and students of top universities find short term accommodation, so working directly with the universities is a key factor for success. It’s not easy to gain the support of a university, but in the first few months mentioning that I was a student at London Business School really helped. The reputation of the school was again on my side and helped build these early and very important relationships.
How MBA Networking Helped Me Grow My Business
Networking is another facet of an MBA that will always be there for you. There is a network of highly successful professionals who will always be willing to meet you for a coffee and to listen to a fellow LBS alumni; it is a bond which stays for life. This is invaluable in business where networking and reputation are vital to reaching out to suppliers, investors and clients. With Flat-Club this was one of the keys for our quick expansion. I connected with our alumni community and many of them helped me with introductions to potential hosts and offered advice on growing the business. They also made the first bookings on Flat-Club, and some were even interested in becoming our investors creating the foundations for success.
The contacts, network and provenance gained by attending business school have certainly made a huge difference to the success of my business. These are all by-products of doing an MBA. But this is only the beginning. In my next post I will discuss more about the benefits of the business school network as well as looking at the skills and techniques I learned which have helped me build Flat-Club.
Nitzan Yudan, 33 years old, lives in London, graduated with an MBA at London Business School, and has 12 years’ experience in finance, IT, and tourism. Nitzan is the founder of Flat-Club – short term renting within social networks. Flat-Club helps alumni and students of top universities find short term accommodation (from 1 night up to 6 months) with others they trust from their existing networks Flat-Club was founded in November 2010 with 5 flats in London and within its first year grew to 2,000 rooms and apartments in 20 cities and a team of 15 from 12 nationalities as part of the London Business School Incubator.
This article was originally published in February 2012 . It was last updated in May 2016
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