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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:
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.
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
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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