At first glance, the answer seems yes. Startup companies are notoriously averse to hiring business school graduates. Some say it’s because MBAs lack company loyalty and can act entitled, while others say the truth really lies in the stigma of the MBA itself. A business school graduate simply can’t afford to partake in a startup company because they will be graduating with negative income due to their business school loans. Beyond that, startups are also keen on keeping the zeitgeist surrounding startup culture: fresh, young, and creative. Business schools naturally have an attachment to “the old ways”, particularly Ivy League schools and Stanford, which startups generally try to avoid—at least for public perception.
That’s not to say that once a startup is earning billions that its founders don’t recognize the benefits of a classically educated businessperson. Business schools are known for churning out math-oriented academics, which startups do eventually need at some point. Even Mark Zuckerberg, who lacks an MBA, recognised this: he hired Harvard graduate Sheryl Sandberg in 2008 as his COO. In fact, most startups now worth over a billion dollars founded since 2003 have at least one top-level executive with an MBA. That’s not to say that there haven’t been successful startups founded by business school grads. Some of the more famous ones include: Kiva.org, Match.com, Kayak, Yelp, and Zynga. Startup culture and business school culture aren’t inherently in conflict; it’s just how a company wants to be perceived.
Still, business schools want more and are playing catch-up. As of this year, all top business schools now offer courses in entrepreneurship. These include Harvard Business School’s launching technology ventures and MIT’s new course designed to connect students to the VC world. As these new graduates enter the workforce, it would be a disservice for startups to discount them. Students who make it into and through these programmes are notoriously ambitious, and just because they chose a more traditional route doesn’t mean they won’t succeed.