MBAs in Silicon Valley

While the fundamental principles of business never change, it has an inherently fluid nature. The idea is simple: you must adapt to survive. Big players like Google, Intel and Facebook have been drawing MBAs into the Silicon Valley at a steadily-increasing rate. However, startup companies have garnered a unique attraction for MBAs with brand new degrees and strong desires for innovative and creative opportunities.
Despite a considerably large risk of failure, numerous startups are formed in the Silicon Valley every year. It is estimated that 33 percent of all startups will not succeed. For most MBAs, going to work at a startup company is a rather significant gamble. Startups are characteristically designated by businesses models that are very scalable yet invalidated. While this may seem like an unsafe bet for many people, it is actually fairly obvious why new MBAs are drawn to startups in the Silicon Valley.
In recent years, millennials have made a number of huge impacts on the workplace. They initially had a reputation for being self-entitled, narcissistic and lazy; that negative connotation is quickly fading to a distant memory as companies adapt to accommodate this fast-growing demographic. Millennials now make up one-third of today’s workplace – that is over 54 million employees. Having an MBA degree does not exempt this younger generation from the same characteristics that define their peers.
Tech startups in Silicon Valley offer many of the perks that millennials value in the workplace. At almost any startup, the rules are fluid and employees have a large influence on their working environment and capacity for productivity. Startups are notorious for open workspaces, group collaboration and unique perks like massage tables and game rooms. These benefits are a huge attraction for a generation of MBAs that is likely to financially struggle more than their predecessors.
MBAs that go to work at startups in the Silicon Valley often gain much more ownership of their projects and results than traditional companies have to offer. Millennials are typically very passionate about what they do for a living – companies are likely to see many applicants from this particular age group when they create innovative environments that foster this passion.
For a generation that was raised with seemingly unconditional praise, recognition is important in the workplace. Startups give inexperienced MBAs a chance to prove themselves. It is no easy task to take a small startup company and make it an impressive success. The allure of potential for achievement and praise is one large contributing factor in the huge amount of MBAs that are going to work at startups.
It has been shown that many first-year MBAs are strongly attracted to working in the lucrative field of technology. This field has tremendously grown in the last twenty years, and is predicted to continue growing exponentially. Despite the amount of new and unproven tech startups in the Silicon Valley, it is easy to see why this area is anticipated to continue to draw numerous millennials with MBA degrees for many years to come.