Entrepreneurs and Business School

[Michael@VeritasPrep]

Should budding entrepreneurs go to business school? It's a question we get asked very often and it's always a difficult debate. In some cases it makes sense, in others not. So let's break down both options.
In general, business school can be a very expensive proposition. So as an entrepreneur you would probably be asking yourself, "why spend all this money on business school when I could just invest it in myself and my startup?" Also, many entrepreneurs would say two years of business school is a waste of time. Apu Gupta, who Co-Founded Curalate and is a Wharton MBA graduate thinks you can't learn entrepreneurship in a classroom. "I think the notion that you can go to business school to learn to be an entrepreneur is a misnomer. I have always found it odd that people go to business school to study entrepreneurship. If you want to study entrepreneurship, you need to go and be an entrepreneur." Also, there are many online resources now where people can take business school like classes and not have to pay nearly as much, if anything at all. For example, the University of Illinois just made their MBA classes free online at Coursera.
So why do we think it can actually make sense for entrepreneurs to go to business school. There are a number of reasons. First, business schools are consistently investing in their entrepreneurship programs. They have seen the rise of students either wanting to work for startups or be an entrepreneur themselves and they are responding positively. During any random week at just about any top business school there will be some kind of pitch competition happening. Giving students the chance to flex their creative muscles and present their startup idea to local experts. Additionally, most schools offer some kind of entrepreneurship class or lecture series for their students. For example, Harvard Business School offers courses like: The Entrepreneurial Manager, Entrepreneurial Finance, Launching Technology Ventures and even a field course in entrepreneurial sales and marketing. Some schools are even custom designing curriculum, investing in entrepreneurship centers or creating additional certificates for would be entrepreneurs. For example, the Michigan Ross School of Business has created a Master of Entrepreneurship degree in collaboration with the Michigan College of Engineering that comes with a built in funding ecosystem.
Secondly, despite the fact that business school networking is typically geared to those looking for full time jobs, it still provides an awesome opportunity for networking for entrepreneurs. Imagine being in a sea of talented people who are as motivated as you. Do you think you could find a few people who might also want to work on your project? How about a professor that would serve as an advisor for your company? Or even potential funding opportunities from alumni and local investors?
Obviously at the end of the day business school is a very personal choice and we think it is important to think about both sides of the argument about whether or not entrepreneurs should go to business school.