Imagine this scene…

You’ve come to a fork in the road in your career.  You’ve decided that change is coming, but you aren’t sure what that change will be.  On one hand, you’ve always wanted to start your own business.  On the other, you are considering graduate school — perhaps an MBA.  The question you have is whether the two years in the MBA program (and the costs of the MBA) will help give you a better chance at ultimate success in building your own business.

This is an all-too-common situation, particularly when the economy slows down — we saw a big jump in business and law school applications in the early 1990s and again starting in 2001.  If you ask your friends, mentors, colleagues, and entrepreneurs, you’ll get responses all over the map.  Some people will swear by the value of an MBA, while others will tell you that the weight of the debt from your MBA will keep you from being able to really take the plunge.

The fork in the road: the MBA or the Startup.  Ultimately, the answer is a personal one, but many researchers have studied successful entrepreneurs to better understand the link between their background and success — including education, prior startup experience, etc.  (And there is some added information below about the importance of prior startup experience in your success as an entrepreneur.)

Do I need a particular educational background to be a successful entrepreneur?

Countless researchers have attempted to identify the link between educational backgrounds and successful entrepreneurs. The results of this research only prove that there is no single background that yields successful entrepreneurs. Research by Arnold Cooper of Purdue University suggests that technical entrepreneurs (those involved in high tech fields) tend to be well-educated, having at least a master’s degree. On the other hand, Robert Ronstadt of Babson College found that formal education was actually an obstacle to creativity, innovation, and other skills necessary for successful entrepreneurial activities.

Further research by Cooper and Javier Gimeno-Gascon does show that entrepreneurs having business or engineering degrees were more likely to grow firms to greater size. This research also concluded, however, that the number of business courses taken by the company’s founder was inversely related to the growth for larger startups. The lesson there – skip that extra accounting minor and pick up a degree in chemical engineering!

The one fact that seems to be widely held by researchers is that skills needed for entrepreneurs can be taught. And, given the growing number of collegiate and university programs, nonprofit trainings and private-industry coaching programs offering skills-training for entrepreneurs, there are numerous opportunities to hone important skills that will likely be used in new venture creation.