Taking a two-year in-person MBA has always been a rite of passage for young finance, technology and consulting professionals. It’s a time to learn, develop ideas — and, above all, network.
But a technology billionaire says that nothing compares to diving directly into entrepreneurship — and that getting an MBA isn’t all that. When asked by podcaster Codie Sanchez if people should get an MBA, Joe Liemandt promptly replied, “no.”
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“This one is easy for me,” said the founder of Trilogy Software and ESW Capital. “There is nothing in terms of business knowledge that you will acquire there that is even a fraction of what you would learn by building something of your own during those two years.”
Joe Liemandt explains the big flaw in the traditional MBA mindset and why a true entrepreneur believes they will change the world, regardless of what others think. Watch the full episode on the BigDeal Podcast.
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To be fair, Liemandt is not very attached to academia — he values practical experience more. He attended Stanford University as an undergraduate, but dropped out to found Trilogy Software in 1989, which quickly became a player in the enterprise software industry, focusing on product configuration and sales automation.
At its peak, Trilogy achieved annual revenue of about $120 million and launched successful spinoffs, including pcorder.com, which went public during the internet boom. A few years later, Liemandt turned his focus to ESW Capital, which specializes in buying distressed software companies and turning them into profitable businesses.
Liemandt believed in hands-on learning so much that the company created Trilogy University, an intensive training program for new talent that inspired similar initiatives at tech giants like Google and Facebook.
The difference between MBA graduates and entrepreneurs
Liemandt defined the difference he sees between those who decide to study a two-year MBA and those who go directly to building their own company.
“Entrepreneurs believe they will change the world, no matter what others think,” he said. “Here’s your problem in an MBA: you’re going to look at the spreadsheet and say, ‘that cell doesn’t work, the spreadsheet doesn’t work.’ Then you give up on the idea, because you’re just looking and analyzing.”
On the other hand, he argues that entrepreneurs approach problem solving in a more creative way.
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“An entrepreneur looks at this cell and says, ‘I’m going to change this cell. I’m going to make this work,'” he said. “If you’re going to be a builder and an entrepreneur, you’re going to change reality. That’s what you do.”
Is it worth doing an MBA?
Just like undergraduate courses, MBA programs have also become more expensive — especially when it comes to the best business schools in the country.
The total cost of a two-year program at Harvard Business School can reach around US$250,000 (including tuition and other expenses). But the median base salary for HBS Class of 2025 graduates was $184,500, plus a $30,000 signing bonus. That’s about three times the median salary for full-time jobs in the US.
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Meanwhile, the MBA is the primary degree for about 40% of executives at Fortune 1000 companies.
“When changes need to be made — something common for business leaders — it is these soft skills that help motivate people to be agile and flexible in the face of challenges that may seem beyond their current capabilities,” said Joy Jones, CEO of GMAC, in a previous interview with Fortune.
Of course, many successful entrepreneurs have made it to the top without an MBA — or even a degree. Steve Jobs (Apple), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Michael Dell (Dell) and Mark Zuckerberg (Meta) are all college dropouts — and, today, mega-billionaires.
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“The truth is, I never graduated from college. This was the closest I ever came to graduating,” Jobs said in the famous Stanford commencement speech in 2005. “At the time it was scary, but looking back, it was one of the best decisions I ever made.”
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