Going to a two-year, in-person MBA program has long been a rite of passage for young professionals in finance, tech, and consulting. It\u2019s a time to learn, develop ideas\u2014and most of all, to network.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But one tech billionaire says nothing compares to just jumping right into entrepreneurship, and getting an MBA isn\u2019t really all it\u2019s cracked up to be. When asked by podcaster Codie Sanchez if people should get an MBA, Joe Liemandt promptly said \u201cno.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s an easy one for me,\u201d said the Trilogy Software and ESW Capital founder. \u201cThere\u2019s nothing on the business knowledge that you\u2019re going to come out of there that is a fraction of what you would get from building your own thing for that two years.\u201d<\/p>\n
To be sure, Liemandt isn\u2019t much of an academic\u2014rather someone who values real-life experience. He attended Stanford University for undergrad, but dropped out to start Trilogy Software in 1989, which quickly became a major player in enterprise software, focused on product configuration and sales automation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At its peak, Trilogy achieved annual revenues around $120 million and launched successful spinoffs<\/a> including pcorder.com<\/a>, which went public during the dot-com boom. A few years later, Liemandt switched his focus to ESW Capital, which specializes in buying struggling software companies<\/a> and turning them into profitable businesses.<\/p>\n Liemandt was so dedicated to learning on the job, in fact, the company established Trilogy University, an intensive training boot camp for new hires, which inspired<\/a> similar programs at tech giants Google<\/a> and Facebook.<\/p>\n The difference between MBA grads and entrepreneurs<\/p>\n Liemandt defined the difference he sees between those who choose to pursue a two-year MBA program and those who go straight into building their own companies.<\/p>\n \u201cEntrepreneurs believe they\u2019re going to change the world, no matter what everybody else thinks,\u201d he said. \u201cHere\u2019s your problem as an MBA: You\u2019re going to look at the spreadsheet and you\u2019re going to say, \u2018that cell doesn\u2019t work, so the spreadsheet doesn\u2019t [work]. So I\u2019m not going to do this idea, right, because you\u2019re just looking at it and analyzing.\u201d<\/p>\n On the flip side, however, Liemandt argued entrepreneurs look more creatively at problem solving.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAn entrepreneur looks at that cell and says, \u2018I will change that cell. I will make that work,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to be a builder and an entrepreneur, you\u2019re gonna go change reality. That is what you do.\u201d<\/p>\n Is getting an MBA worth it?<\/p>\n Like the rising cost of undergraduate programs, MBA programs<\/a> have also gotten more expensive\u2014particularly if you\u2019re looking at the top business school programs in the country.\u00a0<\/p>\n The total cost<\/a> for a two-year program at Harvard Business School could set you back about $250,000 (including tuition and other costs). But the median base salary<\/a> for 2025 HBS MBA grads was $184,500, plus a $30,000 signing bonus. That\u2019s about three times the U.S. overall median full-time salary<\/a>.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, an MBA is the go-to degree<\/a> for about 40% of Fortune 1000 executives.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen making pivots that often need to be made as a business leader, it\u2019s those soft skills that help motivate people to be agile and flexible in taking on challenges they may feel are slightly beyond their current capabilities,\u201d Joy Jones, CEO of the Graduate Management Admission Council, previously told Fortune.<\/p>\n Of course, plenty of successful businesspeople made it all the way to the top without an MBA degree\u2014or even an undergraduate degree. Apple<\/a> founder Steve Jobs, Microsoft<\/a> founder Bill Gates, Dell founder Michael Dell, and Meta<\/a> founder Mark Zuckerberg are all college dropouts\u2014and each are megabillionaires today.<\/p>\n