I was surprised to see Charlie's post get so much traction because much of it is either common sense or doesn't apply to most of my readers. The particular MBAs that Charlie is talking about aren't reading his stuff or they'd know better than to do the things he complains about in his post.
There's a vibrant community of MBAs who are entrepreneurs -- those starting their own companies or starting a company soon. And this group is going about things the right way and not how Charlie writes about in his post.
Here I'll list Charlie's points in bold and then follow with my thoughts:
- MBAs are going about startup recruiting the wrong way: Well, what Charlie has said is true for a good number of MBAs, and the right way to do startup recruiting is to create opportunities for startups. I completely agree. Yet there's a biased sample here. The best entrepreneurs/startup oriented MBAs aren't contacting people like Charlie in the manner he mentions in his post. The best ones are out making things happen, just as Charlie advises. So here Charlie is just extrapolating from the wrong pool of people.
- MBAs are deadweights: Again, it's the same biased sample at play. If you just talk to the real startup crew at MBA programs, such as the MBAs that were on our Silicon Valley immersion or that have been out hustling and creating opportunities at startups, you would change your mind. A lot of MBAs definitely go to banking and consulting, but there are a lot of great, scrappy MBAs too. To imply this group is a bunch of deadweights that won't create value at early startups is a mistake. Note to Charlie: if you want me to connect you to the real startup oriented MBAs, let me know. There are plenty of people that could do an amazing job at your portfolio companies. Talking to this group would change your mind and would probably be a more productive use of your time, given your experiences with opportunistic non-startup oriented MBAs.
- MBAs don't create their own opportunities: HBS has outside classroom experiences available to students that are field studies and independent studies. Several hundred MBAs are doing them in their second year and many of these consist of free work that they do for startups. Several of my friends reached out proactively to startups to work for them (for free!) and these are incredible startups like RedBeacon.
- MBAs don't use social media (or don't use it well): check out this post about the MBAs in my class who blog. More significantly, check out this list of the 150 or so HBS MBAs who have Twitter accounts. And go to LinkedIn and check out the majority of our class that have their own LinkedIn profiles. We use social media and the savvy ones don't send you their resumes -- we don't need to because we're off campus making good things happen.
My point is this: there are a lot of great MBAs out there who are creating their own opportunities, adding a lot of value, and using social media quite well. Look at this abridged list of the people in the last two classes who have started companies: David created RentJuice, Oliver created VigLink (funded by Charlie's own First Round Capital), Matt and Michelle created CloudFlare, Jenn and Jennifer created Rent the Runway, Brad created ClearMechanic, Sunil created Triangulate, Victor created Frenting, Phil created KartMe, James/Oly/Chris created ThredUp, and there are a number of people in my class that are launching their own companies. We should also consider the many more people who are going into startups and doing a great job playing multiple roles at their companies.
A lot of what Charlie said was an extrapolation of the types of people who have contacted him. Plus these days it's quite trendy to rip on MBAs, so I can see why there was such a strong reaction to Charlie's advice. But his post doesn't really get us anywhere -- the people who are being mercenaries and are not truly interested in startups aren't going to read what he wrote, and the people who ARE interested in startups are already going about things the right way.
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Update: If you're curious, read Charlie's response below or click here to be taken straight to the comment. Please note there are also responses to his comment.
Update 2: Thanks for all the kind emails/messages. No need to sling mud back, so if you do respond to Charlie please do so thoughtfully and without personal attacks back at him.
