The TL;DR MBA

Today I tweeted a giant thread where I tried to summarize what I learned during my MBA (or MScBA in Europe) at Rotterdam School of Management (I graduated 2012). The stuff I remembered and still practice is mostly strategy and marketing. Which is also most relevant for entrepreneurship (which I do). But to be complete, I’ve also summarized finance and management theory.

My credentials

Don’t believe anyone who talks on the internet! So why believe me? Well don’t, BUT I’ve studied business (both bachelor and master) at 4 different universities. 1 year of International Business Administration at Hogeschool Utrecht in 2007.

3 years of International Business Administration at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2010.

3 months of studying abroad at Korea University Business School in 2009 and…

1 year of Business Administration at Rotterdam School of Management where I graduated in 2012.

OH GOD SO MANY SUITS! PLEASE GET THEM AWAY FROM ME.

That’s A LOT of business theory to proces. So I have 4 different sources of the same concepts being explained in different ways!

Keep it short!

This is all 140 character tweets which forces it to keep it concise, something 300-page business books and 4 years of business school doesn’t. Honestly, I don’t think you should pay lots of money to spend it business school. The core is this and a lot of IRL practice, not theory. Go ship!

The TL;DR MBA

Hereby I present to you: the TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read) MBA:

Click each tweet to expand each sub topic thread:

Strategy

Porter’s Five Forces

The Ansoff Matrix

Scarcity in the value chain

Marketing

The Product Marketing Mix (or 7 P’s)

Premium vs. Low-Cost Pricing

The ideal business

Finance

Net present value

Reading Profit & Loss statements

Financial modeling

Options & Derivatives

Capital structure

Management

Management by Objectives (MBO)

S.M.A.R.T. goals

Decentralized management

Most important

Conclusion

Obviously this is just a tiny summary of parts of a real MBA. It won’t cover an actual program. But it’s good to get it out there because MBA’s are treated as some “magical spell” you get, but that’s bullshit. It’s just learning a lot of theories, and then mostly networking. I personally think even the networking part is bullshit unless you go to Harvard Business School. I never had ANY benefit of anybody I met from my business schools, except having lots of great fun nights drinking beer and cocktails. I’m sorry guys!

Therefore, my advice is, use this thread as a starting point. Delve in specific concepts that you feel you need to know more about by Googling and using YouTube tutorials on business (there’s lots now!). Then if you want, start a company as soon as possible or start working at new company so you can quickly learn the in-real-life practical knowledge, which, when combined with basic business theory, is pure gold for your career!

Should you get a real MBA

I’d strongly say no. Also it’s highly disputable if you should study business. Business courses are sold as leading people to a career in upper management. But that’s bullshit. The real top positions in big corporations are generally reserved for high-skilled engineers.

Big business consultancies like McKinsey don’t even hire business graduates anymore, they hire from universities of technology like MIT or TU Delft. Business graduates have a severe lack of hard skills like math and programming. On the other hand, engineers are generally the worst at marketing and selling their inventions. But I’d say focus on getting that hard skill first, then add some business juice to it which nowadays you can easily find on the internet!