Planning to get into business

[goldy]

Hello,

If a person wants to start his/her business what should he/she do?
What are the options? I understand an MBA is vital in order to understand more about how any industry works. But what is best in this case, a part time or a full time? Also please give me a second opinion on doing Full Time MBA in a situation like this.

[arjun_chauhan]

hey
could u specify ur situation so we can help u out with it
a full time mba is not necessary if u wanna set up ur own business
a part time will u cause u r not lookin out for placements, u just wanna acquire the necessary skills and knowledge base
hope that answers part of ur question

[goldy]

The part about being placed answers most of my questions. I want to keep the option of being placed open. I would really like to join an organistaion after my MBA, work for a few years before being on my own.

Anyone going for full time MBA and planning for business/entreprenureship in the future please respond. What are your views?

Goldy

[M A N I S H]

Originally Posted by goldy

The part about being placed answers most of my questions. I want to keep the option of being placed open. I would really like to join an organistaion after my MBA, work for a few years before being on my own.

Anyone going for full time MBA and planning for business/entreprenureship in the future please respond. What are your views?

Goldy

I am one of them.. But the case is just the opposite.. I am doing my business and planning to get into MBA sooner or later..
Was thinking of doing an MBA and then entering into business first but didnt get into colleges of my likings.. So have landed up into family business...
Well Goldy , first one needs to understand the type of business you want to get involved into..
If the venture you want to get into is very high then may be an MBA is gonna help... I am not too sure about it helping you in small scale or medium scale industries as in my case. We have 2 decent enough Bread Manufacturing plants.. Have the Franchise of Modern Food Industries , are into Energy food productions and have a lot of participation in government tenders.. The turnover as a result becomes good...
But the last one month or so have passed.. I have been working in my business and I dont get to understand the application of an MBA in this field.. I have to deal with laymen in the factory and with officers in the departments.. I dont see any direct implication of an MBA in this field.. But I do feel that if one enters into a field well equipped then its better coz it gives you a boost from within.... I dont know if I would perform better in this field or not but ine thing I can say is that I would be much much confident if I had a MBA degree from some decent place... But changing your mindset after learning about corporate world and landing into some place like I have is not gonna be easy unless you are very clear about it in your head...

So you can always keep your options open.. Get a decent MBA degree.. And can think about business anytime,,

Manish

[htowner]

Originally Posted by goldy

Hello,
If a person wants to start his/her business what should he/she do?
What are the options? I understand an MBA is vital in order to understand more about how any industry works. But what is best in this case, a part time or a full time? Also please give me a second opinion on doing Full Time MBA in a situation like this.

We had a similar discussion a few weeks ago. i think manish had a similar situation.

Its really a tough question to answer without knowing some details. you didnt tell us what kind of business you are looking at?

Allow me to explain some points anyway. i will let you answer most of the questions. i hope ..it might take the discussion somewhere.

1. As of today, do you have a unique product or a service that you have in mind? if not, do you plan to do something in the next 2 -3 years? if it will take 2-3 years for studying the market for your product and all the things that go along with it , you might as well opt for an full time MBA and start working slowly on your business plan. while, in your mba, you can discuss the plan with some "trusted" colleagues. you might be able to start a business along with your fellow MBA students. its obvious that an MBA is a great way of meeting some budding entreprenuers. you might be able to develop your initial idea into something bigger with some cooperation from your colleagues and profs.

Obviously, a part time MBA is good if you intend to continue working in the same organization after your MBA. the part-time MBA will help you to move up in management positions at your current employer. otherwise , the full time MBA is better.

2. God forbid and with all due respect, what happens if your start up fails? in that case, do you think it would be better to have an MBA to fall back on? ' Desh' Deshpande, founder of Sycamore networks, says that a good yardstick for any company to get its feet off the ground is 18 months and its those 18 months that decide the future for any startup. In that time, you have to develop a business plan, find your management team, approach VC.,banks for funding and finally get funding on terms that seem favorable to you. VC's look for companies that can go public or those that have enough potential for a takeover by a bigger company. Most of the VC's use this a exit strategy.

3. Do you have family, friends who can fund the seed capital needed for your start up? If your company gets off the ground and has a decent product or service, it might be attractive to a VC and you can negotiate better terms.

4. What is your competition ? (the idea here is that there is no use competing against companies where the barrier to entry is simply too high.

These are some questions that you need to clearly explain to yourself before you make a decision. If you thought of a business idea, chances are somebody else has a similar idea too.

I hope i was helpful in some way. i will be glad to answer more questions.

regards
htowner