Thoughts on the Acton MBA in Entrepreneurship, anyone? Obviously with the end goal of going into entrepreneurship, not as a launchpad for getting into high finance/consulting...
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Comments (31)
I joined WSO just to respond. I am an Acton graduate.
I highly urge you not to go to Acton. If you are interested in tech like most future entrepreneurs are, then this is absolutely the wrong program. You will be brainwashed that VCs are evil, and that the only good company is one that you build one high-value customer at a time.
Furthermore, despite being in Austin, Acton has no pull even within the local tech community.
If you have an idea for a company, just go start your company. Keep your risk small until you know it is working and scaleable. If you go to Acton, they give you so much busy work that you don't have time to work on planning your business or meeting co-founders/investors/partners.
Also, the job market is VERY challenging for an Acton grad. Many in my class made less after Acton than they did before Acton.
Thanks for the perspective - very helpful to know.
Currently: future psychiatrist (med school =P)
Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
I also joined WSO just to respond. Over ten years, Acton has had only 12 unhappy customers, and KidB happens to be an extremely loud one. I just graduated in June and thought that my review would provide a different perspective that is shared by 95%+ of the Acton graduate community:
Going to Acton was a truly transformational experience, and besides getting married of course, it was the best experience of my life. The program pushes you to get far outside of your comfort zone and to work harder than you ever thought possible, and that is where the real learning happenings. You will not be sitting through lectures or diving into endless textbooks. You will not be routinely memorizing terms off of flashcards. You will, however, be placed in real simulations that force you to get in the shoes of an entrepreneur - to understand your customers, to lead your employees, to build and sell products (even door-to-door), to raise money. You will do this hundreds of times. You will fail, and even better, you will fail up so that you grow more and more each time. And you will be guided through these challenges and lessons by some of the most brilliant and successful entrepreneurs you will ever meet. If you want a real-world experience that doesn't just teach you business and entrepreneurship in theory, but one that teaches you how to walk the walk and how to put the practices into action, Acton is for you.
Two points:
1. "Acton has had only 12 unhappy customers."
This is a ridiculous statement, because you are not in a position to know this. No one is.
The only people who would even think that they had the knowledge to make a claim like "there are only 12 unhappy customers" would be Jeff Sandefer/employees.
I'll leave it to the readers to determine whether they think your comment is an example of sockpuppetry.
2. "you will not be routinely memorizing terms off of flashcards"
Unfortunately, many Acton MBA students/alumni actually believe that this is what legit MBA programs do.
I wish anything that jacksongls said was true. If so, Acton would have been amazing. But underlying even those claims is a false assumption: getting into the classroom "pit" is not real-world, no matter how Acton tries to convince you that it is.
do startup institute or something if thats what u wanna do
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If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
There are some strengths to the program. You do some ridiculous amount of HBS cases, which has some value. It's only a year. If you like waking up at 4:30am, then that is also a strength.
Many of the alums are very enthusiastic about Acton even though they are not successful or entrepreneurs.
Waking up at 4:30am? Whatever for?!
Currently: future psychiatrist (med school =P)
Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
You are required to get to campus at 5:15am. There's no good reason why, it's just a dumb requirement of the program.
I wasn't kidding about not having time. You have zero free time.
You are constantly busy doing cases because you end up doing ~250. The work week ends up being 80-100 hours. Whether you actually get any value from that...
Wait are we talking about an MBA program here? This sounds like the business school equivalent of a North Korean labor camp.
"Just go to the prom and get your promotion. That's the way the business world works. Come on, Keith!" - The Boss
I guess they're training you for the hours you'll inevitably put in at a startup. Still, though, 5:15am is kind of retarded.
Currently: future psychiatrist (med school =P)
Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
Yes, it is stupid. Chicand is correct. The idea is that you'll have to work 100 hour weeks as an entrepeneur, so you should get used to doing lots of busy work (all those cases). I don't think that either part is true.
On further reflection, "the business school equivalent of a North Korean labor camp" is the perfect description for reasons I have not even mentioned in this thread.
I noticed that this thread is now #3 in Google's results for Acton MBA.
if Acton's MBAs actually got jobs after graduation instead of going unemployed for years, this thread wouldn't be here.
It's #11 for me, once you turn off personalized results.
Still, thanks for all your replies. Definitely changed my impression of the program.
Currently: future psychiatrist (med school =P)
Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
Great post!
I think this is an interesting thread. I remember back when I was an undergrad, there was an Acton recruiter who gave presentations on campus about how awesome it is to further your career at Acton. He sure spun it well, but I never was interested in entrepreneurship at the time. Really interesting to hear first hand from a graduate about how much of that marketing is just fluff.
KidB could you write something like a summary of the program describing what you learn there, the pros and cons, the quality of the profs and students and what is good about the program and what is bad etc..
Would be cool, thanks!
I second this.
Currently: future psychiatrist (med school =P)
Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
Your question is pretty general. I could spend lots of time writing a response but I wonder if you have a specific question that would make it more productive for both of us.
Fair enough,
Here are some questions:
- How is the quality of the professors?
- How is the quality of the students, what kind of people attend Acton?
- What specifically do they teach you at Acton in subjects like finance, marketing, operations etc.?
- Is there a value to all the new teaching technology like simulations, video recordings etc. they are using?
- Do the Professors help you find at job? Because they mostly seem to be rich and good connected entrepreneurs.
- Regarding all of Actons marketing, which statements are true and which not?
- Why do they tell you to not use VC money? As I see it some of the teachers are actually entrepreneurs.
- Do the professors support you with their network in other ways than finding a job?
- Is the material they cover hard in the sense of complicated or do they give you just a lot of work to do?
- What kind of people could profit from an education at Acton and who should stay out of the program?
Thanks!
- How is the quality of the professors?
When I was there it was mostly founders. However most of the founders have quit in the last several years as they have seen the program go downhill as the class sizes have dropped.
- How is the quality of the students, what kind of people attend Acton?
Mediocre, with a few notable exceptions.
- What specifically do they teach you at Acton in subjects like finance, marketing, operations etc.?
They focus a bit more on doing cases about new products and the like. In operations, you only talk about bottlenecks, in finance the focus is on unlevered free cash flow to the firm. Instead of marketing, you talk about how to hire salesmen..
- Is there a value to all the new teaching technology like simulations, video recordings etc. they are using?
The video recordings is a tool for the teachers to grade you, as 75% of your grade is based on what you say in class.
The rest had no value. One of these "real-world learning" simulations was just selling children's books door-to-door in January for 3 days.
- Do the Professors help you find at job? Because they mostly seem to be rich and good connected entrepreneurs.
Zero.
- Regarding all of Actons marketing, which statements are true and which not?
Be very skeptical about all of the marketing. Ask for proof of any assertion. Try to find out if there are any really successful graduates of the program.
In particular, ask pointed questions about how many of Acton's graduates are employed.
- Why do they tell you to not use VC money? As I see it some of the teachers are actually entrepreneurs.
Because taking VC money is a bet on massive growth with an exit in 7 years.
- Do the professors support you with their network in other ways than finding a job?
Zero.
- Is the material they cover hard in the sense of complicated or do they give you just a lot of work to do?
Not complicated, but there is a ton of busy work.
- What kind of people could profit from an education at Acton and who should stay out of the program?
There are probably a very narrow group of people who would benefit from the program, but even for those people I suspect they could probably get the same knowledge faster and cheaper.
Good questions. Will respond soon.
Haven't had a chance to write my response yet. Busy.
Take your time.
But this month would be great^^
Why not do Y-Combinator or techstars or some other accelerator?
Acton is an MBA, so pretty much the opposite of an incubator/accelerator. Also, YComb and TechStars are probably 1000x more difficult to get accepted to.
hopefully soon
That's not too promising, haha. Thanks for the answers!
Currently: future psychiatrist (med school =P)
Previously: investor relations (top consulting firm), M&A consulting (Big 4), M&A banking (MM)
I had a different experience at Acton. It is definitely not the place to go if you think you are entitled to a job from a professor just for showing up. Top students are usually employed by teachers or work hard to find their own job. Go see a class and ask teachers and students these questions.
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