Justin Gordon, a USC Marshall MBA graduate and venture capital investor, argues the MBA's value lies in three things: a lifelong network built over two intense years, time to pivot careers or explore new fields like VC, and foundational business knowledge. He points to six-figure salary increases for graduates and shares how MBA contacts helped launch his podcast and venture work.
People love to hate on MBAs. I don't know why in the startup world this is so prevalent. People seem to knock getting an MBA, but in this video I'm going to tell you the true value of an MBA. Why would you want to get one in the first place? And the number one question to ask yourself if you're considering getting an MBA, something you cannot pass up. Here we go. Hey, I'm Justin Gordon, the director of marketing and community at Vitalize Venture Group. Also host a podcast called Just Go Grind, interviewing founders and investors. I got an MBA from the University of Southern California, a decision that I am so incredibly happy with. But so many people knock the MBA. I'm gonna tell you about the reasons why I think it's worth it. The number one reason to get an MBA is to build a network. This could be done without getting an MBA, without paying the money it costs to get an MBA, but there's a few reasons why I think the MBA is unique for building a network. And one of those reasons is that you're going through this intense experience, this 2-year period where you're gonna have late nights studying, doing projects, all these different things with your classmates. You build a deeper relationship with these people that you can have the rest of your life. It's hard to get that if you're not going through something that is a struggle, that is difficult. But when you do that, you build strong relationships. Another thing with getting an MBA, especially from a top university, is they bring in great guest speakers. So I was able to listen to some of the top startup founders in the world, billionaire founders, because I went to USC and chose to get an MBA from that school. The other thing being the professors. The professors themselves have great networks. They've taught students year after year after year. They have industry contacts, things that can help you moving forward. That's hard to replicate other places. There are great programs that I can get into a little bit later in this video that can help you without paying the price tag of an MBA, but that network of the MBA is invaluable. I've used my MBA network repeatedly, mostly for the podcast. So for the Disco Grind podcast, finding different guests to come on the show, but also different people to connect with in your industry. So I found that in venture capital, USC grads, easier to connect with them because we have that shared bond of the MBA, and it's hard to get that if you're not going to school for that. The second massive thing in terms of the value of an MBA is really having 2 years to recalibrate your entire career. I entered my MBA program working at an e-commerce company previously, and I wanted to do something different. I wasn't sure what that was going to be, but I knew having that 2-year timeframe was gonna be valuable for me to figure out what that could be. I could test different things out. I could decide then after that time period, what route do I wanna take my career? I knew I was thinking entrepreneurially, thinking of potentially founding a company. What I did was in summer of my first and second years, I decided to start a company. So I started a podcast production company with my best friend Zach, and we had clients, had maybe 10 clients or so doing all the podcast production for them behind the scenes, paying clients, a real business. But ultimately decided that that service business in particular wasn't what I wanted to do. But as I continued hosting podcast episodes, talking to founders, got really interested into the whole startup scene and this world of venture capitalism as well. I parlayed that into a career in venture. I don't think I was gonna head that direction prior to getting an MBA. I wasn't even thinking of that. But because of the MBA and the things you're exposed to— you're exposed to different types of ideas, different ways of running companies, different types of companies, different ways to approach business— because of that, it opened my mind to the possibilities of what I could do and eventually decided that Oh, this whole venture capital world—it's fascinating. It's something I want to do for a very long time, and so I jumped in from that. But that all came from this two-year period of having time to step back to really think about what you want in a career. Something that is very unique, and I don't think you get to other places. One of the last things I'd say is just kind of a foundational business knowledge, while also getting the terminology and understanding how the business world works. I didn't fully grasp that prior to getting an MBA, but now have a much better understanding of it. So even when I was looking at getting into venture, they. Later on afterwards, I had this foundational knowledge of, okay, what venture was. I had an idea of how this whole industry worked, even from the MBA where I took classes specifically in those areas to help me with that. Now again, you can make the argument that that information is already available online, and true, there are different programs where you can find this information on whatever industry you want to get into. But I wasn't even thinking about that at the time, and it's much easier when you have a structured format with this MBA. You have to decide what classes, but you have options at least for them to explore something within whatever you're interested in. And so those 3 things combined— the network with this whole time to kind of recalibrate and this foundational knowledge— I think provides a pretty strong benefit for getting an MBA. The last point I'll make on that is if you look at the different career paths that come from an MBA, they're all basically 6-figure salaries. It's something you can't forget. I came into the working world as a personal trainer making $30-something thousand a year, and a 6-figure salary after an MBA, pretty much guaranteed after you get a job, is pretty pretty incredible, and it's hard to replicate that elsewhere. And if you look at the greater context of how an MBA is valued in the workplace, that's the expectation. You go through this MBA program and you have that bigger payoff, especially for someone who wasn't making a lot prior to the MBA. That's a game changer. That's an absolute game changer and something you're not going to get from one of those programs online. You're not going to get from just self-study. You won't be able to find that without an MBA. It's not a guarantee you'll get that bump in salary if that's what you're looking at without getting an MBA. Now the number one question to ask yourself is opportunity cost. What is the opportunity cost of those 2 years? Does it make it worth it for you to get the MBA? For me, taking 2 years off to figure things out, deepen relationships with people, move to a new city and make friends in a new city, learn a ton— that was worth the price tag of an MBA. That was worth taking 2 years off of work. But really, I was working a ton during the entire MBA. But for me, the opportunity cost was worth it. For you, that's the number one thing you have to think about with the MBA. Is the opportunity cost of what you could do instead worth it? So if you spend $100,000 or $200,000 on an MBA, is that cost— is that time better spent somewhere else versus the MBA? And if it is, maybe it's not for you. But if you're not sure, if it isn't, then I'd say get the MBA. And for me, it's hard to even put a price on the relationships I developed in the MBA, the people I know now because of it. I don't think that's something I'd put a price on, even though I did pay a lot of money to get the MBA in the first place. But if you think about the opportunity cost, that will help you decide, is it worth it or not? Thanks for watching. Remember to subscribe down below, click that like button, and I will see you in the next video.
