<p>I applied to b-school with entrepreneurship in mind. Now that I am almost, here’s my 2c: </p>
<p>The practicality of MBA for an entrepreneur wanna-be largely depends on the type of new business and founders’ own background and network. </p>
<p>Common business sense, not MBA training, is required to start/run many “lifestyle” or family-type businesses, e.g. a restaurant, a retail shop etc. In general, anyone who is willing to self learn and shameless to ask will learn the rope of starting and managing a business through trial and error. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, I think the MBA experience is useful for:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Learning from <em>practitioners</em> the nuts and bots of going through VC-funded route and building the “right” contacts. </p></li>
<li><p>Trying out new business ideas in a relatively safe laboratory. B-plan competitions are useful to hash out the good ideas and kill those bad ideas. </p></li>
<li><p>Understanding what it takes to professionally manage a relatively large business, which includes successful startups and family business.</p></li>
</ol>