I have worked in the IT industry for over 6 years, and now I'm on a crossroad on how I can position myself better in the years to come. For the past few years, I have been contemplating whether I should pursue an MBA or MCS or MIT. I thought hard about this and finally made up my mind to pursue a Masters in Business Administration Degree. There were quite a few factors why I made my decision to take up MBA. Over the course of my career, I have worked with a lot of start-up companies, most of which are no longer existing today. But so far, two companies have greatly motivated me to pursue an MBA program.

Source: Pixabay - Cross Roads

Learn from Failure

The first company, which we'll call Company A, was one of the best years that I had in my entire career. The company was founded by my close friends, to be specific my churchmates who were mostly working in the academe and in the IT industry. Like any businesses, we have big BIG goals. We wanted to be the best software development company there is, probably next to Google (it is every software company's dream).

We wanted to create a company that will provide work opportunities to our brethren, our churchmates, our friends, and it will be a closely knitted community. We have dreams of building a school. We have gathered the brightests minds, chairpersons in some of the prestigious schools in the country, experienced developers to work with us, and fresh graduates that we can train. All was well.

But the thing is most of us were technical people, we don't have any idea about running a business at all. We don't have accountants, lawyers and business-minded individuals. In fact, we had decided to start a corporation, not thinking about the process, the taxes, and legal documents that we need to prepare. We were so naive, but still, we went on with it. We made a quick research and made our way to owning a company of our own. It was a great feeling, being an owner of the company that you are working for. It moves people to always give their best to the job, and find ways grow with the company. Each member from the incorporators, the employees, the advisors, and even our close friends gave their support and contributed in any way they can. All was well.

Fast forward to three years, the company is growing. From 5 incorporators, we have grown into an 11-man company with quite a few OJTs (around 7). However we have grown so much but our revenues could not keep up with our operating expenses, taking into considerations the salaries, taxes, utilities, necessary documents, space rental and all. Financially, we were struggling and salaries started to get delayed. It has become a norm that after some time, a few of our core developers handed over their resignations. We were so powerless and we don't have any means to convice them to stay, so we just let them go. And then another set of resignations, until I was the last one left. We still made plans to continue with the operation, just with one developer to keep the company afloat, but it was a heavy burden to bear. It was a really hard decision, but I handed my resignation as well. We were so close and yet we fail. So we have no other choice, but to shutdown the business.

Source: Pixabay - Lessons from Failure

It was a hard lesson learned, but for sure it has given us the strength, the patience, and a first-hand experience in running a business. It was one hell of a ride, we hit big targets, experienced lows, and our muscles have grown. Personally and from Company A's perspective, I wanted to know what things could have we done to keep the company afloat? What strategies could we have made in order to succeed? I have been thinking so hard about these, and thus lead my interest to pursue an MBA degree.

Learn from Success

The second company, which we'll call Company B, has an entirely different story. It started with its humble beginnings as a start-up company. The C-Executives of the company are fairly established and have already made their names in the business sector. They also have a dream of starting a software development company just like Company A. And to cut the long story short, the company has now grown into one of the largest Filipino-owned software development company with over 300+ employees. They have created offices in key locations at Cebu, Manila, and Tokyo. With 18 years of business operation, the growth has been fascinating.

Aside from this, I have also taken a great interest on the products and the clients that Company B had. One of the core products that Company B had was a point-of-sale (POS system) which is packaged with a real time tracking system to monitor sales and inventory movements. Initially the company aims to target small to medium (SMEs) enterprises, and the applications were designed to allow small business to have a POS system of their own. A few years ago, POS systems were a luxury, but now it has become a necessity. What started as a product for small business has now slowly evolved into a system that caters large and well-established businesses as well.

Source: Pixabay - Success

I don't know much about the strategies that Company B had, but it was very clear that they were able to foresee the needs of the market. In fact, they were able to develop good applications to answer the specific needs of the market which are vital to a company's success.

Bringing it all Together

Now if we think about Companies A and B, we can see a big difference, one was a failure and the other was a success. But both should be a good learning for all of us, especially for those aspiring to become businessmen. Failure is part of the learning process. In fact, if we think about it, the leaders of Company B were already experienced businessmen, they have their own share of successes and failures. For Company A, it was their first and hopefully not the last.

So how are these things related to my taking of an MBA degree? We all know that all businesses were created for growth and profit. We just have different strategies on how to succeed. For Company A, I wanted to know what things could have we done to succeed. Taking the example of Company B, I also want to know the strategies that they used to survive in this fast paced business arena. There are a lot of competition out there, the market is heavily saturated, but still they were able to make a name for themselves.

Moving forward, I hope that I will be able to fully grasp the foundation and the concepts in managing a business. I am confident that a degree in MBA will be a great way for me to learn. And as an IT professional, an MBA degree will enable me to develop and create applications that are of great value to the community. In the future, I also hope to contribute in helping businesses automate their processes and also help them make adjustments and adapt to the recent advancements when it comes to technology.

Source: Let's get it on!

I have already crossed the first stage, now the next one is where I should take my MBA.

P.S. If you know Company A and B, shhh! :)

Thanks for reading!
Cheers!