MBET - what do you learn in an MBA?

1) People don't often invest in ideas, people invest in people. eg. Heck, we are going to have fun together building 'x'.
2) Don't just create cool technology, instead produce something that solve a customer pain. hint: If they don't want to pay for it, then it is probably just a cool toy.
3) What you decide to not do is sometimes more important that what you decide to do.
4) Focus on making the pie bigger, not on cutting smaller pieces. ie. share equity if you end up with a bigger net value.
5) Hire smart, trustworthy people that share your passion, never ever hire a single poor performer or a bad team player. eg. A grader hires other A graders, but B grader hires other C graders.
6) Focus is better than hope. eg. targetting 1% of 50 million market is not a good goal.
7) Avoid raising money from friends & family; hint: few startups actually succeed.
8) Write a business plan, more to help you than to help others. Don't bother to create one if you don't understand what it is.
9) Don't start a business with another engineer if you can, business or a design person would probably add more value.
10) Money tends to amplifies your base characteristics. eg. if you are a good person, then it is good for the rest of us. But focus on value, not making money.
11) The networking & exposure is much more valuable than the classroom learning.
12) Learn how to interpret financial statements even if you don't plan to be a CA.
13) Strategy is a web of interconnected decisions made by a company that re-inforces each other.
14) A single idea can be copied, but it is much more difficult to copy a strategy due to the above reason.
15) Use valuation models used by VCs yourself, then you can reverse engineer how they value your company.
16) Lack of resources can be a competitive advantage, if you plan wisely.
17) And last but not the least, Believe in yourself!