VCs are nonetheless hiring MBAs, however corporations are beginning to want different expertise extra

The MBA-to-VC pipeline stays a really actual factor. However that path is a bit shakier than it as soon as was, in keeping with PitchBook reporting and new tutorial analysis.

Harvard positioned 50 of its 1,004 MBA graduates into VC roles in 2024, with a median beginning wage of $177,500. Stanford positioned round 30 from its smaller class. Greater than 10,000 Harvard, Stanford, and Wharton MBA alumni at the moment maintain senior positions at U.S. VC corporations, PitchBook information exhibits.

The MBA’s grip on enterprise capital is loosening, nonetheless, in keeping with Stanford professor Ilya Strebulaev, who discovered that 44% of mid-career enterprise professionals held MBAs within the early 2000s, in comparison with 32% right this moment.

What’s driving the change? VC has advanced past conventional sectors into AI and {hardware}, the place technical expertise beats enterprise college credentials, so corporations are more and more scanning expertise from firms like OpenAI and SpaceX moderately than elite MBA packages. “There’s much less urge for food for MBAs at the moment,” government recruiter Will Champagne tells PitchBook.

College students haven’t gotten the memo but; Stanford’s VC membership nonetheless boasts 600 members out of the roughly 850 MBA college students on campus. They’re paying a steep worth, too. Nabbing an MBA at a high program can value greater than $200,000.