Tech entrepreneur Evan Moore, co-founder of DoorDash — the US food delivery giant valued at over $70 billion and expanding through its planned acquisition of the UK’s Deliveroo — offers a candid perspective on business education. Despite attending Stanford Graduate School of Business, Moore admits, “Nothing I learned at business school had anything to do with starting a business.” He emphasises that while many successful founders have attended top business schools, their success is rarely down to the schooling itself.

Moore’s view echoes a wider debate about the value of formal entrepreneurship education. High-profile entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk have warned against pursuing MBAs, advocating learning by doing instead, while Bill Gates famously dropped out of Harvard to found Microsoft. Yet, the appetite for entrepreneurship courses at universities is growing, with a 6 per cent rise in entrepreneurship master’s programmes over the last five years, according to accreditation body AACSB. Leading institutions like Babson College and Cambridge Judge Business School now offer specialised qualifications tailored to entrepreneurial leadership and innovation.

Bo Becker, head of finance at the Stockholm School of Economics, notes, “The level of demand now is much higher than at any period in the past. We’re in the middle of an era of disruption, and students see entrepreneurship as a rewarding path.” While many graduates from business masters still gravitate towards consultancy, finance, or tech jobs, a growing share are aiming to join or start businesses. A 2025 survey by the Graduate Management Admission Council found about a third of marketing and business analytics students aspire to self-employment or entrepreneurship.

At Stanford, private equity professor Ilya Strebulaev argues that business schools should be ranked on their success in fostering entrepreneurship. His research found that nearly 30 per cent of US venture capital-backed “unicorns” founded since 1997 had at least one founder with a graduate business degree. Stanford leads among MBA programmes in producing unicorn founders, followed by Harvard and MIT Sloan. Strebulaev highlights the role of ecosystems and networks surrounding these schools — such as Harvard’s “startup garage”, which has launched 130 companies — as crucial to success.

Outside Silicon Valley, business schools in the UK and beyond have developed their own support systems. Warwick Business School offers coaching, funding advice, and drop-in sessions with entrepreneurs. Professor Simon Barnes observes a growing entrepreneurial spirit among students, some inspired by childhood “side hustles” such as online sales. He advises students not to rush into founding their own companies but to join early-stage firms where they can gain broad experience and build a foundation for future success.

Becker adds that entrepreneurship is often a stepping stone rather than a fixed career choice. “Venture capital firms value candidates who have tried entrepreneurship, even if they didn’t succeed — three years of trying and failing is a strong qualification.”
For Stanford MBA Mada Seghete, co-founder of Upside, the value of business school lay not in academic theory but in the network, exposure to new ideas, and the freedom to experiment with concepts. “When I hire now, I care more about what someone has built than their academic pedigree,” she says.

Moore agrees that some business school lessons, such as handling difficult conversations, became useful later in his career, though they were not central to launching DoorDash. He suggests business schools remain too focused on corporate careers, struggling to fully capture the realities of starting a company. Nevertheless, the connections made during his time at Stanford — including meeting future co-founders — were invaluable.

Ultimately, Moore believes the main value of hiring from business schools is the “selection effect” — certain schools naturally attract more aspiring entrepreneurs, providing a fertile pool of talent for innovative ventures.