Do You Need a Business Degree to Start a Business? A Real Answer

Published under The Entrepreneur Hat on HatStacked.com

Business degrees look great on paper, but so does my Costco receipt after I’ve “accidentally” bought three rotisserie chickens. The real question: do you actually need one to start a business?

Starting a business feels like standing on a cliff and wondering if your parachute is a Costco tarp. Every expert, mentor, and “LinkedIn thought leader” has an opinion about the right way to prepare. And one of the biggest myths that refuses to die is the idea that you need a business degree to even consider calling yourself an entrepreneur.

Let’s settle this once and for all.

Why People Think You Need a Business Degree

A lot of people picture entrepreneurship like a movie montage: students in crisp suits scribbling equations on whiteboards, sipping lattes in Ivy League libraries, and then dramatically revealing their “big idea” in front of investors. Cue applause, cue Forbes cover.

But in reality, most businesses are started by people who were simply tired of their boss, saw a gap in the market, or wanted to stop explaining to their kids why the neighbor drives a nicer car.

The business degree myth survives because:

• Universities are great at marketing themselves.
• Parents love the idea of a “safe” education.
• We think of successful CEOs and assume they all had MBAs.

Spoiler: they didn’t.

Famous Entrepreneurs Who Never Earned a Business Degree

Let’s do some name dropping.

• Richard Branson: Dropped out of school at 16, built Virgin into a global brand.
• Oprah Winfrey: Majored in communications, not business, and became… well, Oprah.
• Steve Jobs: College dropout who somehow managed without an accounting lecture on “debits vs credits.”
• Daymond John: The FUBU founder started with sewing hats, not PowerPoint decks.

If you need permission to skip the business degree, take it from the billionaires.

Related: The Dummies Guide to Starting a Business (That Doesn’t Treat You Like One)

The Real Skills You Need Instead

A business degree teaches things like corporate finance, business law, and marketing theory. Useful, sure. But most small business owners don’t need to write a 40-page paper about supply chain management before they can open a coffee shop.

What you actually need are:

• Financial basics: Know how money flows in and out, track expenses, and understand what profit really is.
• Marketing sense: Learn how to get customers in the door (hint: not just buying Facebook ads).
• Sales grit: If you can’t sell, you can’t stay in business.
• People management: Employees will test your patience. Customers will too.
• Problem-solving: Spoiler: there will always be problems.

And yes, you can learn all of these without paying $40,000 a year in tuition.

Related: How Can a Small Business Owner Be Successful? A Real Answer

Where to Learn If Not in a Classroom

Here’s the good news: you live in the era of free information. Everything you could possibly want to know about starting a business is online, hidden in blogs, YouTube channels, and yes, even TikTok dances.

Ways to learn without a degree:

• Community colleges: Affordable classes on accounting or marketing.
• Online platforms: Coursera, Udemy, LinkedIn Learning.
• Mentorship: Shadow a local business owner, buy them lunch, ask all the dumb questions.
• Books: Still exist, still cheaper than college.
• Trial and error: The most painful, but often the most effective.

What a Business Degree Does Give You

To be fair, a business degree isn’t useless. It gives you:

• Structured knowledge: Someone organizes the chaos for you.
• Networking: You’ll meet ambitious people, some of whom may matter later.
• Credentials: If you want a corporate job or to impress investors.
• Confidence: Sometimes you just feel braver with a diploma.

But none of those things are required to get started. They’re “nice-to-haves,” not “must-haves.”

The Dark Side: Student Debt vs Startup Capital

Here’s a cruel equation:

• Four years of business school = potentially $100,000+ in debt.
• Four years of hustling on your business = potentially $100,000+ in revenue.

You don’t need an MBA to calculate which of those outcomes is better for an entrepreneur.

How to Decide If You Should Get One

Ask yourself:

1. Am I starting a small, practical business (like landscaping, coffee, e-commerce)? You don’t need a degree.
2. Am I trying to climb a corporate ladder or impress investors? A degree may help.
3. Do I learn best with structure and deadlines? University might be worth it.
4. Am I self-motivated and comfortable piecing things together? You’ll be fine without.

The “Hidden Curriculum” of Entrepreneurship

There are things no textbook will teach you:

• How to stay calm when your website crashes on launch day.
• How to fire your cousin without tanking Thanksgiving dinner.
• How to explain to your spouse why the garage is full of unsold inventory.

That’s the real curriculum of entrepreneurship, and no degree program can prepare you for it.

So, Do You Need a Business Degree?

The short answer: no.
The longer answer: you need skills, grit, and a willingness to learn, but you don’t need to sit in a lecture hall to get them.

If you’ve got the hunger to start, you already have the most important requirement.

Final Takeaway

If you want a business degree, get one. If you don’t, stop waiting. Start the thing. Build the thing. Mess up the thing. Fix the thing.

That’s entrepreneurship. And last time I checked, they don’t give diplomas for it.