I had a long discussion with a friend of mine who teaches business at a local university. I argued that it really makes no sense to me to have teachers - without real life business experience - educate students about running a successful business. The discussion heated up and at one point I said I thought people with a business degree were actually at a disadvantage compared to people without a business education when it comes to creating a new business. My argument was that those without a conventional business education were less likely to hold on to taught conventions, will get all the knowledge they use to make decisions from real life experience and will spend less time trying to apply conventional business principles to their business and more time working on stuff that simply needs to be done (who the hell needs a business plan to get started, seriously).<p>He challenged me to come up with some examples to back up my argument; so are there successful entrepreneurs here on HN who have a business degree? And what about the other side, have you been successful without business education? By successful I simply mean being able to achieve the goals you set for yourself.<p>Thanks much!