A record-breaking 16% of Stanford B-school's class of 2011 chose to start their own companies at graduation, exceeding the school's 12% peak during the dot-com boom.

By John A. Byrne

(Poets&Quants) -- During the dot-com era, MBAs at many business schools rushed off campus to start all kinds of e-commerce companies. The frenzy to get in on the Internet action back then led to many well-funded, but ultimately failed, businesses. For most business schools, the years 1999 and 2000 saw record numbers of graduating MBAs start their own companies.

For the first time since then, the percentage of MBAs who are shunning traditional corporate jobs in favor of going out on their own is hitting new records once again. At Stanford's Graduate School of Business, an all-time high of 16% of the class of 2011 chose to start their own companies at graduation. The school says the percentage of MBA students who decided against traditional MBA jobs in favor of the start-up world reflects a three-fold increase from only 5% in the early 1990s and is a third higher than the 12% peak during the dot-com bubble.

More importantly, the 10-year trend data, says Pulin Sanghvi, director of Stanford's Career Management Center, suggests "a generational shift toward entrepreneurship." It's not only showing up in the placement stats that show that greater numbers of graduating MBAs are launching their own companies from scratch. It's also showing up in the number of MBAs who are anxious to work for smaller companies and startups that are, by nature, more entrepreneurial.

At Stanford, MBA entrepreneurs last year pursued a wide diversity of industries and companies. Stanford's Career Management Center found that there wasn't as nearly "as much aggregation in technology-Internet-social media as you might otherwise expect," says Sanghvi. About 30% started companies in Internet services and e-commerce, but 15% ventured into investment and financial services, and 7% each in food and beverages, retail or wholesale, and sport or sports management. Roughly 5% of the Stanford MBA entrepreneurs launched enterprises in healthcare, with another 5% in cleantech and alternative energy.

More