Business school isn’t a prerequisite to starting a successful company, but it can’t hurt. Indeed, many founders who have attended business school say the programs have left them better prepared for the rigors of startup life — from meeting their co-founder to networking with VCs to tapping the wisdom of veteran business-owner professors and alumni.

We polled seven prominent entrepreneurs and alumni from several of the 50 top schools for entrepreneurs, which Inc. and Fast Company are highlighting in their 2024 list of Ignition Schools. Here are the top lessons they learned from their alma maters.

1. Key Lesson: “How to take risks.”– Jose Herrera

Company: Hire Horatio CX
Alma Mater: Columbia Business School (Class of 2019)

Jose Herrera, co-founder of New York-based consumer experience outsourcing firm Hire Horatio CX, met his co-founders, Alex Ross and Jared Karson, on the first day of business school.

“It was just one of those moments when you click instantly with them,” he says. “I think we all wanted to start something together and have a tangible impact on the world.”

At Columbia, he was paired with alum Brian Rich, managing partner and co-founder of New York-based Catalyst Investors, and required to launch a startup within one week of the start of the program. That helped Herrera quickly turn Hire Horatio CX from an idea into a full-fledged company.

Herrera says he took life-changing courses. The personal leadership and success class, for example, was “humbling,” he says, as it taught him how to confront his fears, understand his motivations, and become introspective. “We actually had to bare it all in front of our class,” he says, which included sharing personal stories about difficult life experiences in group discussions. “That really deepened our understanding of what it means to build a company with purpose and integrity.”

He also took a one-week entrepreneurship course in Cape Town, South Africa, where the students were able to meet with entrepreneurs from all over Africa.

Hearing the success story of a female entrepreneur guest speaker during that stint pushed him to realize he already had the resources and ability to take a risk with starting Hire Horatio CX. Above all, he says, he learned how to take calculated risks — this means engaging in extensive research, planning, mentor discussion, and remaining adaptable, but pursuing ventures out of his comfort zone.

“It’s important to understand that risk-reward analysis for each decision you make as you start building on your company,” Herrera says.