Ask HN: Leaving college to work on a startup? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Leaving college to work on a startup?

17 pointscprussin18 comments

I am a college student, and recently I've been rather disenchanted by academia. For years I have collected and combined various ideas, and I am to the point with one where I feel confident that I could start a successful startup around the idea. The problem is that I do not yet have a college degree. What benefits would I have with staying behind and putting the idea on the backburner until I get my degree? While it might be more difficult to do so without a degree, should I attempt to find venture capital and see where that takes me if it becomes available? I really have no other reason to finish the degree, and I feel like my time in college has, for the most part, been a waste of time. However, if in the long term I end up needing the degree, I can always come back and finish. Thus, I see no reason to wait to work on my idea---can anyone else?

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I am in a similar situation (20 years old, semi-dropping out to start a company.) Here's my advice/what I'm doing:

1) Don't drop out entirely. Being a part time student allows you to still access most of the university resources. Many of these can be very valuable.

2) Don't drop out to work on your project. Start planning what you're doing, begin to work on it, show it to people, and then drop out once it looks promising.

It's tempting to drop out right away, but if you have no plan, no skills, and no money, it's a recipe for disaster. It's also expensive; paying the rent and food is no fun and occupies my mind too often.

You're too young to remember how at the height of the late 90s "dot com" tech bubble, people were not only dropping out of college to join and start companies, some were even dropping out of high school. Then the tide went out and we coined a new term for the masses of the unemployed and non-degreed: "dot bombers." The conventional wisdom at that point was, "they should have taken the long view." Now we can add your question as a new data point in comparing the current situation to the 90s bubble.

Ideas are cheap, and the future is long. Your idea will still exist in a year or two and there's plenty that can be done part-time until then. You may decide in the future to change careers, to have a kid, to go to grad school. Having a college degree will be an important foundation for wherever you decide to go. It will be much harder to come back and finish later.

Gates and Zuckerberg dropped out because success had already arrived. Just as a smart investor waits for a proof of concept before investing serious money, you should do the same with your personal capital.

One more note: College may be the last time you'll be able to pursue off-the-beaten path interests and understand more about yourself. Take an extra course in calligraphy, or advanced operating system design, or mythology, or history-- whatever passions or passing interests you have never had a chance to nurture. In addition to shoring up your tech background, you'll become a more well-rounded person, which (besides the intrinsic benefits) is something companies like to see when they hire. Give serendipity a chance to happen in the great mixing bowl and incubator that college is.

Good luck!

That's awesome that you've come across an idea that excites you. However, I'd advise against leaving college. Before I get into why, I just wanted to mention that I totally know where you're coming from, as I graduated from college relatively recently with a degree that has very little to do with tech, and I definitely related to that feeling of disenchantment

1. Regardless of whether or not your startup works out, it's likely that you'll apply to/work for someone else's company one day (even if it's briefly). While there is this growing notion that one doesn't need a college degree to qualify for a position, it's not widely adopted yet and I wouldn't count on it being widely adopted in the near future. With that said, taking a leave from college and going back a year later would be an absolute bummer. If you're disenchanted now, you'd be 10X as much once you're back there, because all your peers will have graduated.

2. Even if what you're learning doesn't interest you, the experience of college is an education in of itself - in both discipline and the social world.

Regarding discipline, we can work all we want at our startups, but if we really need to take a day off then we probably can. There's no one to answer to other than ourselves. If there's a midterm on Monday, and the world is crashing down the week before, you're still going to have to take that midterm. Even if you're not into what you're learning, forcing yourself to do work you don't want to is important, and is a skill that will be necessary no matter what company you start.

Regarding the social world, the college experience is pretty key in helping you find yourself and shape yourself as a person. Right now you're a part of a journey, but if you came back a couple years later it will definitely feel different.

3. As another commenter mentioned, start the idea while you're in college without taking a leave. Ideas are merely hypotheses. Wait until your hypothesis is validated through user adoption/etc. before you consider leaving school.

4. Worst comes to worst, if you don't get to execute the idea because of college, just trust that you're going to have another killer idea. I'm sure you're intelligent and you're clearly ambitious. Ideas might have life-spans but your creativity won't.

5. Standing up on graduation day after pulling through 4 years straight is an incredible feeling, and I'm sure I speak for many of us when I say that it's a day where you're just really proud of yourself for pulling through. Unless you have a totally horrendous experience, it'll feel worth it on graduation day.

With that said, I wish I majored in CS in college and sat in on more psychology lectures :)

I don't see why you can't just work on your idea while in college. Would be far better than dropping out while there's nothing to show for it.

Don't drop out. You're statistically much more likely to be succesful having completed your bachelor's degree than not.

Finishing college is important precisely because it gives you some idea of what it's like to finish something difficult (or boring).

You will likely become just as disenchanted with your idea, or your startup, or your company, or whatever, as you are with academia once the going gets tough. And it will.

Looking back of it, you'll stop believing it was a waste of time, and in the scheme of things, a few more years is nothing. Stick it out.

19. At uni. Dropping out.

I'm going to miss the people here, but my idea is more important to me than a degree.

You'll find out what's really important to you. There's no real benefit to waiting, unless your idea needs the knowledge from a degree to execute. Waiting will just delay the idea and you'd probably loose passion on it.

If you're still un-sure work parttime on your start up til' you have a prototype.

Who is paying for your college tuition? If it's Mom and Dad, I think you're a fool if you leave school. A degree from a reputable college significantly improves your market bargaining position. How much of your future earning potential are you willing to gamble on your startup idea? How brilliant is your business plan and how accomplished are your hacking skills?

> I feel confident that I could start a successful startup around the idea.

How confident and how successful? Many YC companies aren't ramen profitable. What makes you so positive that your startup is a sure thing?

I'm not saying you can't do it. I'm just saying there are a lot of smart, miserable people in the deadpool--and you should know why you're special. Make sure your strategy is solid, check your assumptions, check them again, and good luck.

> I can always come back and finish.

Are you positive you'd have enough money to pay the remainder of your tuition and that the admissions department would welcome you back?

I see no reason for you to wait to work on your idea, regardless of whether or not you’re in college. Is there anything about your idea that would require you to raise capital and only focus your attention on it? If not, I’d recommend starting the work now and wait until you get to the point where you need to take time off from school to further your startup.

I worked on my startup while in college, and continued to do so for a couple of years. When I didn’t have enough time in the day to give my startup the attention it needed, I took educational leave from school and focused on it. Now, after a year sabbatical, I’m back in school and my startup is profitable. I’d suggest doing the same once your startup looks promising.

As someone who has been in a similar situation, think honestly about why you are disenchanted. Is it because you are taking required classes that don't interest you at the moment and the homework/projects seem like tedious busy work? Is it because you think your degree will be a piece of paper leading to a 9-to-5 in a cubicle, if you're lucky? Or is it because you're driven to work on a project that you hack away day and night on, and class seems like an annoyance that gets in the way?

If it's the latter, and you have a promising opportunity to roll into right away, then there's reason to think hard about your options. Otherwise I'd highly recommend you stick it out and get the degree.

I go to Babson College and run into similar situations to this everyday here. For those running something techie (which I assume considering we're on HN), I don't understand why people cannot balance school and work. Not to toot my own horn but I've been running a web design firm (pulling mid 5 figures this quarter for me), gotten a 3.3 GPA and built out a new product http://upout.com.

You don't need to drop out to do well. You just need to sacrifice some of your social life and television (and Facebook).

hahaha I agree with dropping facebook.

Cheers to you from Georgetown Univ!

-Almost went to Babson... =) Let me know if you're ever in DC, I don't have tech background (currently learning). However, if interested in bouncing ideas... I have PLENTY.

If in the long term I end up needing the degree, I can always come back and finish.

Technically? Yes. Probably? No. If you ever "need" a degree, you probably failed at your startup and are looking for a job. It's going to be tough going back. Worse, you're going to be older and probably have greater financial obligations. I never dropped out of college, but I started working full-time halfway through and it's been very tough to keep myself motivated to finish. If I had left and hadn't had that momentum I doubt I would've gone back.

Go ahead and start working on your idea. Recruit other students to help you. Put together prototype and a team. Try pitching investors. Try pitching potential customers. See what happens.

You will only get a conflict if working on your startup starts interfering with getting your degree. It doesn't appear that has happened yet.

Everybody has ideas. If you really want to start a company, start making it happen.

I graduated, but made the mistake of not starting a project whilst at college. If you start now, you could have something to work on after college - with a degree in hand too.

If it becomes too much, you'll then have to choose one over the other.

Man, I have the same issue. However, I've decided to stay in school for the time being.

(20 years old, like the other person)

Reasons for not dropping:

1) YOU have a HUGE MARKET. Who know's other college students better then you or myself? Market your product to your peers and use them as your test pilot. VALIDATE your ideas.

2)Also, if you've come up with various ideas and keep coming up with them then you won't miss out on anything. Sure things may change, but also ideas grow and you create new ones.

3) If you're in Washington, DC contact me.

"if it becomes available" I would pursue my passion. In the meantime, I would stick with what I have - rather than risk something I do not.

Dont.

You won't "come back and finish", or at least it's very unlikely. Your brain will never be more plastic than it is right now.

To echo the other comments here, what prevents you from working on your idea without dropping out? Is it the kind of project that requires 16 hour marathon hacking sessions every day for months on end?

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