Why I Dropped Out of College to Start a Startup | Hacker News Reader

Why I Dropped Out of College to Start a Startup

jm90403.com

25 pointsjosh_miller28 comments

I think it's ok to drop out of college to grow a startup. But it's a terrible idea to drop out of college to start a startup.

I won't argue with people who think I am crazy. That's a completely understandable deduction. What frustrates me are people who think I did it for the wrong reasons (i.e. $$$).

Why not wait one year and actually get a degree?

It's okay to take risks but no reason to overdo it.

I wasn't really trying to convince you, just making an observation. Entrepreneurs are almost by definition hard-headed.

But if I were an investor I would seriously question your decision making ability based on the fact that you dropped out of Princeton your senior year with about 8 months to go.

If you want to take a somewhat data driven approach, I'd also ask how many successful startups STARTED after dropping out. I can't think of any off the top of my head. (Hint: Microsoft and Facebook don't fit this criterion).

I hear ya. I got inspired, I am working with an amazing team – a relentless backend engineer and ridiculously talented designer – and worst comes to worst I go back to school in a couple of years. I would always wonder "what could have been" if I passed this opportunity up, but if I fail at least I can say I learned a lot and gave it my best effort.

If people relied on data driven approaches, I don't think there would be any startups. The expected return of a startup is a massive time expenditure combined with very little cash reward.

both of these are generalizations that I don't believe in

Do you think all overgeneralizations are false?

That's like saying it is a terrible idea to stop playing baseball to start a startup. And maybe it is, exercise is important, but when the desire to build your business is burning within you, you're not going to miss those games.

College is a nice passtime, but you shouldn't let it get in the way of your dreams. If you need to start a startup, do it. There is no correct path. You are just as likely to fail no matter what route you take, so take the one that feels like the best opportunity for you.

I found the article linked in the blog to be just as interesting: why i got a job at mcdonald's http://www.heiferman.com/mcd/

I actually might consider getting a job at Mcdonalds if I was working on a startup (if I could make enough money to survive).

I could zone out and not waste any of my creative energy during the day and work on my own stuff when I got home.

Slinging fries takes way more energy than it looks, and pays next to nothing. I took a cleaning job in college with similar thoughts and it gave me a lot of respect for people who work those jobs, and happiness that I have the option not to.

Even in the socialist paradise of California where you'll get a whopping $8/hr that's about $50 after tax for a full day of mind-numbing, spirit crushing drudgery.

You won't get home and find your creative instinct has been kept safe the entire day and it's time to unleash it for 8 hours of coding - you'll be aching, burned and numb. It'll be time to put on the TV to watch something that's not too taxing and crack open a few cold ones.

tl;dr - service industry is grueling work, will sap your soul

TODO: write a follow up to this... "why i dropped out of college years ago to grow a startup, made a nice chunk of money, and then eventually went back to college".

I would bet against this actually occurring, at least from the standpoint of anecdotal experience.

When I was 17 I started my first company, then shortly thereafter, signed on to a dot com startup. At the time I swore to myself that I would eventually return to college.

Over a decade later, I've experienced both success and failure at the enterprise of enterprise, and at this point going back to school is near the very bottom of my list, far below "getting attacked by angry badgers".

i meant it only somewhat sarcastically, as i did exactly that myself.

in the "dotcom boom" i had moved from SF across the bay to go to school, and got recruited to a startup with an original product that took roughly 65% of US market share (and still has a majority). moved back to SF and 10 years later, after having left that company and having started a successful consulting business, nice home, car, stuff, vacations, freedom, etc... i decided i was tired of working in that industry and decided to go back to school to broaden my theoretical computer science knowledge. my friends thought i was crazy giving up the income and freedom that i had... i think it's one of the best decisions i've made, and it's given me lots of options. to me, the most important capital investment is developing what's between my ears. school is not the only way to accomplish that kind of growth, but a rigorous CS program turned out to be the best way for me.

TL;DR if you drop out of school to do something with computers, get bored of what you're doing and don't find yourself easily moving into something else, going back to school might give you more options.

Agreed. I'll never clap for anyone leaving/quitting/jumping to do a startup. However, I will clap like hell when they're still making a go of it 2 years later. Sprinting out of the gate is easy, but running the whole marathon is pretty damn hard.

Beer on you in two years then!

kudos for you taking the leap but it would have been much more prudent if you changed the "to start" to "while starting".

A lot of the people you hear that quit their education (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Zuckerberg, etc) to go on and build their own start-up mostly did it AFTER their ideas took off and started gaining traction[1]. They don't just blindly quit their education just for the sake of starting something. Many times it was due to a really good compelling reason such as Angel/VC funding was approved, taking a lot of their time, huge sudden interest, exponential customer acquisition, etc. Also, for every 1 successful person you hear that quit their college, there are another 100 others who have failed.

Anyway, who am I to tell you what to do. Again, like I said at the start, kudos for you for actually even doing something which puts you ahead of many others who are still at the "thinking stage". But I think in this situation, it is apt to say: look before you leap.

Good luck and all the best! Do prove me wrong and drop me an email when you're all successful. ;)

[1] I recommend "Founders At Work"

I'm with you-The last quarter was my last. I've had a few startups and businesses, only now to focus my energy upon them to grow. I find that anything that intrigues you, can be self taught and learned through enjoying your curiosity. Schools are lame, the education system is slow, and you pay for a piece of paper. If you notice School is in the way of your real education, then its about time to drop that.

  >I find that anything that intrigues you, can be self
  >taught and learned through enjoying your curiosity.

I sometimes wonder if that's a reversal of cause and effect. I've known many autodidacts, myself included, who've become interested in a topic and quickly hit a wall. The difficulty causes frustration and the autodidact loses interest and moves on to a new, easier subject. That there are so many self-taught learners in technology might not be an indication of our brilliance or natural inclination, but just this subject being the low hanging fruit we all grab onto.

I am actually on a leave of absence from my prestigious East Coast University and I am debating never going back. Putting in the 9 months time to get the degree seems logical, but I am in a place where it is the US circa 1995, i.e. things are getting hot and I am in the ground floor. Nothing in life waits for you and 9 months out of the game could end it for me.

I know it's not exactly the main point of the post, but I'm curious about the diet.

Eggs for breakfast every morning -- just eggs? Tuna for lunch every day -- just tuna? How much of each? How do you cook the eggs? Does your body eventually adapt to the lack of variety, or do you get up in the morning with a stomach demanding waffles?

I hope you didn't formally drop out. Dropouts hurt a school's USNWR ranking, so they will almost always let students take 'temporary' leaves of absence. If the startup fails you'll be able to go back without penalty.

That's exactly what I did :)

Hi Josh, which DogPatch Lab are you working out of? The NY one?

yah, you here? i'm wearing the Princeton shirt today haha

Ha, I wish!

Currently working at an ad agency and learning how to program/ building my own project during nights and weekends.

Was wondering if you'd want to grab coffee or drinks in the upcoming weeks - would love to learn more about Roundtable and your experience thus far.

sure man. shoot me an email: josh@atroundtable.com

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