4 ms·

I like to think of it as they went out and made the opportunity happen for themselves instead of waiting for the opportunity to present itself.

kenjackson 16y ago
But they didn't drop out to find the opportunity, is his point. The uber-point is really, people who are bright enough to found $1B businesses are also bright enough to realize that you don't leave college until you have the idea moving along a good path. To put it another way, are there any $1B SW companies started by people who either didn't go to college or dropped out of college before they had started creating product for what would be this company? I honestly can't think of any (but that doesn't mean there aren't any -- and it should be easy to enumerate since there's probably only 20 or so billion dollar SW companies).
- nostrademons 16y ago
  Twitter & Apple.
  - kenjackson 16y ago
    I'll give you half-credit for Apple. Jobs was out of school, but Woz was still at UCB and withdrew after they had already begun selling (but before the company was officially formed). And I think half credit for Twitter. I don't know much about Twitter, but it appears Dorsey was still in college when they started Twitter. But in any case two pretty good examples.
    - nostrademons 16y ago
      If you count Woz as "still at UCB" because he was on a leave of absence, then you have to count Gates as "still at Harvard" and Page & Brin as "still at Stanford" even today. Officially, they never actually dropped out of their universities - they just remain on perpetual leave of absence, and could go back next semester if they wanted to. Woz was at HP because he didn't have money for the next semester of Berkeley, and he thought he would always be at HP, and even after Apple started selling things and went public, he remained officially on a leave of absence, and actually did go back after his plane crash. It's actually really hard to drop out or fail out of an elite college - I tried a couple times when I was still in undergrad. They always want you to take a leave of absence because then you don't show up in the dropout statistics that drag down their U.S. News rankings. This is why it's not really all that risky to drop out of college; you can always go back and pick up where you left off, but you'll have a much better idea of why you're there. I was definitely thinking about Evan Williams for Twitter. He dropped out of college because he always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur, but had no idea what sort of company he would start. I don't really know about Dorsey and Biz Stone's backgrounds.
      - kenjackson 16y ago
        OK, you get 1.75 points. :-)
    - 7402 16y ago
      (Woz did go back to Berkeley later, and got his undergraduate degree in 1986.)
IgorPartola 16y ago
Yes and no. Gates had a large amount of experience with programming in an era where most people had not seen a computer, and had very wealthy parents who supported him dropping out. Now you may argue that he "made the opportunity" by convincing his parents that this whole software thing was a good idea, etc., but the reality is that he was born at the right time, in the right place, with the right set of parents, etc. This is not to lessen what he did: he grabbed the opportunity by the tail. He did no less than any other wildly successful entrepreneur. But for a vast majority of college students out there, the resources and experiences he had at the time are untouchable. To use an analogy: you can have all the willpower, drive, motivation, etc. to move the world, but you still need that damn big lever.

kenjackson 16y ago

But they didn't drop out to find the opportunity, is his point. The uber-point is really, people who are bright enough to found $1B businesses are also bright enough to realize that you don't leave college until you have the idea moving along a good path. To put it another way, are there any $1B SW companies started by people who either didn't go to college or dropped out of college before they had started creating product for what would be this company? I honestly can't think of any (but that doesn't mean there aren't any -- and it should be easy to enumerate since there's probably only 20 or so billion dollar SW companies).

nostrademons 16y ago
Twitter & Apple.
- kenjackson 16y ago
  I'll give you half-credit for Apple. Jobs was out of school, but Woz was still at UCB and withdrew after they had already begun selling (but before the company was officially formed). And I think half credit for Twitter. I don't know much about Twitter, but it appears Dorsey was still in college when they started Twitter. But in any case two pretty good examples.
  - nostrademons 16y ago
    If you count Woz as "still at UCB" because he was on a leave of absence, then you have to count Gates as "still at Harvard" and Page & Brin as "still at Stanford" even today. Officially, they never actually dropped out of their universities - they just remain on perpetual leave of absence, and could go back next semester if they wanted to. Woz was at HP because he didn't have money for the next semester of Berkeley, and he thought he would always be at HP, and even after Apple started selling things and went public, he remained officially on a leave of absence, and actually did go back after his plane crash. It's actually really hard to drop out or fail out of an elite college - I tried a couple times when I was still in undergrad. They always want you to take a leave of absence because then you don't show up in the dropout statistics that drag down their U.S. News rankings. This is why it's not really all that risky to drop out of college; you can always go back and pick up where you left off, but you'll have a much better idea of why you're there. I was definitely thinking about Evan Williams for Twitter. He dropped out of college because he always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur, but had no idea what sort of company he would start. I don't really know about Dorsey and Biz Stone's backgrounds.
    - kenjackson 16y ago
      OK, you get 1.75 points. :-)
  - 7402 16y ago
    (Woz did go back to Berkeley later, and got his undergraduate degree in 1986.)

IgorPartola 16y ago

Yes and no. Gates had a large amount of experience with programming in an era where most people had not seen a computer, and had very wealthy parents who supported him dropping out. Now you may argue that he "made the opportunity" by convincing his parents that this whole software thing was a good idea, etc., but the reality is that he was born at the right time, in the right place, with the right set of parents, etc. This is not to lessen what he did: he grabbed the opportunity by the tail. He did no less than any other wildly successful entrepreneur. But for a vast majority of college students out there, the resources and experiences he had at the time are untouchable. To use an analogy: you can have all the willpower, drive, motivation, etc. to move the world, but you still need that damn big lever.