There are no educational "prerequisites" for working at a start-up. However, I would say that self-taught folks without formal education are extremely rare in t

There are no educational "prerequisites" for working at a start-up. However, I would say that self-taught folks without formal education are extremely rare in technical domains start-ups or not. I have encountered no more than a handful in 20 years. That said, educational backgrounds are all over the map for many positions in start-ups. What this means is that it is probably a bad idea to make assumptions about what people can or cannot do based on their educational background. My degree is in Physics (MS-- bailed out of PHD to go to work). Don't use much of what I explicitly learned, but the problem-solving practice of experimental physics has served me well.