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Ask HN: I'm 17. Should I drop school for YC S12?
I'm extremely interesting in applying to Y Combinator for this summer. The only problem is that I'm still in Cegep (a two-year college for Quebec students before they go to university - I'm 17) and so if ever I get chosen, I still have one more year remaining to complete my program (International Baccalaureate in Pure & Applied Science).
I don't think I would drop it, because I ultimately intend to go in computer science at Stanford. Therefore, I would have to leave the Bay Area at the end of August in order to move back in Quebec and stay there during the year and come back in the summer when I'm finish my program.
I would still have time to work on my startup during the year, but at a much lower pace (2-3 hours each night and 8-12 hours on weekends). The other guy on my team (he's 17 too) is in a much less intensive program then me and he could continue working almost full-time on the startup.
Yet, if you guys tell me that I would absolutely need to continue working full-time on my startup, I will consider dropping school more seriously. It would be hard for me, but if it's really necessary I could do it. The thing is, the program I'm currently in, International Baccalaureate, is a program that I must complete in two years. The special thing about this program is that we are the same group for every class (we started 40 now we're 28). If I drop/fail a course, I'm out. And I then need to go in regular science. If ever I were to be selected for YC, the choice would be quite hard as I said, because I really enjoy my program, I'm fond of the other students and I appreciate the teachers a lot. And I also fear that I won't go back to school if I enter the startup world.
At least, I'd like to finish my program and then maybe take a break from school to focus on my startup. My program requires a lot of effort, it's considerably more challenging than regular science, and I just don't see myself dropping it when I'll be halfway through it, but still there's a lot of chance I would - it's 50/50. I'm constantly debating in my head whether I should drop or stay, but I guess I'll wait to see if I'm selected for YC to make a final decision. Ultimately, I feel I would drop my program, because YC is such an amazing opportunity and also because I have a very good co-founder who is a long-time friend of mine. He would definitely succeed in convincing me :P
Moreover, I'm the only one writing code. My co-founder (who's currently studying in Business Management) will be working on the marketing (posting on the blog, making videos showcasing the app, posters in schools and other places, talking with other companies so that they use our app, etc.) I also have a graphic designer that will not be directly involve in the startup but that will do my logo and help me design icons, textures, etc.
Without even knowing anything about my idea (I can tell you though that even if I'm the only technical founder, it's not an overwhelmingly complex app and I am confident that I could manage the coding alone. All features would get implemented during the summer. During the year, I would only make little changes to the user interface and update the content of the app, but I probably won’t implement radically new features, that is if I choose to stay in school. The goal during the year would be to get as much users as possible and that’s exactly what my co-founder would be working on full-time. Complex new features would get implemented in the following summer.), because really I don't want to be chosen for my idea but rather for my team (I've got this interesting idea that I want to work on, and I like it because I would actually use the app, and actually, I’ve got a bunch of startup ideas (I’m the kind of guy that always has tons of ambitious projects going on and new ideas in mind: I want to code apps, make feature films and crazy edits, learn new monologues by heart, run marathons, travel around the world and learn new things!), but this particular one is not too complex to implement, yet if it turns out that I choose to do a completely different project, then so be it! Anyway, I don’t think the idea I apply with matters that much (but it ought to be good obviously), because anybody could apply to YC with a similar idea and develop a similar app. But would they really be as much passionate as us about the app and as much caring about the users, would they achieve to convince companies of using it, would they convince people of using it? I know we would. My point is that I’m expecting to be chosen a lot more because of my team than because of my idea. (If you're interested to know what my app is though, email me (frabrunelle@gmail.com) or skype with me (francisbrunelle)). I want to build useful products and it thrills me that with the internet millions of people could be using them! But what thrills me even more is that if ever I do YC, I would be hanging around with dozens of other developers that are in the same situation as me. I want to discuss and debate about ideas with those developers. It would be an insanely great and enjoyable experience. And that’s exactly why I want to do YC: for the experience.), do you think I have any chance of getting selected? Or should I wait for next summer, when I will have finish my program? The thing though is that I will still continue to go to school (Stanford, MIT, McGill or somewhere), so again I will have the same problem as the one I have right now.
I truly enjoy school but the real reason I want to go in c.s. at Stanford is to meet other c.s. students and start a startup with them. I'm also interested in studying in theatre, so I'm really not dropping school soon. But I don't want to wait after university to finally apply for YC, I feel ready now. The reason I want to go through YC is to meet interesting people, discuss ideas and because I'm sure it would be a tremendous experience. If I don't get chosen, I will still develop my app over the summer, but I just think YC is an outstanding opportunity and that I ought to at least submit an application. I will continue submitting applications every summer until I'm chosen.
P.S. As a developer, I'm not that skilled, but I always manage to figure things out by myself and find a way to do what I want. If I'm stuck, I don't easily give up. Nevertheless, I'm more of an idea guy. I'm currently following tutorials from http://www.raywenderlich.com/store since December in order to get more familiar with the iOS 5 SDK. When I'll finish them, I'll look at the Parse SDK (http://parse.com) and then at the Facebook iOS SDK (https://developers.facebook.com/). I will then code an app similar to FML but it will be called "You know you're in IB when...", IB being the program I'm currently in. I will integrate the Parse SDK and the Facebook iOS SDK in this app. It's a simple app that I want to do for testing purposes and also because I know that my other classmates would actually use it and that fact motivates me a lot. I will then start working on the real app that I want to do for my startup. My goal is to have a working app with bare minimum features for the end of May so that I have something to show if ever I move to the Bay Area. I'm working toward this goal 2-3 hours everyday and 8-12 hours on weekends.
- rudiger 15y agoNo.
- brmj 15y agoHere's a heuristic: Questions of the form "I'm 17. Should I drop school for X?" should be answered in the negative for essentially all plausible values of X.
- pg 15y agoNo. It's almost certainly a mistake to leave school to start a startup at 17, and particularly so if you don't have a cofounder. I don't think anyone should consider starting a startup at 17 unless it's one of those rare situations where you stumble on something that takes off, and not focusing on it full time would mean letting it die. Zuckerberg was in this position, for example. But it is extremely rare.
- hodder 15y agoWhat are your thoughts on the Thiel Fellowship?
- gamechangr 15y agoNo You have plenty of time for YC. Wait!! Eventually,you will have to get a H1 visa to work in the US and that is really hard to do without a university degree. Stanford has many, many applications. You may consider going to community college (first two years of university) in Silicon Valley. Cheap and much easier to be accepted with many of the same students that are in Stanford or Berkeley. Good luck!
- scottmcleod 15y agoNo, not the best idea-Play around with startups, try different possible co-founders, build some small products. Then reach out to local mentors and people in your startup scene to get a better understanding of the space.
- jiggity 15y agoNOTE: This comes from an earlier response, but I thought it would be relevant. I've found the most fun I've had was when I was working on side projects while taking relevant courses. I ended up staying at MIT for all four years + an extra year for their 1 year EECS Masters program. After graduating, I got into the YC summer batch. While at school, I was working on a variety of different side projects. I purposely picked relevant subjects like Machine Learning / User Interface Design / Behavioral Psychology that seemed to fit into the project. Not only did it help me understand the subjects better, it let me master a number of direct cross-applications into web products. It does wonders for your creativity when you are actively thinking about new products while being exposed to so many new techniques. . On the topic of dropping out, an aspect that gets underemphasized is how strong of an ideation muscle you have. The more you do it, the better ideas you come up with. School for me was an excuse to building new things while hanging around taking a few classes. As each year passed, I realized I got better and better ideas. Back then, the first few "promising" ideas that I came up seemed like game-changers that would transform the world. Now I realize if you are the kind of person who comes up with good ideas now, you'll come up with great ideas later on. Use those years in college to train up your ideation muscle along with your implementation skills (web dev languages / backend management / mobile dev, etc.) During your final year, apply to incubators using your uber product development skillset and amaze everyone. Not only will you no longer have the temptation to return to school, you will be putting yourself up for review when you are strongest.