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Why I dropped out of college for Y Combinator

42 points by cj 14y ago

hans_olo 14y ago
> drops out of school > starts "facebook but for X" startup way to go
- simba-hiiipower 14y ago
  the new american dream.
- mlwarren 14y ago
  It's certainly not curing cancer or inventing the next generation of transportation. I guess this might be part of the "start small" realization? It seems like a lot of the college dropouts opting for startups are ultimately limiting themselves from doing the sort of hard problem solving middle-school Brandon wanted to do. I think some level of formal education would be necessary to cure cancer.
- Dirlewanger 14y ago
  Seriously. Yeah, I see people going out and actually making something, but something of value it is not. Praying for this social bubble to pop any day now.
kmfrk 14y ago
It's great if Brandon got into the YC batch and can pursue his interest in the way he thinks is the best way possible, but I don't see anything in the article that people should use as an excuse to drop out of college for. I'm happy for Brandon, and it's a fine personal story, but the article made it sound like "I kept procrastinating and getting bad grades, so I dropped out". There are other ways to address a problem like that. :)
jsiarto 14y ago
While obviously stories like this work out for some people--I think the general advice of dropping out of college to start a startup is a very bad idea. First, maybe 5% of people are driven/motivated enough to actually have a chance of making that decision work out. Second, odds are your startup will fail and you may need to fall back on that degree to get a new job. I would also argue that there are missed opportunities by leaving school early. Some of my best professional relationships started at Michigan State and they continue to help me build my career. Also, $200K+ in student loan debt? Where the hell was he going? EDIT: Also, why not just start the damn company while you're still in school? I'm sorry, but I had more free time in college than I can remember and having a side project was not a huge deal. No different than when people start their business on the side while still maintaining their 9-5. EDIT 2: Full disclosure: I work for MSU as an adjunct so I have a strong financial interest in people getting their degrees (especially in STEM fields!).
- whichdan 14y ago
  It says in the article - Boston University. It's roughly $56k per year[1]. [1] http://www.bu.edu/admissions/apply/costs-aid-scholarships/tuition-and-fees/ http://www.bu.edu/admissions/apply/costs-aid-scholarships/tu...
  - jsiarto 14y ago
    Ouch--the thought of that debt is just staggering. That is currently more than my mortgage and student loan combined. BU is a great school--not for $200K though. I can't image that there are that many degrees in which $200K is worth it...
  - mikescar 14y ago
    Well that is just dumb. If you're young and don't know what you want to study, and change your major a few times, then yes, you should not be doing it while paying $56k a year. Leaving to go work for a while would be smarter until you lock it down a bit more. But just drop the "i left BU to do awesome work" thing and how much academia held you back from doing that awesome work.
  - samirahmed 14y ago
    As a current Boston University student, in a major with one of the highest starting salaries - I can certainly say that 200k is truly not worth the money regardless of major. Any student not on scholarship, who is paying that full amount, is better off dropping out and getting a cheaper.
- untog 14y ago
  Exactly. The majority of startups fail. The majority of college degrees are worth it. Before anyone chimes in- yes, I think there is a debate to be had about whether they should be worth it. As an example, I am a Politics and History grad that develops web sites for a living. I do not use my degree, yet every job out there requires a college education. But that's besides the point, here.
  - genwin 14y ago
kloncks 14y ago
I dropped out of school for AngelPad too. What I've found out is that it's never really about dropping out and the fascination with college dropouts is nonsensical. I never went to college expecting to drop out; the timing just made it happen. Furthermore, my lack of a degree doesn't make me a better or more successful entrepreneur. Dropping out isn’t an accomplishment, any more than money is a sign of achievement. Sometimes, but not always, it’s simply a symptom of success.
- pc86 14y ago
  I think if you were to look at all college dropouts (not just those that leave to go to SF) you would see it's certainly not a symptom of success. There are definitely successful people without degrees but it is the exception rather than the rule. It also depends on your definition of successful. By most definitions (including mine) this guy isn't. YC may change that, but it may not. I don't think it will have much to do with his degree, or lack thereof.
  - randomdata 14y ago
    Monetary success is an exception to begin with. Only 5% of the North American population earn more than $90,000 per year. Leaving me curious about your exception statement. Of the people in that top 5%, or even 1% if your data better supports it, what does the education distribution look like?
    - pc86 14y ago
      Please take this with a grain of salt - I could only find it on Alternet[1] and I looked for the Gallup source they're referencing but shouldn't find it. The article is from December of 2011 as well. In the top 1% of US households (those with an income above ~$550,000 a year according to this article, but I've seen lower-end figures ranging from $380-660k/yr), 72% have a college degree v. 31% of the lower 99%. "Nearly half" of the top 1% has some form of post-graduate education v. less than 1 in 5 of the 99%. A lot of the 1% are CEOs, licensed professionals (JDs, MDs) and Wall Street executives, all positions the require baccalaureate or postgraduate degrees in almost every case. [1] http://www.alternet.org/story/153341/10_fun_facts_about_the_top_1_percent?page=0%2C1 http://www.alternet.org/story/153341/10_fun_facts_about_the_...
jordn 14y ago
The startup scene in Boston is actually pretty amazing. I haven't got to experience living in silicon valley but I got to spend a year at MIT and compared to Cambridge, UK it really is astounding how strong an entrepreneurial network there is there to take advantage of. That said, it might be harder to find in a big place like BU where not everyone is technically focused.
tehdik 14y ago
Why not just take a year off instead of dropping out?
- spartango 14y ago
  This is actually a good question. There's no reason that you have to permanently give up formal education to go start a company (or anything else for that matter). I made exactly this choice (slated to take 2 years off, but same idea), and definitely see myself returning to school in the future. Perhaps when I go back I'll be a wiser person. An even better student. My school says it'll be happy to have me back. In the meantime, I can pursue my crazy ideas and try things, taking risks I might not like to as I age. Building something whose time has come. The relevant chorus to the Byrds' song "Turn Turn Turn" goes: "To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn) There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn) And a time to every purpose, under Heaven"
capkutay 14y ago
I see such a significant conflict between successfully starting a managing a company and dropping out of school, namely the fact that you constantly have to prove your worth intelligence, and capabilities to the people around you. Perhaps if you were like Mark Zuckerburg, clearly a top student at a top school with a product that had already gained traction, then you could drop out of school without creating significant reasons for people to doubt you. But wouldn't your academic knowledge of the field you're working in be of great use to your start up?
alecdibble 14y ago
This is the only part of the article I don't agree with: In the end, it wouldn’t have benefitted me to stay in school longer, and Y Combinator was too good of an opportunity to pass up. How do you know there would be no benefit to finishing your degree? It may be beneficial in the short term. However, you have (hopefully) many years to live and making a guess like that is silly, in my opinion. While I think it is admirable that you got into Hacker News and are following your dream, I think there is something to say about learning to focus and get decent grades, even if you are not into it 100%. It shows that you can stick to some form of an obligation and follow through with something that you may not want to do. I can't remember exactly which VC said this but here is a paraphrase: Not making it through college when something new comes up doesn't bode well when I give you a ton of money for a long term commitment. Will "something else" come up during that time?
- tlogan 14y ago
  But you can always come back and finish your college. Why do we have this notion all things you need to learn needs to fit in first 25 years of your life?
e12e 14y ago
I'm guessing there was a business plan (if yc threw money after them) -- but I don't see it. No ads, no subscription fees. That leaves just selling aggregated consumer data, and doing trend research? Yeah, I'd rather host my private data somewhere they stay private.
drumdance 14y ago
I think there's a huge disruption coming in education. For every Brandon there are 10 others who maybe don't want to create a startup themselves, but could benefit from a series of internships at startups and larger companies along with a structured reading list. A couple years ago my last company hired an intern who was about to start 10th grade. He wrote surprisingly good code and learn a lot in the process.
concernedctzn 14y ago
"My GPA was suffering, despite lots of Adderall, and I had skipped half of the lectures I was supposed to attend." Wow, I'm not so sure you want to publicly advertise abusing prescription drugs.
jakebellacera 14y ago
Nice, I'm glad you could find something that makes you happy. Just make sure that you keep at it. You chose not to pursue an education, so if you truly want to be successful, make your resume proof that you know what you're doing.
nchuhoai 14y ago
I don't understand why there is this huge sentiment against Brandon's decision. I have written about this a lot, but there is a huge bias against people that believe that 1. college may not be worth it for him personally 2. college may generally be quite overpriced/not worth it. I'm sure it is a discussion worth having looking at the exploding prices of college. 1. Without being too bold, I think we can all agree that general statements like "Everyone needs to go to college" and "No one should go to college" are useless. Brandon knows best what he knows, what he gains from college and what he loses by staying in it. 2. Now, this discussion happens a lot, but there is always the same question I ask: Would pro-college people say college is worth the 10k/degree sticker price? 100k? 1M? 10M? Yes, college provides great value, some that can't be quantified. Nevertheless, we live in a world with scarce resources, and making a conjecture that for some people going to college might not be worth it shouldn't be too far-fetched. College is being hailed as the holy grail, and I just don't buy it as such. I think Brandon's post shows that he clearly has thought about it and made a decision for himself, that doesn't come by easily. Also, Brandon, if you read this, I followed you in your footsteps, just one semester after you :)
205guy 14y ago
Surprised no one quoted this yet: "I avoided computer science because I heard it’s too theoretical and non-practical." OP then enrolled in pre-med, the epitomy of theoretical and non-practical (cramming all the anatomy and cellular biology that make the basis of our medical knowledge, but don't actually help you cure a patient). I totally agree that CS is theoretical and non-practical, but why is that so shunned? Seems like if someone wants an edge in the technology sector, they had better understand the foundation of computation. From writing formal grammars and understanding Turing machines all the way up to coding a compiler and learning about security are all things I've studied and mostly forgotten, but they help me understand the new problems I'm faced with every day. A person who practices medicine without doing the course work, internship, and getting the degree is a quack or charlatan or new-age healer. I'm worried a lot of the startup scene is about making a fast buck, not making a solid product. I don't think the tech sector is life-and-death, and it certainly doesn't need PhDs or a licensing board. But you'd think people who want to excel in the field would study it.

42 points by cj 14y ago

hans_olo 14y ago

> drops out of school > starts "facebook but for X" startup way to go

simba-hiiipower 14y ago
the new american dream.
mlwarren 14y ago
It's certainly not curing cancer or inventing the next generation of transportation. I guess this might be part of the "start small" realization? It seems like a lot of the college dropouts opting for startups are ultimately limiting themselves from doing the sort of hard problem solving middle-school Brandon wanted to do. I think some level of formal education would be necessary to cure cancer.
Dirlewanger 14y ago
Seriously. Yeah, I see people going out and actually making something, but something of value it is not. Praying for this social bubble to pop any day now.

kmfrk 14y ago

It's great if Brandon got into the YC batch and can pursue his interest in the way he thinks is the best way possible, but I don't see anything in the article that people should use as an excuse to drop out of college for. I'm happy for Brandon, and it's a fine personal story, but the article made it sound like "I kept procrastinating and getting bad grades, so I dropped out". There are other ways to address a problem like that. :)

jsiarto 14y ago

While obviously stories like this work out for some people--I think the general advice of dropping out of college to start a startup is a very bad idea. First, maybe 5% of people are driven/motivated enough to actually have a chance of making that decision work out. Second, odds are your startup will fail and you may need to fall back on that degree to get a new job. I would also argue that there are missed opportunities by leaving school early. Some of my best professional relationships started at Michigan State and they continue to help me build my career. Also, $200K+ in student loan debt? Where the hell was he going? EDIT: Also, why not just start the damn company while you're still in school? I'm sorry, but I had more free time in college than I can remember and having a side project was not a huge deal. No different than when people start their business on the side while still maintaining their 9-5. EDIT 2: Full disclosure: I work for MSU as an adjunct so I have a strong financial interest in people getting their degrees (especially in STEM fields!).

whichdan 14y ago
It says in the article - Boston University. It's roughly $56k per year[1]. [1] http://www.bu.edu/admissions/apply/costs-aid-scholarships/tuition-and-fees/ http://www.bu.edu/admissions/apply/costs-aid-scholarships/tu...
- jsiarto 14y ago
  Ouch--the thought of that debt is just staggering. That is currently more than my mortgage and student loan combined. BU is a great school--not for $200K though. I can't image that there are that many degrees in which $200K is worth it...
- mikescar 14y ago
  Well that is just dumb. If you're young and don't know what you want to study, and change your major a few times, then yes, you should not be doing it while paying $56k a year. Leaving to go work for a while would be smarter until you lock it down a bit more. But just drop the "i left BU to do awesome work" thing and how much academia held you back from doing that awesome work.
- samirahmed 14y ago
  As a current Boston University student, in a major with one of the highest starting salaries - I can certainly say that 200k is truly not worth the money regardless of major. Any student not on scholarship, who is paying that full amount, is better off dropping out and getting a cheaper.
untog 14y ago
Exactly. The majority of startups fail. The majority of college degrees are worth it. Before anyone chimes in- yes, I think there is a debate to be had about whether they should be worth it. As an example, I am a Politics and History grad that develops web sites for a living. I do not use my degree, yet every job out there requires a college education. But that's besides the point, here.
- genwin 14y ago

kloncks 14y ago

I dropped out of school for AngelPad too. What I've found out is that it's never really about dropping out and the fascination with college dropouts is nonsensical. I never went to college expecting to drop out; the timing just made it happen. Furthermore, my lack of a degree doesn't make me a better or more successful entrepreneur. Dropping out isn’t an accomplishment, any more than money is a sign of achievement. Sometimes, but not always, it’s simply a symptom of success.

pc86 14y ago
I think if you were to look at all college dropouts (not just those that leave to go to SF) you would see it's certainly not a symptom of success. There are definitely successful people without degrees but it is the exception rather than the rule. It also depends on your definition of successful. By most definitions (including mine) this guy isn't. YC may change that, but it may not. I don't think it will have much to do with his degree, or lack thereof.
- randomdata 14y ago
  Monetary success is an exception to begin with. Only 5% of the North American population earn more than $90,000 per year. Leaving me curious about your exception statement. Of the people in that top 5%, or even 1% if your data better supports it, what does the education distribution look like?
  - pc86 14y ago
    Please take this with a grain of salt - I could only find it on Alternet[1] and I looked for the Gallup source they're referencing but shouldn't find it. The article is from December of 2011 as well. In the top 1% of US households (those with an income above ~$550,000 a year according to this article, but I've seen lower-end figures ranging from $380-660k/yr), 72% have a college degree v. 31% of the lower 99%. "Nearly half" of the top 1% has some form of post-graduate education v. less than 1 in 5 of the 99%. A lot of the 1% are CEOs, licensed professionals (JDs, MDs) and Wall Street executives, all positions the require baccalaureate or postgraduate degrees in almost every case. [1] http://www.alternet.org/story/153341/10_fun_facts_about_the_top_1_percent?page=0%2C1 http://www.alternet.org/story/153341/10_fun_facts_about_the_...

jordn 14y ago

The startup scene in Boston is actually pretty amazing. I haven't got to experience living in silicon valley but I got to spend a year at MIT and compared to Cambridge, UK it really is astounding how strong an entrepreneurial network there is there to take advantage of. That said, it might be harder to find in a big place like BU where not everyone is technically focused.

tehdik 14y ago

Why not just take a year off instead of dropping out?

spartango 14y ago
This is actually a good question. There's no reason that you have to permanently give up formal education to go start a company (or anything else for that matter). I made exactly this choice (slated to take 2 years off, but same idea), and definitely see myself returning to school in the future. Perhaps when I go back I'll be a wiser person. An even better student. My school says it'll be happy to have me back. In the meantime, I can pursue my crazy ideas and try things, taking risks I might not like to as I age. Building something whose time has come. The relevant chorus to the Byrds' song "Turn Turn Turn" goes: "To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn) There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn) And a time to every purpose, under Heaven"

capkutay 14y ago

I see such a significant conflict between successfully starting a managing a company and dropping out of school, namely the fact that you constantly have to prove your worth intelligence, and capabilities to the people around you. Perhaps if you were like Mark Zuckerburg, clearly a top student at a top school with a product that had already gained traction, then you could drop out of school without creating significant reasons for people to doubt you. But wouldn't your academic knowledge of the field you're working in be of great use to your start up?

alecdibble 14y ago

This is the only part of the article I don't agree with: In the end, it wouldn’t have benefitted me to stay in school longer, and Y Combinator was too good of an opportunity to pass up. How do you know there would be no benefit to finishing your degree? It may be beneficial in the short term. However, you have (hopefully) many years to live and making a guess like that is silly, in my opinion. While I think it is admirable that you got into Hacker News and are following your dream, I think there is something to say about learning to focus and get decent grades, even if you are not into it 100%. It shows that you can stick to some form of an obligation and follow through with something that you may not want to do. I can't remember exactly which VC said this but here is a paraphrase: Not making it through college when something new comes up doesn't bode well when I give you a ton of money for a long term commitment. Will "something else" come up during that time?

tlogan 14y ago
But you can always come back and finish your college. Why do we have this notion all things you need to learn needs to fit in first 25 years of your life?

e12e 14y ago

I'm guessing there was a business plan (if yc threw money after them) -- but I don't see it. No ads, no subscription fees. That leaves just selling aggregated consumer data, and doing trend research? Yeah, I'd rather host my private data somewhere they stay private.

drumdance 14y ago

I think there's a huge disruption coming in education. For every Brandon there are 10 others who maybe don't want to create a startup themselves, but could benefit from a series of internships at startups and larger companies along with a structured reading list. A couple years ago my last company hired an intern who was about to start 10th grade. He wrote surprisingly good code and learn a lot in the process.

concernedctzn 14y ago

"My GPA was suffering, despite lots of Adderall, and I had skipped half of the lectures I was supposed to attend." Wow, I'm not so sure you want to publicly advertise abusing prescription drugs.

jakebellacera 14y ago

Nice, I'm glad you could find something that makes you happy. Just make sure that you keep at it. You chose not to pursue an education, so if you truly want to be successful, make your resume proof that you know what you're doing.

nchuhoai 14y ago

I don't understand why there is this huge sentiment against Brandon's decision. I have written about this a lot, but there is a huge bias against people that believe that 1. college may not be worth it for him personally 2. college may generally be quite overpriced/not worth it. I'm sure it is a discussion worth having looking at the exploding prices of college. 1. Without being too bold, I think we can all agree that general statements like "Everyone needs to go to college" and "No one should go to college" are useless. Brandon knows best what he knows, what he gains from college and what he loses by staying in it. 2. Now, this discussion happens a lot, but there is always the same question I ask: Would pro-college people say college is worth the 10k/degree sticker price? 100k? 1M? 10M? Yes, college provides great value, some that can't be quantified. Nevertheless, we live in a world with scarce resources, and making a conjecture that for some people going to college might not be worth it shouldn't be too far-fetched. College is being hailed as the holy grail, and I just don't buy it as such. I think Brandon's post shows that he clearly has thought about it and made a decision for himself, that doesn't come by easily. Also, Brandon, if you read this, I followed you in your footsteps, just one semester after you :)

205guy 14y ago

Surprised no one quoted this yet: "I avoided computer science because I heard it’s too theoretical and non-practical." OP then enrolled in pre-med, the epitomy of theoretical and non-practical (cramming all the anatomy and cellular biology that make the basis of our medical knowledge, but don't actually help you cure a patient). I totally agree that CS is theoretical and non-practical, but why is that so shunned? Seems like if someone wants an edge in the technology sector, they had better understand the foundation of computation. From writing formal grammars and understanding Turing machines all the way up to coding a compiler and learning about security are all things I've studied and mostly forgotten, but they help me understand the new problems I'm faced with every day. A person who practices medicine without doing the course work, internship, and getting the degree is a quack or charlatan or new-age healer. I'm worried a lot of the startup scene is about making a fast buck, not making a solid product. I don't think the tech sector is life-and-death, and it certainly doesn't need PhDs or a licensing board. But you'd think people who want to excel in the field would study it.