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And if you have entrepreneurship in your blood you'll probably ignore this. Because they don't teach how to be "insanely driven" at school. If you have the opp

And if you have entrepreneurship in your blood you'll probably ignore this. Because they don't teach how to be "insanely driven" at school. If you have the opportunity to go to college I say go for it, finish and get your degree. But those that don't have the means or opportunity are in no way disqualified from starting a successful business. I think the takeaway from this shouldn't be that college is necessary, but that you shouldn't drop out just to start a business. But again, you probably won't listen to that either. My family taught me how to start and run a business long before college entered my mind. It's in my blood. I've started them before, one worked and two others did not. I've helped others start their own and some were successful, others not. And I will start another one eventually. When I choose to do something nothing in the world will stop me. Because that's what I think it takes.

coldtea 13y ago
>Because they don't teach how to be "insanely driven" at school. No. But, then again, there are thousands of wrecks that were "insanely driven" and got nowhere. Besides being "insanely driven" it's not a bad idea to also actually learn how to drive.
- adventured 13y ago
  I don't know very many people that became good drivers by reading a car manual or a book at drivers ed. I'd argue the best way to learn how to drive, is to drive. Almost everybody I know started out driving that way, on a safe road somewhere or in a parking lot, with their parents or similar. Not by reading a book about it.
  - coldtea 13y ago
    >I don't know very many people that became good drivers by reading a car manual or a book at drivers ed. That's because driving a car is an active endeavour that you learn by driving along your instructor. The problem with your analogy is two-fold: 1) It's not like college is just about "reading books". You get to do a lot of hands-on stuff, participate in projects, do exersizes and labs etc. All those have a much wider scope and breadth that what you'd learn from a hands-on approach just on a specific problem on some startup. 2) It's also not true that all fields are about "trying it out". You won't learn calculus, linear algebra, OS internals or complexity just because you chanced upon a small real-life problem working as an intern and you googled your way out or came up with your own hacky solution. Some stuff you need to actually study, that is go through the bibliography, read past and present ideas and notions, etc. In college you get to do that without obstractions like "we need to ship next week", for numerous study subjects, and with guidance offered to boot.
- clavalle 13y ago
  I don't know a single person that I would call driven (much less insanely driven) that has been a failure. I know some very driven people that I don't consider terribly bright who I thought for sure would be failures who have ended up owning and running successful businesses. On the other hand, I know quite a few master degree level people and above who would be homeless if not for the generosity of others. It seems like more and more people are substituting schooling for real work.
  - ianstallings 13y ago
    My last startup was founded by an out of work police officer. He had the drive to make it happen and in turn investors saw that in him and invested. Just to get the meeting with the first investor he actually remortgaged his house just so he could invest in something the guy he was targeting was trying to pitch. So he gets the meeting and it leads to a great relationship and the investor became an angel, pouring millions in. He then built pretty much every piece of the puzzle himself and in turn brought me on board to quite an adventure. It started at his beach house and it's now going strong at Penn Plaza, Manhattan with about ~40 people. The guy just had it in him, some people do. And the business is still going strong. I know it's anecdotal, but I think there is something there.
- ianstallings 13y ago
  I don't want to come off like college is a waste of time. I didn't go to college but it wasn't a choice for me. But my daughter is currently in college and I hope she commits to graduating because if you have a choice, I say go. Don't drop out either. That's very short-sighted. I just wanted to point out that a lot of entrepreneurs seem to have an innate business aptitude and a of drive, whether they go to college or not. I might be wrong.

coldtea 13y ago

>Because they don't teach how to be "insanely driven" at school. No. But, then again, there are thousands of wrecks that were "insanely driven" and got nowhere. Besides being "insanely driven" it's not a bad idea to also actually learn how to drive.

adventured 13y ago
I don't know very many people that became good drivers by reading a car manual or a book at drivers ed. I'd argue the best way to learn how to drive, is to drive. Almost everybody I know started out driving that way, on a safe road somewhere or in a parking lot, with their parents or similar. Not by reading a book about it.
- coldtea 13y ago
  >I don't know very many people that became good drivers by reading a car manual or a book at drivers ed. That's because driving a car is an active endeavour that you learn by driving along your instructor. The problem with your analogy is two-fold: 1) It's not like college is just about "reading books". You get to do a lot of hands-on stuff, participate in projects, do exersizes and labs etc. All those have a much wider scope and breadth that what you'd learn from a hands-on approach just on a specific problem on some startup. 2) It's also not true that all fields are about "trying it out". You won't learn calculus, linear algebra, OS internals or complexity just because you chanced upon a small real-life problem working as an intern and you googled your way out or came up with your own hacky solution. Some stuff you need to actually study, that is go through the bibliography, read past and present ideas and notions, etc. In college you get to do that without obstractions like "we need to ship next week", for numerous study subjects, and with guidance offered to boot.
clavalle 13y ago
I don't know a single person that I would call driven (much less insanely driven) that has been a failure. I know some very driven people that I don't consider terribly bright who I thought for sure would be failures who have ended up owning and running successful businesses. On the other hand, I know quite a few master degree level people and above who would be homeless if not for the generosity of others. It seems like more and more people are substituting schooling for real work.
- ianstallings 13y ago
  My last startup was founded by an out of work police officer. He had the drive to make it happen and in turn investors saw that in him and invested. Just to get the meeting with the first investor he actually remortgaged his house just so he could invest in something the guy he was targeting was trying to pitch. So he gets the meeting and it leads to a great relationship and the investor became an angel, pouring millions in. He then built pretty much every piece of the puzzle himself and in turn brought me on board to quite an adventure. It started at his beach house and it's now going strong at Penn Plaza, Manhattan with about ~40 people. The guy just had it in him, some people do. And the business is still going strong. I know it's anecdotal, but I think there is something there.
ianstallings 13y ago
I don't want to come off like college is a waste of time. I didn't go to college but it wasn't a choice for me. But my daughter is currently in college and I hope she commits to graduating because if you have a choice, I say go. Don't drop out either. That's very short-sighted. I just wanted to point out that a lot of entrepreneurs seem to have an innate business aptitude and a of drive, whether they go to college or not. I might be wrong.