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Yeah, it's definitely a Silicon Valley thing. I grew up in SV and go to school at Berkeley, and dropping out is definitely considered a valid choice. People I k

Yeah, it's definitely a Silicon Valley thing. I grew up in SV and go to school at Berkeley, and dropping out is definitely considered a valid choice. People I know in SF encourage me to drop out all the time, and I know of several college students that dropped out. Edit (reply to below): I took a year off to work before I went to college, so I think I have a good perspective when I say this. You assume that: 1) college is going to educate someone about the world, get them a good job (not a measly startup job), give them discipline, and introduce them to cofounders; and 2) college will do this so much better than you could by working in industry that it justifies the cost (anywhere between $150-200k tuition for a good school, and possibly $200k in lost savings). Suffice to say, not all of those things are necessarily true. I'd be happy to talk about this perspective to anyone over email.

semerda 12y ago
Maybe I cannot see why this is so cool.. being a foreigner now living in Silicon Valley, having grown up in both Europe and Australia.. education is pivotal to getting anywhere in life. I hate the common "get rich quick advise" to ambitious 19 year olds by "dropping out of school" to "join a fast paced start-up" for measly equity and few dimes to live on. Better advice to just buy a lottery ticket, cross ya fingers and pray. If you want to "change the world" you need to 1st understand the world. But before one does one must have discipline and some core skills. That's what colleague teaches. Discipline and core skills + may introduce you to your future cofounder. Then go and learn from the world by working at many many places so you can understand the world and it's problems. Then change the world. Maybe then we will have far better start ups that are actually building a business and changing the world than regurgitating (cloning) other businesses.

semerda 12y ago

Maybe I cannot see why this is so cool.. being a foreigner now living in Silicon Valley, having grown up in both Europe and Australia.. education is pivotal to getting anywhere in life. I hate the common "get rich quick advise" to ambitious 19 year olds by "dropping out of school" to "join a fast paced start-up" for measly equity and few dimes to live on. Better advice to just buy a lottery ticket, cross ya fingers and pray. If you want to "change the world" you need to 1st understand the world. But before one does one must have discipline and some core skills. That's what colleague teaches. Discipline and core skills + may introduce you to your future cofounder. Then go and learn from the world by working at many many places so you can understand the world and it's problems. Then change the world. Maybe then we will have far better start ups that are actually building a business and changing the world than regurgitating (cloning) other businesses.