5 ms·

I would suspect that this is non-obvious to people who view YC as a structured, semi-guaranteed route to success, the way many people view a degree from a prest

I would suspect that this is non-obvious to people who view YC as a structured, semi-guaranteed route to success, the way many people view a degree from a prestigious university. I know many people who are 'interested' in startups and crave some kind of validation that they are a real entrepreneur before sinking their teeth in. My university even offers a 1 year diploma in entrepreneurship. Madness! As though formal training will help you make the hard decisions you face as a founder.

Swizec 12y ago
> My university even offers a 1 year diploma in entrepreneurship. Wouldn't it be cheaper and more educational to just launch a side-business and keep it running for a year?
- Kalium 12y ago
  Depends greatly on what kind of mistakes you make and what you learn. Me, I prefer to learn from the mistakes of others.
Kalium 12y ago
> As though formal training will help you make the hard decisions you face as a founder. Formal training means a way to structure your thoughts and assess risks. Don't dismiss it out of hand.
- bendyBus 12y ago
  Point taken. Education is of course a valuable thing - but a year's worth of instruction on entrepreneurship after you've already got a degree?
  - grubles 12y ago
    Isn't that almost exactly what Make School is? That seemed to garner a lot of praise from HN readers.
  - smokinn 12y ago
    Why not? If someone has a degree in something technical I could imagine following a curriculum consisting partly of corporate finance management, fundraising, HR and other corporate issues for a year could be valuable, especially if they offer night classes or something like that so that you can still be working on your main idea. Most college new grads are not exactly CEO material from the get-go.
    - bendyBus 12y ago
      I would assert that a recent graduate who wants to be an entrepreneur is mostly doing themselves a disservice by studying those things. It focuses your thoughts on how to run a business rather than how to solve a problem or turn an industry on its head. Sure, many of those things could come in handy in the future - but there are far more difficult things which you also have to learn "as you go".
      - smokinn 12y ago
        Entrepreneurship isn't limited to VC-funded moonshots. Lots of people just want to be their own boss and run a viable business.
        skrish 12y ago
        Great point. Interestingly, I see several tech startups of this nature started by folks having a deep understanding of a specific business problem due to their prior work experience tend to create such startups. As a service provider for small businesses, I see many amazing bootstrapped services & products come up around the world, that serves a very specific need for a small subset of customers. These viable businesses tend to make enough for the needs of 2-3 folks for a long time. I have a strong inclination towards finding many of them as a service provider because they just tend to be some of the best customers with great ROI.
        bendyBus 12y ago
        I am indeed concentrating on the types of companies YC would invest in. I don't know anything about lifestyle businesses but what you say sounds reasonable.
practicalpants 12y ago
From some people I know and even have consulted for, who have applied (and not been accepted), there seem to be many who do it for the status. They went to a prestigious school, they don't like the idea of doing something which isn't successful yet (starting a startup) without a bestowal of a mark of prestige that they can refer others to... I.e. hedging against being viewed as unimportant or a failure, as that would rock their identity too much. (This radar often goes off when I hear someone refer to YCombinator as 'the Harvard of Incubators.') I think to be a great founder you have to not only know how to handle failure, but to also be OK with everyone dismissing your venture as a failure, as something even laughable.

Swizec 12y ago

> My university even offers a 1 year diploma in entrepreneurship. Wouldn't it be cheaper and more educational to just launch a side-business and keep it running for a year?

Kalium 12y ago
Depends greatly on what kind of mistakes you make and what you learn. Me, I prefer to learn from the mistakes of others.

Kalium 12y ago

> As though formal training will help you make the hard decisions you face as a founder. Formal training means a way to structure your thoughts and assess risks. Don't dismiss it out of hand.

bendyBus 12y ago
Point taken. Education is of course a valuable thing - but a year's worth of instruction on entrepreneurship after you've already got a degree?
- grubles 12y ago
  Isn't that almost exactly what Make School is? That seemed to garner a lot of praise from HN readers.
- smokinn 12y ago
  Why not? If someone has a degree in something technical I could imagine following a curriculum consisting partly of corporate finance management, fundraising, HR and other corporate issues for a year could be valuable, especially if they offer night classes or something like that so that you can still be working on your main idea. Most college new grads are not exactly CEO material from the get-go.
  - bendyBus 12y ago
    I would assert that a recent graduate who wants to be an entrepreneur is mostly doing themselves a disservice by studying those things. It focuses your thoughts on how to run a business rather than how to solve a problem or turn an industry on its head. Sure, many of those things could come in handy in the future - but there are far more difficult things which you also have to learn "as you go".
    - smokinn 12y ago
      Entrepreneurship isn't limited to VC-funded moonshots. Lots of people just want to be their own boss and run a viable business.
      - skrish 12y ago
        Great point. Interestingly, I see several tech startups of this nature started by folks having a deep understanding of a specific business problem due to their prior work experience tend to create such startups. As a service provider for small businesses, I see many amazing bootstrapped services & products come up around the world, that serves a very specific need for a small subset of customers. These viable businesses tend to make enough for the needs of 2-3 folks for a long time. I have a strong inclination towards finding many of them as a service provider because they just tend to be some of the best customers with great ROI.
      - bendyBus 12y ago
        I am indeed concentrating on the types of companies YC would invest in. I don't know anything about lifestyle businesses but what you say sounds reasonable.

practicalpants 12y ago

From some people I know and even have consulted for, who have applied (and not been accepted), there seem to be many who do it for the status. They went to a prestigious school, they don't like the idea of doing something which isn't successful yet (starting a startup) without a bestowal of a mark of prestige that they can refer others to... I.e. hedging against being viewed as unimportant or a failure, as that would rock their identity too much. (This radar often goes off when I hear someone refer to YCombinator as 'the Harvard of Incubators.') I think to be a great founder you have to not only know how to handle failure, but to also be OK with everyone dismissing your venture as a failure, as something even laughable.