

Thoughts On Building Your Startup Whilst In College - LeonW
http://leostartsup.com/2011/06/thoughts-on-building-your-startup-whilst-in-college/

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bugsy
It's becoming more of a risk nowadays than when I was in school. Many schools
now set up policies where the school can seize ownership of the student's
original work. This is outrageous of course and just one more reason to stay
out of college.

I've said this before; I'll bring it up once again since it's on topic here
and may help someone exploring this thread. If I had my life to live again,
the one thing I would change is start my business 4 years earlier and avoid
the debt and wasted time and opportunity cost of going to college. That said,
one good thing about it was that back in the old days schools didn't attempt
to steal the original private work of their undergraduate students. With that
situation having changed at some schools, there is even less reason to bother
with the distraction and debt.

~~~
LeonW
Hi Bugsy,

Thanks for your thoughts on this. Yes, I think the debt is a lot of an issue
and also the Intellectual Property thing. You are absolutely right, one really
has to be careful here.

Great to hear you would have started even earlier, much motivation for me! :)

~~~
bugsy
These are tricky discussions since many people have strong opinions.

I'm going to assume you're a bit like me. Self motivated, been designing
things since a young age. Reads a lot. Talks to people to find out what they
are up to. I even did the thing you mention where I stopping going to all
lectures one semester and just took the midterm and final and did the
projects. That semester I got all As though, doing the bare minimum, which I
suppose for myself was more than the maximum others were doing.

Someone like yourself is naturally intellectually curious and likes to create
things and explore. The structure of college is not really necessary
especially with a technical degree. Engineering programs tend to have reduced
general ed/humanities requirements anyway. For something like a classics
background, perhaps college is really beneficial. For engineering, nearly
everything was things I already knew about since I'd been making things and
reading tech journals since adolescence. As to the professors, very few had
any life experience designing working software used by other people. Most
professors simply don't know very much about design, creating things, or
running a business. Most have lived sheltered lives, straight to teaching from
grad school. If I was studying Russian literature I would not be impressed by
a professor who could not read Russian and had not read any Russian
literature. Likewise, the situation where professors of computer science do
not actually practice in the field is quite bizarre.

You've designed a product, listened to customers, and brought your business
from nothing to profitability. That is more than most attempted entrepreneurs
have managed, and more than most of your professors. You've done this while
managing passing grades, that is quite an accomplishment, it's more of one
than getting a degree.

I liked what you said about how when you hunkered down and focused on the
business is when things did well. Don't be shy, just go for it. That was a
good move. I also understand about the possible naysaying and negative
influence of parents, this is the old saying "A prophet is honored everywhere
except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family." It's
not just prophets though, it's most things. New town, new start, new person.
It's interesting that college allows you free time and space to succeed,
completely aside from the classes. Would be nice if you could keep your
apartment and just deregister and stop going to class but hang out in the
area, much as the original vision Jefferson had for University of Virginia as
a learning community, where there would be no classes and no hierarchy, just
people working on their own projects.

~~~
LeonW
Wow, thanks so much for wording out your thoughts in such detail here.

Absolutely, I think your very spot on with your analysis. Your experience of
your own college life does sound very familiar. Shutting myself off from
everything was the only way to get something working.

Yes, the fact that many of the people teaching me, never went through any
similar patterns was a big problem for me. Not that I don't like to be given
advice from someone, I was just having trouble if it is coming from someone
with little background.

Thanks on the kind words on managing the degree and the startup. I think, I am
fortunately doing a degree (Management at a Business School) where you can
easily sneak through exams and still get decent marks.

Absolutely, even though one tries to say "All thoughts are my own" they never
quite are and if you are living under the same roof with your parents it is
even more difficult.

Never heard that this was the way Jefferson imagined it, but very true, that's
exactly how I think it should be. Simply using the environment and forgetting
about actual classes.

Thanks for this great discussion here, you have given me much comfort in my
doing. I hope to chat with you more in the future. If you get a chance, hit me
up @LeoWid on Twitter, would love talk more. :)

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danoc
One of the main advantages is that you have three months off for Summer
vacation. Even if you're working, that's a lot of free time!

~~~
LeonW
Hi Danoc,

Absolutely, I think this is the main reason, you are free and no one expects
you to earn money. :)

In my case, I am going to Silicon Valley for the summer, I think, just going
away for 3 months would be much harder with a job.

