

Year off of school vs. starting a company - etcetc

Sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, but I figured I would find the best insight and expertise here. I am currently a sophomore at UC Berkeley in EECS. I have two more years of education to go until I graduate, as I will be getting my degree earlier.&lt;p&gt;I currently have been working for a small startup in San Francisco called XVolve. It has been a blast, I&#x27;ve learne d a lot and had fun being productive and getting more work experience. However, since my boss has been forced to go to Japan for three months, the project is on hold. This small startup is owned by a parent company in Japan, Onesty. They, through my boss, have offered to fund me to create a new company with me at the head and build a new product (likely a social app or something of the like) for them. I would get some equity, but that&#x27;s not my concern. I am wary of this opportunity because I don&#x27;t know why they would be dumping so much money into me, when I have no product, no team, and no background experience. They want me to take a trip to Japan (paid by them) to meet the executives and take a look at their company. They have no other well-known companies they&#x27;ve funded in their portfolio, I would be part of the first.&lt;p&gt;Any insight and perspective is greatly appreciated. It&#x27;s difficult not to fantasize about the slim chance of success, but I need to keep my options realistic. My biggest fear is regretting that I didn&#x27;t take this opportunity.
======
brianchu
I'm also a sophomore (in CS) at Berkeley. My background is a bit similar - I
took a year off _before_ college to take a software course and work at a
startup. The year I took off was probably one of the periods of greatest
personal growth I've ever had in my life. I learned a lot technically, but
that wasn't the most important thing I gained (or even the second or third-
most important thing). The most important things I gained were friendships and
connections with people older than me, and greater _perspective_ on my goals
and on college. I like to think I'm a bit more street-smart than I used to be,
having been exposed to the real world. It's important to note that taking
income minus taxes/expenses, I earned next to nothing over the course of that
year (and have a bit of stock that isn't worth much even if the startup
continues to do well), so I gained nothing financially.

I don't put much faith in the arguments that "you'll never go back" if you
take a year off - I did, and when I made the decision to go back, it was
precisely that - a conscious decision, rather than how most students go to
college (which is by following the default path). At any time, the decision is
yours to return to college - if you decide not to return to school it will
only be because you judge your current opportunity (the startup or wherever
your career takes you) to be better than going to school.

Obviously the details of this opportunity are pretty important - how much
equity are you getting? How much control? Who do you get to work with (the
people you meet and/or work with is probably the single greatest factor in
your early career)? How much funding do you get? How flexible is the parent
company in letting you make decisions (remembering that if you don't have >50%
of the equity, they have final say in all decisions)?

If you want to take this offline, my email is in my profile. I wouldn't be so
quick to dismiss an opportunity like this. If you think your skills are up to
it, it's worth considering. _At the very least_ , I would take the trip to
Japan, and come prepared with tough questions for the executives (questions
about control, autonomy, flexibility, the conditions of funding, how they make
decisions, their philosophy around product management, etc.)

~~~
etcetc
Thanks for the reply! I would appreciate talking to you; I can't seem to find
your email in your profile however. I was going to ask you anyways what other
questions you would ask? I really have no experience with regards to many of
the business side and harder questions you have proposed. What critical points
besides equity and funding should I look at?

------
illini123
I just finished grad school and undergrad right before that (I lumped them
together in 4 years; not to brag, this matters for what I'm about to say). I
spent most of undergrad tempted by a few nibbles to take a gap semester or
year and see what happens. The way I see it (and others on here may disagree
with me), you should stay in school unless the golden opportunity comes along.
Here's why: you are earning your education at one of the top schools in the
world for EECS. You, provided you don't screw up, will have any number of
opportunities post-graduation that others won't have, especially when it comes
to startups. I graduated in 5 semesters from undergrad because I wanted to 1)
go deeper into a technical background (undergrad in information systems /
business - yes, I'm from "the dark side") during grad school 2) work for a
startup

I chose to go to grad school, and along the way wound up working for a
healthcare informatics startup. Great team, I trusted them a lot, even when
they had a major product pivot. Last fall, I had to make the choice, wait for
a spring offer to join them full time (yes, please and thank you) and reject
other fall offers, or "play it safe." I took the handshake agreement and it
wound up falling through. Am I pissed? Yes. Am I glad it happened? Well, I got
a great learning lesson out of it, and am now doing my own startup in data
analytics, commercializing a side project I did during grad school.

What I'm trying to get at is that yes, you will always regret the "what ifs?"
However, be rational about the team, the product, and the vision, and the
opportunity cost of putting your education on hold. Yes, you can always go
back, but I've had friends do it, and it is hard(er). I'm happy to talk more
about this or follow-up, since I know from semi-first-hand experience a bit of
what you're going through. You have a lot of options on the table, but just
look long-term and be true to yourself, more than anything else.

~~~
etcetc
I've sent you an email. I would like to talk about this some more, thanks for
replying.

------
dennybritz
Background: Did my Bachelor's in EECS at Berkeley, and I've lived in Japan for
longer periods of time (including startup-related stuff). I would claim to
understand the Japanese culture and work environment pretty well.

I a huge advocate of taking time off (whenever, before college, after college,
during college), and I believe that starting a company or building a product
is one of the best ways to spend that time. I have taken time off multiple
times and looking back it has always been the best decision/experience.
HOWEVER, I would be wary of this particular opportunity as, from what it
sounds like, it probably won't pan out as you imagine. It sounds a bit fishy.

Just some thoughts:

\- Take a very good look at the exact terms and make sure they are not using
you as cheap labor. "Get some equity" sounds as if you will be working
80h/week (typical for a founder), not getting paid very much, and not even
receiving a large portion of equity. Do they want you to recruit other people?
How so?

\- This is a generalization (but still applicable in 98% of all cases):
Japanese companies are _extremely_ bureaucratic, very old-fashioned, and you
will most likely have much less freedom that you currently think you will. A
lot of your work will consist of doing fake work (reports, spreadsheets, etc)
to fulfill some bureaucratic requirements (typical for all Japanese companies)
as opposed to being actually productive.

I'm also happy to talk offline, see profile.

~~~
etcetc
Hey, I've replied to you as well. Thanks for the insight, a lot of people are
warning me to be cautious and I was definitely wary of this offer from the
start.

------
richsin
A few things to think about:

1\. Everything is negotiable, try to work it in your favor to not have to
choose. If your going to lead a company, negotiation is a good skill to pick
up.

2\. I have always felt there is far too much anxiety around
technology/startups ... will it be there when I arrive? Will I still be
relevant? Urgency is great when you jump in, but rest assure it will be here
when you come back, if you choose to take the time off.

3\. Do you want to run from regret or follow your heart?

4\. Put your degree as a priority unless you are absolutely passionate about
what you are postponing it for. As a 30 year old drop-out, sure it's nice when
you have money to walk around and look like a genius because your successful,
but it brings on additional insecurity and uncertainty when you do not have
that paper behind your name on the way up. How much time do you spend climbing
vs. time spent at the peak? Prepare yourself for the climb.

5\. Take the trip, discuss your flexibility, listen to the idea, take time to
evaluate. When an idea connects with you, the question changes from "what
should i do?" to "how do i make this happen?"

Lot's of great advice from the others also. Good luck none the less, you have
two really exciting paths in front of you, so its already a win-win.

------
pneill
Do neither. Stay in school. If you leave, you'll never go back. (trust me,
this happens 99% of the time when people leave school) You can take a year off
after you graduate. And job opportunities come and go. This one certainly
doesn't sound like you're getting in on the ground floor of something great.

------
ironch456
Ok, I realize it is cool now to tell everyone on the internet your
business...but what you have written here could be interpreted as suggesting
that this company is stupid for "dumping money into me when I have no product,
no team, and no background experience." You are doing this in a post on Hacker
News...which many, many, many people read.

Why are you sharing the exact names of both the company and the startup you
work for? Do you think that some of the people at those companies may not read
Hacker News?

Do yourself a favor and scrub this article of references to who you are
talking about before you ruin this opportunity for yourself. If they believe
you are someone who posts all their business dealings on the internet for
everyone to see, they are not going to want to fund you anymore.

~~~
etcetc
Thanks for the reply. I put up the names in case anyone had experience with
them or was able to find more information on them than I could. I don't know
the parent company very well (hopefully I will soon), but they've given me
much more important information than this that they've told me not to disclose
and I haven't. In hindsight, it was probably better not to include the company
names, but I can't edit my post anymore. Lesson learned.

------
gtirloni
Since you're directly asking for advice: no. Finish school as planned
(earlier? awesome). There will be plenty of opportunities ahead. Don't set
yourself on a path of failure because startups are very risky, these guys have
no experience funding them and it seems like you're a technical guy having
lots of fun (but are you an entrepreneur at heart?). Think about the odds of
"startup being a success, in your perspective" vs "startup failing and I still
haven't finished my studies". Just my 2 cents.

------
JSeymourATL
People invest in individuals they know and trust. So you're Johnny-On-The-Spot
for this deal. No need to drop out of school completely. Try a semester with
an extra light course load. Be upfront, let them know that you'll need some
schedule flexibility. Moving forward, do get your agreement and action plans
buttoned-up on paper. This will increase your odds of success.

