
Still in college? Is it a good idea to take time off to pursue a startup? - omarish

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vlad
This is one question only you can answer. In my opinion, if you have to ask,
then you should stay in school for the time being.

In "A Student's Guide to Startups," Paul Graham writes:

"...Our official policy now is only to fund undergrads we can't talk out of
[leaving college]. And frankly, if you're not certain, you should wait. It's
not as if all the opportunities to start companies are going to be gone if you
don't do it now."

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Todd
The short answer: no.

It becomes diminishingly difficult to go back to school as you get older. The
same applies for doing a startup, unfortunately. The difference is that you
can generate income while building a startup. It's more difficult to get
investors to pay you to go to college. Thus, finish.

To make your task easier, here's my rule-of-thumb formula for determining the
difficulty level for finishing college or creating a startup:

(log(m+1) + w^2 + c + s) x log(y+1), where m is any mortgage, in dollars, w is
the number of wives, c is the number of children, s is yourself, and y is your
age, in years.

To give you an idea: the average 20 year old has a difficulty factor of about
1.3. A 30 year old with a family and a mortgage is about 6 and a 40 year old
in the same boat is about 15. YMMV.

Good luck.

~~~
python_kiss
^haha, who came up with that ingenious formula? I would put number of wives
and children as an exponent, e^(w + c) :p

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jsjenkins168
I realize everyone's situation is different, but I would strongly discourage
leaving school early (or at least as an undergrad). In the big scheme of
things I think it is too important of a milestone to throw away. There is more
to life than becoming rich as soon as possible... While I benefited most from
my CS classes, I also learned a great deal from non-major classes. I really
think many of them have made me a more well rounded person. In addition, I
learned a great deal about social situations and self confidence that I
probably would have missed out on had I quit early. These are life lessons you
don't get from writing code.

In fact, I'm glad I got a job right after school. I've only been working for 6
months and I'm definitely ready to leave and start my own company, but I've
learned quite a few invaluable things. I think when you've actually "seen" the
working life it drives you even harder to build a startup. It focuses your
drive. Again, everyone is different, just my personal advice... "Be cool, stay
in school"

BTW, statistically an extended "leave of absence" has a very low probability
of turning into a degree. It was said but as you get older it becomes harder
and harder to go back to school... Something to keep in mind I guess.

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nostrademons
This is a hard question. I considered dropping out multiple times in college,
but ended up sticking it out and getting my degree. I'm still not sure if it
was the right choice, but it seems to be working out so far. Anyways, I have
no answers, but I have some observations.

One of my main fears in college was that I would graduate, take a soul-
crushing job, and then lose all desire to start a startup. This hasn't
happened. I still want a successful startup just as much as I did in college,
or maybe even more. You're not going to stop wanting what you've always wanted
just because you have a degree, a job, money, and options.

OTOH, having a job and an income fucks with your perceptions a little. I was
lucky (smart?) and didn't change my spending habits; over the past year and a
half that I've been working, I banked close to 90% of my take-home pay. Even
though I'm financially much more secure than I was coming out of college, it
feels much more precarious - I've gotten used to having a certain amount of
money coming in each month. Quitting my day job wouldn't be an issue if I
didn't have a day job.

Don't underestimate the experience you'll learn on the job. I feel like I've
benefited significantly from working in somebody else's startup for a year and
a half before trying my own. It also creates a sense of momentum and gets your
brain in gear; you'll need all the focus you can have when starting your
startup.

Don't overestimate the book learning you'll get in college. Honestly, I don't
think a single thing I learned in the classroom has helped me with my startup.

OTOH, a lot of college learning occurs _outside_ the classroom. My impossible
quest to complete a computer science major in one semester while the
department would not let me declare one turned out to be _exactly_ what
startup life is all about. There will be many moments when you have to work
like hell for what feels like zero payoff. It's a good experience to really
fuck up and then recover from it, because you do that a lot with startups. If
you skip the recovery part in college, how do you know you'll be able to do it
with your startup?

Also, I met my cofounders in college. Had I left after freshman year, I would
never have known them. Had I left later, I probably wouldn't have kept in
touch.

Probably the biggest factor in my decision not to leave is that I didn't have
a clear idea what I would do instead. That's probably the biggest determinant:
if you know _exactly_ what you'll be working on instead (like Michael Dell,
Bill Gates, or Mark Zuckerberg) do that instead. If you don't, stay in school,
because you'll probably end up doing nothing instead, and nothing isn't a
particularly good teacher.

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python_kiss
"If you do have to leave grad school, in the worst case it won't be for too
long. If a startup fails, it will probably fail quickly enough that you can
return to academic life. And if it succeeds, you may find you no longer have
such a burning desire to be an assistant professor." - How to Start a Startup

That article basically made me question the premise of continuing on with my
Electrical Engineering degree. During school, I was fascinated by social
networks and dividents of collective capability and genius; so I dropped out
of school to learn new web programming languages, marketing and business.
Then, a few months ago, I finally let my social network out to the public. It
was, and continues to be, a thrilling experience.

At this age, we have less responsibilities and a more flexible timetable than
we may ever have again. I say leave college; if your startup fails, you can
always go back.

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omarish
I'm still a freshman at university. Is taking time off to pursue a startup a
good idea? If somebody has a certain amount of dedication, it's possible to
leave school, succeed in a startup, come back to school and graduate. What's
holding us back?

~~~
Sam_Odio
I regretted not taking a year off from school. I think the timing depends more
on the stage of your business, rather than when you're graduating.

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patryn20
It depends on your mindset. I had fully intended to complete my undergrad
while working part-time and then create a startup or pursue a masters.

Instead, my health forced me to drop one of my activities, and it ended up
being my schooling. It was stressful, but at this point I am glad I chose to
drop my college courses. I would not have gained the experience I have now and
my income and work history would have remained relatively stagnant. I would
potentially have been forced to move back to the country and live with my
parents while I re-gained my health. I would have never worked with the people
I worked with and learned about running a company this early in life if I had
completed school first.

In the end, it worked to my advantage. In my case, I realized that a degree is
something you can get at any time (I still fully intend to complete my CS
degree in the future). Work experience and opportunities are harder to come
by. For someone else, college (especially a prestigious school) may provide
the opportunities I had to look outside for. It all depends on your mindset,
your social skills, your location, and your technical/business skills.

In short: no one can really answer this for you. You need to consider your
goals, your current opportunities, and the opportunities your current course
of action may present to you in the future.

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dmnd
I made this decision about two weeks ago: in my final year of an
engineering/computer science double degree, I've decided to take a leave of
absence and pursue some of the web startup ideas I have.

The decision was made when I saw other people successfully implementing ideas
that I was trying to get done in my spare time. I still feel a bit reckless
because I don't have _the_ idea, just a lot of smaller potential ones, but the
absolute worst thing that can happen is that I graduate one year later.

Lots of people told me that I should be careful that I don't throw away my
degrees, but I can only see that happening in two ways: (a) I am wildly
successful, in which case the degrees won't matter; or (b) I think that I'm on
the verge of significant success right when the time comes to go back to uni.
The latter is probably the most dangerous part of taking this path, so be sure
that you can make a rational decision if (b) does happen.

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danielha
I spoke to numerous YC alumni about this and they all offered valuable
feedback. My takeaway was the same conclusion I always had: it's worth it. I
already know what I want to do, and I have no problem leaving school to work
on this full-time. This is not right for everybody (or even most), but I can
talk forever about why it's right for me.

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volida
You should realize a few things first and weight them: 1\. your wants 2\. if
you are satisfied or not, if you feel not doing what you love or depressed or
pressed 3\. your determination, be ready to fail and few other questions PG
pointed out in his speech.

Thus examine if pursuaing through a break a startup could fulfil what is
missing from your life, and if its worth it contrary to what you may miss if
you didn't take time off.

It can be both an easy and a very difficult decision. And you shouldn't let
anyone affect you, because remember most people of your surrounding are not
aware and cannot think the same way you do, no matter how close they are to
you.

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BitGeek
Where will you learn more?

Four years of college will teach you some things. Four years of starting a
business will teach you more.

Given a 22 year old applicatant for a job, I will take the one who never went
to college and started a business over the newly minted degree, generally.

There is a third path-- drop out to join a startup that's just gotten funded.
You learn a lot, reduce risk of not geting your idea off the ground after you
drop out, and you will earn money rather than increase your debt burden.

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joshuaHatfield
I left school due to money problems. As much as I want to go back, I won't be
able to for another couple of years.

So, going to school is the number one priority in my opinion.

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johnm
You can also be crazy and do both school and a startup at the same time. Not
that I would recommend that option. :-)

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wish
its just ur life journey ! its up to you if to take a bus or a train!

Good idea or not is depended on who u ask! Important is what wd u like to do
now!

