Most unicorn founders are graduates of Stanford, Harvard, and the IITs • Hacker News Board

Re: Most unicorn founders are graduates of Stanford, Harvard, and the IITs

#11

Post by mindcrime » Sat, Jul 08, 2017, 6:19 PM UTC

chronic6a5 wrote: post #2

This article will be downvoted because it goes against many peoples mental model that, if you work hard, you can be successful. Well, statistically, Stanford/Harvard/IIT graduates are more likely to be successful. If you go to Berkely or Georgia Tech, good for you, but the Stanford et al. grads are probably better.

This article will be downvoted because it goes against many peoples mental model that, if you work hard, you can be successful.

Only if your mental model includes the idea that the only definition of "success" is "being the founder of a unicorn startup".

Re: Most unicorn founders are graduates of Stanford, Harvard, and the IITs

#12

Post by elmar » Sat, Jul 08, 2017, 6:23 PM UTC

tristanj wrote: post #6

This ordering is bunk because the author makes no attempt to normalize for student population. Larger schools have a massive advantage compared to smaller ones. Compare the University of California and MIT. University of California has 250,000 students and MIT has 11,000. After normalizing the data, MIT produces 1 unicorn per 1,200 yearly enrolled student, while UoC produces 1 unicorn per 13,900 yearly enrolled stude…

Interesting fact, per capita Israelis have founded more billion dollar startups than any other nationality.

Re: Most unicorn founders are graduates of Stanford, Harvard, and the IITs

#13

Post by akhilcacharya » Sat, Jul 08, 2017, 6:27 PM UTC

chronic6a5 wrote: post #2

This article will be downvoted because it goes against many peoples mental model that, if you work hard, you can be successful. Well, statistically, Stanford/Harvard/IIT graduates are more likely to be successful. If you go to Berkely or Georgia Tech, good for you, but the Stanford et al. grads are probably better.

What about us that don't go to top public schools?

Re: Most unicorn founders are graduates of Stanford, Harvard, and the IITs

#14

Post by onetokeoverthe » Sat, Jul 08, 2017, 6:30 PM UTC

Class and wealth pretending to be worthy of merit.

Re: Most unicorn founders are graduates of Stanford, Harvard, and the IITs

#15

Post by ryandrake » Sat, Jul 08, 2017, 6:31 PM UTC

The article stops just short of implying a causal connection between what school you go to and whether you're going to "found a unicorn" but come on! Maybe, just maybe, could it be that this deserves a little deeper look? Perhaps people who have the opportunity to go to one of these top schools have that opportunity because of some other structural advantage that also provides them the opportunity to found a unicorn? Like, maybe, I dunno, existing family wealth and connections? Just a wild guess with no research into it...

Re: Most unicorn founders are graduates of Stanford, Harvard, and the IITs

#16

Post by aphextron » Sat, Jul 08, 2017, 6:36 PM UTC

tristanj wrote: post #6

This ordering is bunk because the author makes no attempt to normalize for student population. Larger schools have a massive advantage compared to smaller ones. Compare the University of California and MIT. University of California has 250,000 students and MIT has 11,000. After normalizing the data, MIT produces 1 unicorn per 1,200 yearly enrolled student, while UoC produces 1 unicorn per 13,900 yearly enrolled stude…

>After normalizing the data, MIT produces 1 unicorn per 1,200 yearly enrolled student, while UoC produces 1 unicorn per 13,900 yearly enrolled student. By this list, MIT students are 10x more likely to found a unicorn compared to UoC students but are ranked lower in this list.

For this to be a fair criticism you would have to look only at the respective Colleges of Engineering for each UC, rather than the undergrad aggregate. MIT is a STEM focused university, with a far narrower list of majors than UC. Naturally that would lead to higher rates overall.

Re: Most unicorn founders are graduates of Stanford, Harvard, and the IITs

#17

Post by api » Sat, Jul 08, 2017, 6:38 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #15

The article stops just short of implying a causal connection between what school you go to and whether you're going to "found a unicorn" but come on! Maybe, just maybe , could it be that this deserves a little deeper look? Perhaps people who have the opportunity to go to one of these top schools have that opportunity because of some other structural advantage that also provides them the opportunity to found a unicorn…

They also likely acquire a lot of amazing connections at those schools.

Re: Most unicorn founders are graduates of Stanford, Harvard, and the IITs

#18

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Jul 08, 2017, 6:43 PM UTC

ryandrake wrote: post #15

The article stops just short of implying a causal connection between what school you go to and whether you're going to "found a unicorn" but come on! Maybe, just maybe , could it be that this deserves a little deeper look? Perhaps people who have the opportunity to go to one of these top schools have that opportunity because of some other structural advantage that also provides them the opportunity to found a unicorn…

[deleted]

Re: Most unicorn founders are graduates of Stanford, Harvard, and the IITs

#19

Post by Spooky23 » Sat, Jul 08, 2017, 6:44 PM UTC

chronic6a5 wrote: post #2

This article will be downvoted because it goes against many peoples mental model that, if you work hard, you can be successful. Well, statistically, Stanford/Harvard/IIT graduates are more likely to be successful. If you go to Berkely or Georgia Tech, good for you, but the Stanford et al. grads are probably better.

No, they are more likely to be founders of Unicorn startups.

That's a very narrow definition of success. It's says more about the the funnel for VC money than anything else.

I went to a state school and my friends and I all have good careers that would be characterized as successful by most measures.

One of the big differences between going to a "random" college and a Stanford/Harvard/IIT is that you don't have that network of connected professors and alumni guiding you into big tech companies. My school had that type of ecosystem with big banks, government and other areas.

Re: Most unicorn founders are graduates of Stanford, Harvard, and the IITs

#20

Post by aphextron » Sat, Jul 08, 2017, 6:46 PM UTC

chronic6a5 wrote: post #2

This article will be downvoted because it goes against many peoples mental model that, if you work hard, you can be successful. Well, statistically, Stanford/Harvard/IIT graduates are more likely to be successful. If you go to Berkely or Georgia Tech, good for you, but the Stanford et al. grads are probably better.

>Well, statistically, Stanford/Harvard/IIT graduates are more likely to be successful. If you go to Berkely or Georgia Tech, good for you, but the Stanford et al. grads are probably better.

A lot of the value in going to Stanford seems simply in being associated with the name Stanford. If you're the kind of person who values form over substance, go there. You'll do really well in life.

I've watched student clubs there get sponsored by Intel and nVidia at the drop of a hat for absolutely nothing more than the opportunity to put their name next to the Stanford logo. The students know this, and take advantage of it too. It's a really weird dynamic. The whole thing just feels fake and gross.