Ask HN: Are Startups similar to college admissions?

Next, I wouldn't really draw comparisons between success and failure in starts ups and academic institutions, as success in getting into a school is really arbitrary, where the start up success is not some limited resource decided by a panel of admissions officers. In my experience, as an employee of multiple start up projects and companies, start ups are as much of a lottery game, and I've seen unfair and unjust things happen to other people, and experience them myself.

On a personal note, you will deal with failure, and bad things will happen to you that make you feel bad. This is life. You can give up, or decide to keep pushing forward closer to your goals with minimal delay and resentment. There are a couple of useful philosophies for dealing with this, and I've found Stoicism very helpful for managing these situations. (See Marcus Aurelius's Mediations for a good intro [2]).

[1] https://studentsforfairadmissions.org/sffa-files-motion-for-... [2] http://seinfeld.co/library/meditations.pdf

If your goal is to do the first, then luck will play a large role. That's why VCs have portfolios of companies. It's nearly impossible to make predictions about which startups succeed, but if one of their companies does, they win (note that they don't care if it's your company or not). As a result, VCs push their companies and founders towards making risky bets. Those bets involve a large amount of uncertainty and randomness. You either win big, or you lose.

If your goal is to build a profitable business not focused on exponential growth or VC-sized returns, then luck plays a smaller role. That's because you are not forced to make those large risky bets. You can take more calculated risks with slower growth while focusing on profitability. If you win, you are not going to win as big as in the first case, but your chance of winning in some way is higher. Of course, there is always uncertainty in life.

Note that I've focused on financial returns, which may not be what you (should) care about. For example, your chance to fail is high in the first case, but you since you are involved with more "successful" people you will likely learn and build a network along the way that can set up you for future success. You are more likely to "succeed" in the second case, but you may not build much of a network or stretch yourself. Similar arguments in the other direction can be made for mental health or stress levels.

I recommend reading "Fooled By Randomess" [1] on the topic of chance

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Fooled-Randomness-Hidden-Chance-Marke...

As someone who has exited multiple startups let me tell you first hand that startups are what you make them out to be. The success of a startup however, while there are some large factors that are outside of your control, is mostly a function of how hard working and smart you are. You need to make the right decisions and work hard for a long time toward a vision that you believe in. Meanwhile being a student requires you to be somewhat good at bullshitting and maintaining a body temperature somewhere in the 30s (and for the students out there, dont get butt-hurt by this comment, it´s literally true).

That said, you have to understand that startups are not for everyone. The best advice I can give you is to go out and work for a startup for a year or two and gain some experience. Additionally get close to the CEO and have him mentor you until you understand what it takes to run a company of that size. You might find that running the show isn't really for you, and there is no shame in that. Meanwhile, save all the cash you can because you will need every dollar once you eventually start your own thing if you decide to do so. It may take months or years until the money makes it in so you want to save up as much as possible and use those savings when the time is right.