I am a college student, and recently I've been rather disenchanted by academia. For years I have collected and combined various ideas, and I am to the point with one where I feel confident that I could start a successful startup around the idea. The problem is that I do not yet have a college degree. What benefits would I have with staying behind and putting the idea on the backburner until I get my degree? While it might be more difficult to do so without a degree, should I attempt to find venture capital and see where that takes me if it becomes available? I really have no other reason to finish the degree, and I feel like my time in college has, for the most part, been a waste of time. However, if in the long term I end up needing the degree, I can always come back and finish. Thus, I see no reason to wait to work on my idea---can anyone else?
Ask HN: Leaving college to work on a startup?
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Re: Ask HN: Leaving college to work on a startup?
#2"if it becomes available" I would pursue my passion. In the meantime, I would stick with what I have - rather than risk something I do not.
Re: Ask HN: Leaving college to work on a startup?
#3I don't see why you can't just work on your idea while in college. Would be far better than dropping out while there's nothing to show for it.
Re: Ask HN: Leaving college to work on a startup?
#4[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Leaving college to work on a startup?
#5I am in a similar situation (20 years old, semi-dropping out to start a company.) Here's my advice/what I'm doing:
1) Don't drop out entirely. Being a part time student allows you to still access most of the university resources. Many of these can be very valuable.
2) Don't drop out to work on your project. Start planning what you're doing, begin to work on it, show it to people, and then drop out once it looks promising.
It's tempting to drop out right away, but if you have no plan, no skills, and no money, it's a recipe for disaster. It's also expensive; paying the rent and food is no fun and occupies my mind too often.
Re: Ask HN: Leaving college to work on a startup?
#6As someone who has been in a similar situation, think honestly about why you are disenchanted. Is it because you are taking required classes that don't interest you at the moment and the homework/projects seem like tedious busy work? Is it because you think your degree will be a piece of paper leading to a 9-to-5 in a cubicle, if you're lucky? Or is it because you're driven to work on a project that you hack away day and night on, and class seems like an annoyance that gets in the way?
If it's the latter, and you have a promising opportunity to roll into right away, then there's reason to think hard about your options. Otherwise I'd highly recommend you stick it out and get the degree.
Re: Ask HN: Leaving college to work on a startup?
#7I see no reason for you to wait to work on your idea, regardless of whether or not you’re in college. Is there anything about your idea that would require you to raise capital and only focus your attention on it? If not, I’d recommend starting the work now and wait until you get to the point where you need to take time off from school to further your startup.
I worked on my startup while in college, and continued to do so for a couple of years. When I didn’t have enough time in the day to give my startup the attention it needed, I took educational leave from school and focused on it. Now, after a year sabbatical, I’m back in school and my startup is profitable. I’d suggest doing the same once your startup looks promising.
Re: Ask HN: Leaving college to work on a startup?
#8That's awesome that you've come across an idea that excites you. However, I'd advise against leaving college. Before I get into why, I just wanted to mention that I totally know where you're coming from, as I graduated from college relatively recently with a degree that has very little to do with tech, and I definitely related to that feeling of disenchantment
1. Regardless of whether or not your startup works out, it's likely that you'll apply to/work for someone else's company one day (even if it's briefly). While there is this growing notion that one doesn't need a college degree to qualify for a position, it's not widely adopted yet and I wouldn't count on it being widely adopted in the near future. With that said, taking a leave from college and going back a year later would be an absolute bummer. If you're disenchanted now, you'd be 10X as much once you're back there, because all your peers will have graduated.
2. Even if what you're learning doesn't interest you, the experience of college is an education in of itself - in both discipline and the social world.
Regarding discipline, we can work all we want at our startups, but if we really need to take a day off then we probably can. There's no one to answer to other than ourselves. If there's a midterm on Monday, and the world is crashing down the week before, you're still going to have to take that midterm. Even if you're not into what you're learning, forcing yourself to do work you don't want to is important, and is a skill that will be necessary no matter what company you start.
Regarding the social world, the college experience is pretty key in helping you find yourself and shape yourself as a person. Right now you're a part of a journey, but if you came back a couple years later it will definitely feel different.
3. As another commenter mentioned, start the idea while you're in college without taking a leave. Ideas are merely hypotheses. Wait until your hypothesis is validated through user adoption/etc. before you consider leaving school.
4. Worst comes to worst, if you don't get to execute the idea because of college, just trust that you're going to have another killer idea. I'm sure you're intelligent and you're clearly ambitious. Ideas might have life-spans but your creativity won't.
5. Standing up on graduation day after pulling through 4 years straight is an incredible feeling, and I'm sure I speak for many of us when I say that it's a day where you're just really proud of yourself for pulling through. Unless you have a totally horrendous experience, it'll feel worth it on graduation day.
With that said, I wish I majored in CS in college and sat in on more psychology lectures :)
Re: Ask HN: Leaving college to work on a startup?
#9Go ahead and start working on your idea. Recruit other students to help you. Put together prototype and a team. Try pitching investors. Try pitching potential customers. See what happens.
You will only get a conflict if working on your startup starts interfering with getting your degree. It doesn't appear that has happened yet.
Everybody has ideas. If you really want to start a company, start making it happen.
Re: Ask HN: Leaving college to work on a startup?
#10I graduated, but made the mistake of not starting a project whilst at college. If you start now, you could have something to work on after college - with a degree in hand too.
If it becomes too much, you'll then have to choose one over the other.