Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses
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Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses
#2This feels ageist to me. I'm 30 and I am getting the feeling that even though I am more than willing to work 100+ hours a week for my idea, my age condemns me. I'm washed up before I even had the chance to get started. It's important to remember that not everyone starts their business before they can drink legally.
Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses
#3I am seriously lost in terms of innovation. You may give kids money and they'll open up their Lemonade bars but how can you expect innovation without any research? And research without any education?
I can't fathom any kid dropping out and then inventing a satellite? or solve any medical problem? And if they don't innovate then how can they even think of ways of bringing it to the consumers (which is the difficult next step) ?
Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses
#4This feels ageist to me. I'm 30 and I am getting the feeling that even though I am more than willing to work 100+ hours a week for my idea, my age condemns me. I'm washed up before I even had the chance to get started. It's important to remember that not everyone starts their business before they can drink legally.
You don't need funding to get your idea off the ground. If you are 30, you probably have a better credit score than these guys and can more easily get a traditional loan.
Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses
#5The statement about Thiel requiring these kids to 'stop out of college' is slightly disingenuous when many received college degrees before they could legally drive a car. Nevertheless, as a recent college graduate I think this is a fantastic idea, and I'm excited to see how everything turns out.
Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses
#6I am seriously lost in terms of innovation. You may give kids money and they'll open up their Lemonade bars but how can you expect innovation without any research? And research without any education? I can't fathom any kid dropping out and then inventing a satellite? or solve any medical problem? And if they don't innovate then how can they even think of ways of bringing it to the consumers (which is the difficult ne…
All I know is that I certainly did not invent any satellites or solved any medical problems while at university. Instead I tried to collect points in an artificial game system.
Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses
#7Tricky, tricky. Because sometimes you need the training that a degree (or even advanced degree) gives you to come up with certain high tech notions...
Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses
#8[deleted]
Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses
#9I'm with Umair haque on this one when he says our educational institutions need serious reform, first. So how does paying super smart kids to create the same old paradigm change anything?
Re: Peter Thiel Gives Whiz Kids $100K To Quit College, Start Businesses
#10Tricky, tricky. Because sometimes you need the training that a degree (or even advanced degree) gives you to come up with certain high tech notions...
Oftentimes preconceived notions about tech will cloud your vision on implementation. If you are aware of a certain challenge, you will, more often than not, change your design to simplify the challenge. Someone without the experience will not be bound by those limitations and can always figure out how to do it later.
When we look to high profile businessmen, more often then not they do not have the education behind them. Nothing wrong with getting some training, but I'm not sure it is beneficial when it comes to business. There is no evidence that supports it.