I wish the question was:
Any traction yet?
rather than:
Any revenue yet?
Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?
11–20 of 69 posts
Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?
#12I believe the title is wrong. Virtually none of the applicants were "dropouts," although some were accepted to prestigious colleges and decided not to go. The program was envisioned as an alternative to college, and most applicants were pre-entry.
If that's true, the "College thing he doesn't miss:" detail is also highly misleading, since it too implies they used to be in college.
If you look at the bios of the kids, a bunch of them already had degrees and were in higher level university programs before they entered Thiel's program.
Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?
#13Three opposing view points concerning the same subject on Quora: Positive: http://www.quora.com/Peter-Thiel/What-were-the-results-of-th... Negative: http://www.quora.com/Peter-Thiel/What-were-the-results-of-th... Off topic: http://www.quora.com/Peter-Thiel/What-were-the-results-of-th... Full Question/Answers can be found here: http://www.quora.com/Peter-Thiel/What-were-the-results-of-th...
tl;dr: Neg: Exhaustive review of individuals showing that nothing of value (except riding on existing trends) can be shown from any applicant, except potentially in the case of the Solar Energy startup, in which money was used to hire PhDs with actual domain knowledge. Pos: Saying that everything great is under NDA and that the solar energy stuff is cool, that the youngin' in question has impressed PhDs enough that t…
Very nice. I only have one question for you - what do you think is more reasonable - or are you reserving your judgement? Pos/Neg/Neutral?
Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?
#14Earlier quoted context omitted.
If that's true, the "College thing he doesn't miss:" detail is also highly misleading, since it too implies they used to be in college.
If you look at the bios of the kids, a bunch of them already had degrees and were in higher level university programs before they entered Thiel's program.
What is "a bunch" ? 30% ? I still don't think it makes sense to refer to them as dropouts unless over 50% were enrolled in a college at the time of application and left a higher-degree program in order to do the program.
Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?
#15I kind of crashed the awards ceremony where they introduced all the fellows and I ended up meeting a bunch of them.
I was surprised how many were straight out of high school (no college). They generally struck me as bright but immature (not in an obnoxious way--more in a "what do you expect, they're 17!" kind of way.) Most of the businesses didn't strike me as businesses so much as super ambitious senior projects.
I really do agree with the general idea behind the program--college is a ripoff because you can learn the same stuff and build a strong network without going. I think the program's aims might have been better served by having these kids work for a startup (maybe one of thiels?) with an investment guarantee after 3-5 years or something.
Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you look at the bios of the kids, a bunch of them already had degrees and were in higher level university programs before they entered Thiel's program.
What is "a bunch" ? 30% ? I still don't think it makes sense to refer to them as dropouts unless over 50% were enrolled in a college at the time of application and left a higher-degree program in order to do the program.
Sorry if I wasn't clear. I wasn't saying this is why we can call them dropouts. I was trying to say here's more reason why they shouldn't be considered dropouts. And specifically, I was adding to the refutation for the "college he didn't miss thing".
Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
tl;dr: Neg: Exhaustive review of individuals showing that nothing of value (except riding on existing trends) can be shown from any applicant, except potentially in the case of the Solar Energy startup, in which money was used to hire PhDs with actual domain knowledge. Pos: Saying that everything great is under NDA and that the solar energy stuff is cool, that the youngin' in question has impressed PhDs enough that t…
Very nice. I only have one question for you - what do you think is more reasonable - or are you reserving your judgement? Pos/Neg/Neutral?
I think the "Pos" side should be discounted as it is obviously Thiel centered PR from an employee. I think the "Neg" side should be the default, since one should not presume value until value is demonstrated. That we are still in a sense "early stage" indicates that we don't have a full picture yet and so shouldn't presume that we do.
I have mixed feelings about the program in general. Entrepreneurship programs maybe useful for promoting excited entrepreneurs, but by no means are an adequate replacement for researchers or higher ed in general. In many of these cases, the entire premise is hogwash. Technical innovation comes from depth in a subject area, and you actually have to study something before you can innovate in the context of it.
This is most obvious in the case of the Uncollege movement -- the person and movement are exceedingly shallow and provide nothing of value except as a publicist for other trends in online education. I'd hate to think that his applies across the board, but suspect that it is more true than not.
Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Very nice. I only have one question for you - what do you think is more reasonable - or are you reserving your judgement? Pos/Neg/Neutral?
I think the "Pos" side should be discounted as it is obviously Thiel centered PR from an employee. I think the "Neg" side should be the default, since one should not presume value until value is demonstrated. That we are still in a sense "early stage" indicates that we don't have a full picture yet and so shouldn't presume that we do. I have mixed feelings about the program in general. Entrepreneurship programs maybe…
> since one should not presume value until value is demonstrated. That we are still in a sense "early stage" indicates that we don't have a full picture yet and so shouldn't presume that we do.
Couldn't agree more. Until evidence is confirmed by multiple neutral third parties the negative (random) hypothesis holds precedence until such a time as evidence falsifies it. No presumption - merely rational scepticism there.
> I have mixed feelings about the program in general. Entrepreneurship programs maybe useful for promoting excited entrepreneurs, but by no means are an adequate replacement for researchers or higher ed in general. In many of these cases, the entire premise is hogwash. Technical innovation comes from depth in a subject area, and you actually have to study something before you can innovate in the context of it.
You perfectly illustrate the problem with one minded thought (as in capitalism > socialism || libertarianism > socialism).
As usual a rationally weighted mix is usually best under complex situations.
Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?
#19It'd be interesting to consider the whole income statement of each individual, rather than just the annual revenue, which no longer has the $35K per year expense of college, while still gaining a significant education.
Re: Peter Thiel's College Dropouts: How's That Working Out?
#20Anyone else find it funny that 2 of the 5 are working on education related projects?