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How Universities Should Prepare Founders

paulgraham.com

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Re: How Universities Should Prepare Founders

#131

Post by palmotea »

watwut wrote: post #96
bix6 wrote: post #61

I don’t necessarily disagree with this but is it the universities job to prepare founders at the expense of everyone else? Under his proposal the motivated founders succeed and everyone else is a loser. This is a very VC focused lens that ignores all the other possible outcomes a human could pursue that are valuable. Established corps need workers, unis need new teachers, hospitals need doctors, etc. So we should let…

> So we should let all those people suffer to promote a small group of founders by reducing course load? Yes, that is pretty much VC enterprenour philosophy in nutshell. It is value system that value only one small group only. And if that small group has to put in effort into learning in school or doing something other then building unicorns, that is a great unfairness.

> Yes, that is pretty much VC enterprenour philosophy in nutshell.

It's time we all admit the VCs are the best people, and we're just worthless in comparison. Anyone with any value at all is an investor or a founder. No one else matters.

That's why neo-reactionary ideology is so profound: it would put those best people in charge, and clear all the useless garbage out of their way.

Re: How Universities Should Prepare Founders

#132

Post by trimethylpurine »

jimnotgym wrote: post #116

I just wondered, what is YCs success rate vs other business or career options? I think universities should focus on academic studies, not as a pipeline to YC.

Universities are doing what they need to do to make money.

That's not applicable to teachers who may often times be doing what they need to do to matter to you (because that's what they genuinely want for themselves).

Re: How Universities Should Prepare Founders

#133

Post by featwanz »

01284a7e wrote: post #30

My university prepared me to be a founder by making me so unemployable that starting a business was my best option.

Giving me whiplash how close to home this hit. Same boat, thought I'd studied the right thing, didn't conduct enough research, now sitting here with a student debt dreaming up a way to get myself out of the hole through self-employment. That and just having the insatiable desire of free-agency and not working for someone else but the driving force is definitely the debt and unemployment lmfao.

Re: How Universities Should Prepare Founders

#134

Post by codemog »

palmotea wrote: post #130
jimnotgym wrote: post #116

I just wondered, what is YCs success rate vs other business or career options? I think universities should focus on academic studies, not as a pipeline to YC.

> I think universities should focus on academic studies, not as a pipeline to YC. No, they should focus on providing investors the resources they want to get richer. Investors are the only people who matter in the world. Academic studies and knowledge are literally a worthless waste of time, compared to the investments of investors.

This. If people became redundant due to AGI this article would be about best preparing the population to be Soylent Green.

Re: How Universities Should Prepare Founders

#135

Post by raegis »

ipnon wrote: post #109
01284a7e wrote: post #30

My university prepared me to be a founder by making me so unemployable that starting a business was my best option.

I don't think there's much value in college anymore outside of as a class signifier, and most schools are signifying that you are not in the right social class.

College is the last and only place most kids (United States) will ever be academically challenged. It would be scary to live in a world where this is not available.

Re: How Universities Should Prepare Founders

#136

Post by bryanhogan »

I really liked my modern Bachelor's called Code & Context, it focussed on creating potential founders.

It combined coding, design and entrepreneurship. I felt like the idea behind this major was being able to go from idea / problem to finished product sold by a company.

The three main fields are very related:

- Coding: How to actually code and build the solution.

- Design: How to identify problems and design solutions around them. So it's actually multiple different fields of design, e.g. including product design and UX and UI design.

- Entrepreneurship: How to actually build and sustain a company around that.

There were many opportunities to work on your own projects. Increasingly so actually by intention (2 weeks to 8 weeks in later semesters). It's also close to many entrepreneurship programs for potential funding for ideas, but also networking and guidance.

I wrote a blog post about it: https://bryanhogan.com/blog/what-is-coco

Their website (in German): https://coco.study/

The university's page on it (in German): https://www.th-koeln.de/studium/code--context-bachelor_62103...

Re: How Universities Should Prepare Founders

#137

Post by ziofill »

palmotea wrote: post #130
jimnotgym wrote: post #116

I just wondered, what is YCs success rate vs other business or career options? I think universities should focus on academic studies, not as a pipeline to YC.

> I think universities should focus on academic studies, not as a pipeline to YC. No, they should focus on providing investors the resources they want to get richer. Investors are the only people who matter in the world. Academic studies and knowledge are literally a worthless waste of time, compared to the investments of investors.

> Academic studies and knowledge are literally a worthless waste of time

Not everything is about money

Re: How Universities Should Prepare Founders

#138

Post by FinnLobsien »

ktallett wrote: post #112
FinnLobsien wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that undermines a lot of benefits of entrepreneurship - the learning of many different skills, network, etc. and also just the adventure of starting a company. It’s like saying most people will never be professional athletes so we should discourage sports. Or most people live in their home country, so we should discourage young people from taking backpacking trips.

We seem to have become a culture where we unrealistically believe we have a solution. The big issue with many who label themselves as entrepreneurs is that often the problem doesn't exist. You end up networking with people who are less aware and also don't recognise that the problem doesn't exist and then motivate you even more. Then you have funders who rarely have expertise so they will believe you when you say it…

I agree that a lot of entrepreneurship is misguided. And I totally agree that research, charity work, or other stuff can have many of the same benefits.

What I think is important (and why I think entrepreneurship is directionally good) is open-ended exploration and taking initiative to pursue one's own projects. I don't care about the specific direction, but about the idea of proactively trying to shape reality by following one's interests.

I think what you're describing with backpacking is true for most. If the point is to check off a list of Instagram picture spots, then it's more of an exercise in consumerism. If it's to deeply engage with other cultures, languages, and people, that's different.

I guess it's similar with entrepreneurship. If the point is to inhabit the founder personality archetype you see on social media, that's different than to be genuinely solving interesting problems.

Re: How Universities Should Prepare Founders

#139

Post by louisbourgault »

palmotea wrote: post #130
jimnotgym wrote: post #116

I just wondered, what is YCs success rate vs other business or career options? I think universities should focus on academic studies, not as a pipeline to YC.

> I think universities should focus on academic studies, not as a pipeline to YC. No, they should focus on providing investors the resources they want to get richer. Investors are the only people who matter in the world. Academic studies and knowledge are literally a worthless waste of time, compared to the investments of investors.

I assume this is satire. I hope it is, at least.

Re: How Universities Should Prepare Founders

#140

Post by Animats »

This reads like a voice from the past. The past where someone coded a web site or an "app" and it turned into a big business. Too many people have explored the web and app spaces, and new ideas that don't need a huge infusion of cash for marketing are very rare.

The AI area is different, in that it's still hard to make things work. There are lots of things to be done, but they're not the quick demos and launches YC used to like.

[1] https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=Winter%202027&ba...

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