There has been a clear cultural shift over the last forty or so years. The introduction of the personal computer brought about two uniquely sensational entrepreneurs that captured the world’s attention: Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. The two are seen as the eccentric techies that changed the startup game forever. Movies, interviews, books -- you name it, they have it. The drive that the two mavericks possessed for transforming the computing world ignited a wave of technology entrepreneurship that has continued to grow bigger every year. Since these two entrepreneurs built tech empires out of garage offices, entrepreneurialism has become the rock stardom.
When Entrepreneurship Became Sexy
Steve Jobs is one of the most sensationalized people in history. Whether you love him or hate him, thousands of young, hungry entrepreneurs put him as their role model in their college applications. The idea that entrepreneurship is sexy is more prevalent than ever among college students. Movies like The Social Network made it the “cool thing” to drop out and start your own company. Now this trend has inspired its own subculture, with TV shows like Silicon Valley and Startup U. While Silicon Valley creates a fictional satire of young tech entrepreneurs, Startup U is essentially the college entrepreneur version of the Jersey Shore. The ideas and valuations on that show are so ludicrous, it’s actually laughable.
The Image of the College Drop Out
In America today, there are over 34 million college dropouts. Each one of them is 71% more likely to be unemployed than college graduates. Yet, out of the top 500 companies, 63 of them were started by college dropouts. It certainly helps that young entrepreneurs don’t share the responsibilities or financial obligations of their elders. And what does college really do for entrepreneurs? Gary Vaynerchuk opened his talk to USC entrepreneurship students with “I fully, fully, 100,000%, with no hedge do not believe you can teach entrepreneurship. So that’s awkward.” Considering the cost of college, it’s easy to see the appeal for entrepreneurs to drop out.
The issue with the sensationalization of the college dropout is we have created the appearance as an easy, fast route to wealth, or a requisite to entrepreneurial success. Ask any founder about their first months or years as a founder, and you'll hear a plethora of long winded stories about the struggles as a startup. Starting a company will take every ounce of drive in your body. The college dropouts that will be successful are those who want to spend every waking second on their startup, not their couch. The idea that anyone can go through a program like Startup U and be a successful entrepreneur simply isn’t accurate.
Are You The Exception?
Entrepreneurship isn’t meant for the light hearted. It takes a true hustler to create and operate a successful company. Dropping out of college may be the best option for some entrepreneurs, but this is usually only the case when the side business is starting to take over all your time and curious energy. But for others, it might be a great idea to start the company while keeping your status as a student. As we learned at StartupGrind Boise, venture capitalists like student entrepreneurs for their access to resources. Incubators and accelerators like Blackstone LaunchPad and USC’s Lava Lab can be major advantages to student founded companies. College is one of, if not the, best time to create a new company. But it needn't be mutually exclusive.