Startup or College?

The Thiel Foundation provides $100,000 to 30 fellows who agree to skip college for the two years of the program. Billionaire Peter Thiel is giving these kids 100,000$ each to drop out college and make a startup. One of them is Jihad Kawas a 17 years old from Beirut , Lebanon (my city).

full article here and the press release of thiel foundation

So imagine if you were under 18 (unless you are) and you got this opportunity from the billionaire the co-founder of PayPal , what would you choose? take the 100,000$ and build a startup or reject the offer and continue to college? It is a tough question indeed

It seems like a lot of money, but it doesn't guarantee a great product. There are lots of rich investors who will give tonnes of money and say "Grow! Hire people! Spend money fast! Look like a big thing so I can sell you!", but they are investing in many different companies at once because they know most will fail.

They look for random success that pays back millions, but don't really care about the people they are investing in. If you need more funds, they will sometimes give you more chances and funding in exchange for more ownership % of your company, but again they just want quick returns most of the time.

You could do both (startup now, college after), but college in general might be the better option.

May be start up is good. We can learn anytime.

I would go to school considering how the life is here. Without an education - often regardless of experience - it is very hard to get a job. I would rather come up with an idea, make a proper plan and start up while in college.

i will take the 100,000$ and build a startup if i believe 100% it's will be success.

You will have so much time on your hands at college... do a start up whilst studying "business".

The majority of college students... party, party, party. Then cram before the exams.

Spend time building a startup, you can bootstrap it. Some of the best business started with the founders still in college. They dropped out once the business became successful.

Without reading any other comments, Startup. Self learning is forever more valuable than college or especially school. Just from my own life experience, school was basically nightmare-land, and college at least I was surrounded by people who were interested in the same stuff, so I was able to "network"/drink beers with friends. Everything I value most in my life has been self taught/Self learned. I want to know something, I find out how to do it.

This is just one persons opinion, but I plan to homeschooling my mini human if I get the chance. I mean, why would I want to force them through the most traumatic experience of their lives, barely learn anything, in that barely anything, its hardly stuff you want to learn. I mean, how long do teachers take attendance for? at least in HS, Ill say 4-5 minutes, they have 40-45 minute class periods, all likely different depending on the school, so the teacher has 40 minutes to teach their lesson. hopefully there's no announcements during that time, hopefully none of the kids need to be reprimanded often, then do this 10-12 times a day. Then god forbid your ever under the shoe of a bully, administration or student. From my experience, they really do nothing, and why would I want to subject myself willingly to that torment? Its pretty much slightly controlled anarchy at best. How are we expecting kids to really focus on anything if the system itself focuses on nothing. That is how I felt throughout my entire schooling until college, where I choose to go there for something I wanted to do.

Bit of a rant there... so tl;dr I think school sucks, rather make money now, which is the point of capitalism, right?

I'm currently at University, but at the same time run my own company on the side. Although I can easily tell you that I learn more valuable experiences from my startup than I do at University, I do believe that University is still important. After all, most of us will end up, at some point, relying on our education.

In Denmark, many companies won't even consider hiring you if you don't have a Masters' degree from a University.

With that said, of course, if you can build enough experience and knowledge from your startup, you may still be able to get a great job - even if your startup fails. But what I learn at University is a way of looking at the world. It's a way of observing the world, human interaction, and communication (I study marketing and management communication).

So what would I do? Well, I'd take the money and go for it. After all, I can always get back to school after a couple of years if the startup fails. It doesn't mean I don't think school is important, it just means that I believe in taking the chance when an opportunity arises!

A college degree is by no means a guarantee of success as an employee or entrepreneur. To make it as an entrepreneur, you need drive, determination and a true passion for what you’re doing. With those qualities, just about anyone with the money it takes to attend college and four years to work on a business could make amazing things happen. Just look at me. I didn't go to college and during that time I managed to buy and sell two businesses, each for a considerable profit. So rather than winding up jobless with a mountain of debt, I was ahead of the game.

But before you conclude that I’m set against college, hold on. There are some very good reasons for a would-be entrepreneur to pursue higher learning. For one thing, the value of networking during school cannot be denied. Graduates who have gone on to be successful entrepreneurs often credit their time in college with helping them make incredible connections. Some found business partners, while others made friends with people who were able to help them with their entrepreneurial ventures in other ways.