The exception that proves the rule. I think that nearly anyone who sets out to follow Steve Jobs's career path is likely to end up pretty disappointed in the results. Steve was one of a kind.
The lesson we should have been learning from Steve is to follow your own path. Trying to emulate Steve Jobs in spite of your own gut feeling is no better than going to college in spite of your gut. You're not apt to find success doing either.
There is nothing wrong with going to college, but you shouldn't be going because you are following someone else's plan, you need to be there because you know it is the right thing to do for yourself. Bottom line: Don't worry about what other people are doing.
What rule, that you should only drop out of college if you are working on a startup that looks like it could be incredibly successful? I don't think that is a great rule for everybody. Each individual has to look at the path that is correct for them.
Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone are other examples of college dropouts who left not to start startups and then became successful entrepreneurs. Matt Cohler left college for two years, working for a startup in China and playing in a band, before finishing up his college degree.
Each individual has to choose the path that is right for them. Every incredibly successful person is an outlier. You can learn from them but you can't just copy them
It absolutely isn't a great rule for everybody. But it's a pretty good baseline rule if you know that your goal is to found a successful startup. There are lots of other goals that someone might have, and working in China and playing in a band sounds like a pretty awesome thing to do. For that matter, getting a job at a great company and getting paid a great salary can also be a pretty awesome thing to do. But if what you want most is to start a successful startup, there do seem to be some paths that are more likely to result in success than others.
> Every incredibly successful person is an outlier.
This is true. But the whole premise of YC and other startup incubators is that there are things you can do to significantly increase your odds of being successful if what you want to do is to found a startup.
Your chance of becoming Larry Page, Bill Gates, or Mark Zuckerberg is incredibly small. But your chance of founding a startup with some degree of success will be better.
Comments
Steve Jobs would be the notable exception to this, he dropped out well before creating Apple
The exception that proves the rule. I think that nearly anyone who sets out to follow Steve Jobs's career path is likely to end up pretty disappointed in the results. Steve was one of a kind.
The lesson we should have been learning from Steve is to follow your own path. Trying to emulate Steve Jobs in spite of your own gut feeling is no better than going to college in spite of your gut. You're not apt to find success doing either.
There is nothing wrong with going to college, but you shouldn't be going because you are following someone else's plan, you need to be there because you know it is the right thing to do for yourself. Bottom line: Don't worry about what other people are doing.
What rule, that you should only drop out of college if you are working on a startup that looks like it could be incredibly successful? I don't think that is a great rule for everybody. Each individual has to look at the path that is correct for them.
Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone are other examples of college dropouts who left not to start startups and then became successful entrepreneurs. Matt Cohler left college for two years, working for a startup in China and playing in a band, before finishing up his college degree.
Each individual has to choose the path that is right for them. Every incredibly successful person is an outlier. You can learn from them but you can't just copy them
It absolutely isn't a great rule for everybody. But it's a pretty good baseline rule if you know that your goal is to found a successful startup. There are lots of other goals that someone might have, and working in China and playing in a band sounds like a pretty awesome thing to do. For that matter, getting a job at a great company and getting paid a great salary can also be a pretty awesome thing to do. But if what you want most is to start a successful startup, there do seem to be some paths that are more likely to result in success than others.
> Every incredibly successful person is an outlier.
This is true. But the whole premise of YC and other startup incubators is that there are things you can do to significantly increase your odds of being successful if what you want to do is to found a startup.
Your chance of becoming Larry Page, Bill Gates, or Mark Zuckerberg is incredibly small. But your chance of founding a startup with some degree of success will be better.
Steve had Woz.