Living with the 'rents and hacking instead of college. Who's with me?

Sylvan,

It's been many years since I was last in a lecture hall (I'm 38) but the value of college and higher education is not in the education you receive from your professors.

It's about the experience you have - the friends you make and the social skills you gain.

These friends and social skills will open doors for you for the rest of your life - both professional and personal. Hell, I know so many people who met their future partners at college/university.

The truth of the matter is that you can easily do both - college and entrepreneurship are not mutually exlusive.

Since you ask, if you are under 20y, college will only take you 3 years to finish and the you will be free from it forever, and you could even start building products while in college like many successful entrepreneurs have done, college will also give you the chance to meet potential lifelong friends, and potential business partners.

If you are based in the US, I do understand the cost of higher education, if you are not based in the US, then just go to college 😬.

I want to add that, if you're determined to go straight to building your business, there are many resources available online to help you learn and grow your skills. Check out websites like Udemy, Skillshare, and Coursera for online courses and tutorials. You can also network with other entrepreneurs through social media or attend networking events to gain insights and advice.
Also, check out these Useful links for College Admission. It's a great compilation of links you might need. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide which path is best for you. Just remember to stay focused, work hard, and never stop learning!

Hi Sylvan,

I think that's a great option! Even if you don't succeed in making money, you'll still become a highly skilled developer, and you can always go back to college in the future if you really need to. Maybe look into funding sources like the Thiel Fellowship and Emergent Ventures. It could also be fun (and cheap!) to travel the world for a year while building. Good luck and have fun! I went to college recently, so happy to discuss more.

Running a business != freedom FWIW. There is a very big difference between building a product and building a business. You are never "free", you only get to choose your boss (whether that be a teacher, a manager, your customers, or a board of directors).

In order to build a business you need to be able to solve a problem that people are willing to pay for. That means understanding the types of problems that people have and the cycles through which they buy. This is very difficult to do if you are trying to build a B2B business, because if you never work for a company it can be difficult to get a sense of how companies work.

College and a job are only slogs if you let them be. Instead, treat everything like an opportunity to learn something new about the world and discover how you can make it better (and charge for that).

There is no right answer here, though I do suggest an adjustment in your outlook.

My wife's a doctor, does that count? 🙃

Experience definitely matters, but there's no better experience than failing. I went the college route (graphic design) and having the bachelor's degree definitely has opened doors for me that never would have been opened. Having that differentiator in this competitive market can make you stand out.

With that being said, I learned squat about designing digital products in school. Actually had to argue with my instructors about my senior thesis being a digital product because they wanted some print-focused stuff. I also learned basically nothing about business from school.

College provided great networking opportunities (connecting with alumni is how I've landed all my full-time jobs so far), a certificate that proves you are dedicated to the career path, and basic foundations for the craft. Those are the biggest benefits to me.

Take the worst-case scenario: You try yourself at indie hacking for four years, but you didn't make a single dollar. In this case, would you still choose the indie hacker route? I never finished college, but I did quit only when I was making considerable amounts of money already.

Entrepreneurship is all about experience. I went to school for entrepreneurship at a top business school and the classes were useless. It was all about the experience that I got that taught me how to 'make it' -- as in, starting my own business, learning necessary skills (like copywriting for instance), how to actually set up an organization, etc.

For me it was helpful to have a couple jobs before going full-time on my own things just so that I could understand the contrast, and to validate the fact that I never want to work for anyone. It was pretty clear cut after working at a job for 6 months. HR even told me that I was too smart for them, lol.

You don't need college to earn your freedom. You do need to educate yourself though, and there's tons of online resources and communities to help with that. Get a mentor, make some friends, try some things together, fail a bunch, and repeat.

This depends enormously upon your level of discipline. How consistently can you actually get yourself to build and launch products?

For a lot of folks, college is when they actually are forced to acquire discipline in order to succeed as a student. If you're already nailing the consistency, then you stand a pretty good chance without going to college.