Dropout of College or pursue Startup?
Senior in Highschool, 18. I am currently talking to various Venture Capitalist and investors, I have 1 investor already (angel investor). I am the post-MVP stage of product wise but its super unique and have almost 5 people working on the product itself contracted. We are rebuilding it from scratch with a new tech stack etc. I also have applied to 65 schools, every ivy, stanford, MIT, top 10s,20s,30s. State Schools. Had some top level college interviews and currently have 2 full-rides to state schools. I do not get decisions back until mid march-april. My Estimated Family Contribution is $0 so I used fee waivers and most likely will get full rides if I get in anywhere elite. Investor says I pretty much have to pick whether I want to pursue startup full-time or do school and not try to raise funding for startup. The issue is no Venture Capitalist/investor will invest if I am not committed 100% to building my startup. I have talked gotten warm intros to top level VC's and most of them stated they would invest if I did this full-time meaning no college because of the risk involved from a institutional investor standpoint. I stated to him, I would engage in entrepreneurship programs/open curriculum but I can't really do both or double dip and chances of me getting funding would be low then. Parent's are immigrants and do not approve dropping out but support the gap year idea, I would also be the first person in my family to attend. My thought is I wait until to see where I get into, and try to take a gap year but I do not want to miss out on college and also don't want to decline an offer to a top college, but I still want to pursue startup life. Would love some insight! #tech #startup #teen #highschool #dropout #startupidea #advice #venturecapital TLDR: Work on my startup and get VC funding and raise capital or go to college, do business/entrepreneurship class at some ivy or elite college and work on startup at college or take a gap year and see how shit goes but miss out on college for 1-2 years EDIT: Just found out almost 50% of the colleges I applied to offer gap year + incentives to take a gap year. So just hoping I get into one of these top colleges which offer a gap year + incentive.
You applied to 65 schools? Didn’t read further
College Fee waiver method, low income students who can get a fee waiver shotgun apply to a lot of colleges if they have the statistics to back it up
Apart from money, do you not think it was a waste of time and resources from your side as well as colleges taking time to evaluate your application?
Who is paying the 5 people working on your product?
Angel Investor funded money
Go to college.
Miss out on VC funding, startup life, etc though
What startup life? You will likely be miserable for years, so i.e. no different than school
Why the hell would you rebuild a working MVP with a new tech stack?
We are building the full product now, design, backend,frontend, API, custom engine, everything. Previously it was a shit box put together to see if investors liked the idea. They did so they said to redo it better to actually have it for Open Beta.
College is overrated and it will always be there. If you have a good idea and think you will regret not pursing it right now, then you should 100% do it.
The aspect of the top levels won't however, if I get into MIT or Stanford. I can't really just reject their acceptance and try to get back in years later. But I can take a gap year but then I miss out on 1-2 years of college.
I would define your goals and be real with yourself. What do you want out of college vs what do you want out of your startup? Gap year is probably the best option as it gives you some perceived insurance but if your end goal is to grow a company then just go for it, college can't teach you the practical lessons you will learn from pursing your idea.
Do both. Go to college, side hustle your startup. If it takes off for real and you see real results, then drop out or take a break.
@blind monk The thing is, investors, VC are pretty much ready to commit to hundreds of thousands to fund pre-seed round, but they want me to work on it full-time. Most people I talked to said to take the offer because I can always take the gap year, or go to college but the aspect of VC investments won't be there and its super hard to come by.
Then it seems pretty clear, focus on startup. If the gap year isn't enough time and it all goes down in flames you'll have a great admissions essay if you desire college later on. School isn't going anywhere. Military service or entrepreneurship are very common reasons to delay college and I don't think you'll get any flak over it from admissions years from now.
Impossible to say without details about the opportunity which understandably you can't share ... Although I would take a gap year. My friend postponed his mba to do exactly this
shot you a pm
Fwiw, a top tier VC telling you “they’ll invest if…” is not the same as them investing. Discount accordingly
It’s not that, its pretty much all the VCs I have talked to have suggested and hinted “we want you to work on this full time if we invest” A couple of the rejections go like this “Unfortunately, we are going to pass on your investment opportunity. We are intrigued by your vision Of (startup idea) However, we are unable to invest given you will not be 100% committed to (startup name) as you pursue a college education.
I wished I had dropped out sooner. As soon as I did my career took off
OP is woke AF Using blind in teens