Entrepreneurship and Academia - Mutually Exclusive? | Small business news; tips; networking

Posted by ethan under Startups
From http://thestartupist.com 5513 days ago

Many business forums and entrepreneurship focused blogs tend to focus on the super-successful entrepreneurs who have hit the jackpot, yet have never graduated college. Such posts are inspiring, but are often poorly researched and rationalized.

What many people fail to realize is that the value of the entrepreneur's knowledge was greater than the value of the education they were currently pursuing. One needs to look no further than Harvard dropouts Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg for proof.

Who Voted for this Story

ethan

Top BizSugar Users

This week's most active BizSugar users. Join Them!

Comments

Written by ShawnHessinger
5513 days ago

Agree with everything said above. In the end, I believe every decision should be made with clear purposes in mind not because other successful people took a similar path. Your path must be your own and well considered. No one can imitate success. Each individual must take a course best for them.

- 0 +

Written by ethan
5514 days ago

Shawn - Steve Jobs is definitely another one to add to the list. The point is that these guys didn't just drop out because they hated it, they dropped out because it created a bigger and better opportunity than education would have at that point.

Many of these people also see the value in education, and as a result give back in the form of endowments and gifts to institutions in an effort to train and educate the next generation of innovators.

Thanks for the feedback Shawn!

- 0 +

Written by ShawnHessinger
5514 days ago

Another well-known name we could add to the list is Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, who dropped out of a college the name of which I can't recall at the moment. However, as Steve said in an address to Stanford University graduates he did continue to take some classes, including one in typography which he credits with inspiring Apple's multiple fonts. The point is, for every example like this there are places like Montana State University at Bozeman whose well-known technology programs have made Bozeman and surrounding parts of rural Montana an unlikely hotbed for high tech startups.

- 1 +