Ask HN: I'm 17. Should I drop school for YC S12?
I don't think I would drop it, because I ultimately intend to go in computer science at Stanford. Therefore, I would have to leave the Bay Area at the end of August in order to move back in Quebec and stay there during the year and come back in the summer when I'm finish my program.
I would still have time to work on my startup during the year, but at a much lower pace (2-3 hours each night and 8-12 hours on weekends). The other guy on my team (he's 17 too) is in a much less intensive program then me and he could continue working almost full-time on the startup.
Yet, if you guys tell me that I would absolutely need to continue working full-time on my startup, I will consider dropping school more seriously. It would be hard for me, but if it's really necessary I could do it. The thing is, the program I'm currently in, International Baccalaureate, is a program that I must complete in two years. The special thing about this program is that we are the same group for every class (we started 40 now we're 28). If I drop/fail a course, I'm out. And I then need to go in regular science. If ever I were to be selected for YC, the choice would be quite hard as I said, because I really enjoy my program, I'm fond of the other students and I appreciate the teachers a lot. And I also fear that I won't go back to school if I enter the startup world.
At least, I'd like to finish my program and then maybe take a break from school to focus on my startup. My program requires a lot of effort, it's considerably more challenging than regular science, and I just don't see myself dropping it when I'll be halfway through it, but still there's a lot of chance I would - it's 50/50. I'm constantly debating in my head whether I should drop or stay, but I guess I'll wait to see if I'm selected for YC to make a final decision. Ultimately, I feel I would drop my program, because YC is such an amazing opportunity and also because I have a very good co-founder who is a long-time friend of mine. He would definitely succeed in convincing me :P
Moreover, I'm the only one writing code. My co-founder (who's currently studying in Business Management) will be working on the marketing (posting on the blog, making videos showcasing the app, posters in schools and other places, talking with other companies so that they use our app, etc.) I also have a graphic designer that will not be directly involve in the startup but that will do my logo and help me design icons, textures, etc.
Without even knowing anything about my idea (I can tell you though that even if I'm the only technical founder, it's not an overwhelmingly complex app and I am confident that I could manage the coding alone. All features would get implemented during the summer. During the year, I would only make little changes to the user interface and update the content of the app, but I probably won’t implement radically new features, that is if I choose to stay in school. The goal during the year would be to get as much users as possible and that’s exactly what my co-founder would be working on full-time. Complex new features would get implemented in the following summer.), because really I don't want to be chosen for my idea but rather for my team (I've got this interesting idea that I want to work on, and I like it because I would actually use the app, and actually, I’ve got a bunch of startup ideas (I’m the kind of guy that always has tons of ambitious projects going on and new ideas in mind: I want to code apps, make feature films and crazy edits, learn new monologues by heart, run marathons, travel around the world and learn new things!), but this particular one is not too complex to implement, yet if it turns out that I choose to do a co...
9 comments
[ 4.2 ms ] story [ 29.3 ms ] threadI don't think anyone should consider starting a startup at 17 unless it's one of those rare situations where you stumble on something that takes off, and not focusing on it full time would mean letting it die. Zuckerberg was in this position, for example. But it is extremely rare.
Eventually,you will have to get a H1 visa to work in the US and that is really hard to do without a university degree. Stanford has many, many applications.
You may consider going to community college (first two years of university) in Silicon Valley. Cheap and much easier to be accepted with many of the same students that are in Stanford or Berkeley.
Good luck!
I've found the most fun I've had was when I was working on side projects while taking relevant courses. I ended up staying at MIT for all four years + an extra year for their 1 year EECS Masters program. After graduating, I got into the YC summer batch. While at school, I was working on a variety of different side projects. I purposely picked relevant subjects like Machine Learning / User Interface Design / Behavioral Psychology that seemed to fit into the project.
Not only did it help me understand the subjects better, it let me master a number of direct cross-applications into web products. It does wonders for your creativity when you are actively thinking about new products while being exposed to so many new techniques.
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On the topic of dropping out, an aspect that gets underemphasized is how strong of an ideation muscle you have. The more you do it, the better ideas you come up with. School for me was an excuse to building new things while hanging around taking a few classes. As each year passed, I realized I got better and better ideas. Back then, the first few "promising" ideas that I came up seemed like game-changers that would transform the world. Now I realize if you are the kind of person who comes up with good ideas now, you'll come up with great ideas later on.
Use those years in college to train up your ideation muscle along with your implementation skills (web dev languages / backend management / mobile dev, etc.) During your final year, apply to incubators using your uber product development skillset and amaze everyone. Not only will you no longer have the temptation to return to school, you will be putting yourself up for review when you are strongest.
And such poorly thought-out decision taking skills might eventually impact how (potential)investors would think of you.