Drop out and innovate

[DrPhil]

facebook = the devil

[knight_shadow]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

facebook = the devil

[PhoenixAzul]

This is all well and good...but what happens if the idea flops, big time? You've got people with good ideas and no qualification, in a job market with people with good ideas and good qualifications. The companies that "innovate" still hire people based on a resume. It would be awesome to be able to roll up to an interview and talk about all the ideas I have for redoing their museums, but that would be ridiculous and that's not what they're after...they want to know what I can do, and what I know, and where I learned it.

So let us say that for some reason, a kid gets one of these fellowships. Think wayyyy back (or not so way back) to when you were that age. What would you have done with $100k a year in salary? Now think about what it will be like at the end of those two years:

1) you could have a wonderful idea/product, and it takes off, and life is grand. Awesome, rock on.
2) the idea flops big time, and now you're left to either re-apply to university, or enter the job market without qualifications.

If it were me, I'd just keep innovating in my dorm room and working on it as a side project. The truly innovative, the truly creative, will always find a way, in or out of university.

[PiKA2001]

Originally Posted by PhoenixAzul

So let us say that for some reason, a kid gets one of these fellowships. Think wayyyy back (or not so way back) to when you were that age. What would you have done with $100k a year in salary? Now think about what it will be like at the end of those two years:

1) you could have a wonderful idea/product, and it takes off, and life is grand. Awesome, rock on.
2) the idea flops big time, and now you're left to either re-apply to university, or enter the job market without qualifications.

If it were me, I'd just keep innovating in my dorm room and working on it as a side project. The truly innovative, the truly creative, will always find a way, in or out of university.

I think this is an amazing opportunity! The 100k a year wouldn't necessarily be for salary, but for start-up costs and R&D(at least that's how I read it). I think that's the key right there. From what I've read about inventors the hardest obstacle they face is getting funding/investors to back them. Hell, even if their idea does flop the experience gained and contacts made would still make the endeavor worthwhile.

[excelblue]

Real innovators can both secure more than $100k and have their way of waiting until after graduation.

If they have an idea and it's worth dropping out of college for, it's definitely worth a lot more than $100k. They'll probably be able to find VCs who will both give the money will allowing them to stay in college. Also, in reality, it's really about effectiveness in implementing the ideas rather than the ideas themselves.

At the same time, if it's really that good of an idea, it's not like people are going to snatch the opportunity during that extra year or two to finish college. If an idea is really that simple, chances are, it's not worth your time. If you are a real innovator, you'll have plenty of other opportunities afterwards anyways.

Only person who really gains from this is Peter Thiel, who gets to capitalize on a bunch of potentials, relatively cheaply, while screwing most of them for life.