I have struggled with this concept a lot. But I think I have defined my answer.
You cannot prepare for the hard skills that you need to found a company.
The only way to acquire those necessary, make or break traits is through experience. If you’ve read my other story about “if you want to be a founder…” , even approaching things “like you are building a company” does not truly compare. I wanted to clarify that that article/story/whatever you want to call it was more of a thought exercise for me. I think treating what you are doing like it is a company will help you do whatever you are doing, but I do not think it will make you a more prepared founder. Hold me to my contradictions, writing is fun 🙂
But anyways, as of late, some people (like two lol) have asked me what they should major in in college. First of all, why are people asking me? Who am I? Second of all, nothing I say is at all prescriptive or perhaps correct … they are just thoughts — enjoy, maybe.
There are tons of people who majored in entrepreneurship who are really successful and happy and whatever.
I just wouldn’t.
Should you major in entrepreneurship?
To find your answer to that question — you must start by asking yourself what do you want out of college? And that is a really hard question to answer and I don’t think most people have an answer to that, at least not immediately, so the more realistic question you must ask yourself is: what are you going to do outside of the classroom?
Phew. Another hard question, how the hell am I supposed to know that?
It starts with priorities. Figure those out. Goals. You know. They evolve, but try to have a starter kit.
Of course there are some other reasons to why you should take classes whatever, but the most justifiable to me is that you should challenge yourself to learn things you could not learn on your own. Whether that is teamwork, calculus, whatever it is — this is the purpose.
Now you can argue that if you want.
But the point is this: the best thoughts/discussions that go on about entrepreneurship are all available on the internet. You can learn a TON on websites like Product Hunt or How to Start A Startup . What I am getting at , what is the value of taking the classes? Oh I meant to say paying for the classes. How much more/less are you going to have access to inside of the classroom?
Rather than major in entrepreneurship, build and create shit outside of the classroom. More free reign. You still have the resources on campus. And you can iterate faster. You are not restricted to a curriculum.
So my advice — don’t major in entrepreneurship. Idk what that even means tbh.
Woah. You read the whole thing! Thank you so much. I’d really appreciate if you shared this with a friend!
Let’s continue this conversation
twitter — @jrdngonen
email — jordangonen@wustl.edu