The illusory nature of startups

^{"Stay Hungry Stay Foolish". Steve Jobs
The startup game is rigged! Noah Benes.}

Over the past few years, we have seen an unprecedented growth in the startup industry, if at all we can talk about startups as a sector of the economy that has some common features.

Many well-known entrepreneurs in the IT industry are talking about a new market bubble, others are rebutting, but this is not about that. Before our eyes are examples of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg and other stars who have become rich through the implementation of their ideas and startups. Many of them preferred this way to education, and for young students sometimes it seems that studying at the institute is an extra waste of time. True, studying in our country gives a chance of deferment from military service, which for many is an additional plus, but this is the topic of a separate article. Let my attitude to this be left out of the narrative. Recently I came across an article by one guy about this, and I want to offer you a translation of it.

In 2005, Steve Jobs gave his famous Stanford Commencement Speech, in which he spoke about the futility of visiting universities.

Stanford Steve Jobs Speech with Russian Translation

“There is no point in studying: I had no idea what I want to do in life, or how college will help me understand this.”

Jobs's statement resonates with the behavior of modern youth; more and more students drop out in an attempt to grab luck by the tail. In fact, in January 2014, the US National Center for Analysis of Long-Term Data in Education (CALDER) reported that more than 40 percent of full-time students have not received a bachelor's degree for six years. Of course, not everyone leaves the university in pursuit of entrepreneurial success. However, many do.

I am an entrepreneur myself. I have my own startup, and we are currently developing a mobile application that can compete with Craigslist and other similar sites. Last year, I seriously considered giving up my studies to devote all my time to developing our product. I was incredibly passionate, and equally confident in my enormous potential, capable of forever changing the process of buying and selling.

After some time, the whole startup team broke up and quarreled among themselves. Then, thinking about what could have happened if I had dropped out of school, I realized that I had been deceived.

Modern entrepreneurs no longer adhere to the traditional model of professional success; work for many years, and one day come to success. Instead, today's students are bribed by the Zuckerberg model. Young, novice entrepreneurs believe that with a brilliant idea and a little luck, they too can become billionaires, potentially overnight.

Entrepreneurs choose the lie of probable success, ignoring frightening statistics that contradict such thinking (80 percent of startups fail within 18 months). I also turned a blind eye to this. It is hard to avoid exaggerating your abilities. Nevertheless, after a whole year of work disappeared in vain in a matter of hours, I opened my eyes and saw the illusory nature of such an approach.

Most realist entrepreneurs know that each of them is far from the next Steve Jobs, but this does not prevent them from keeping their dreams firmly on their feet and achieving unprecedented success. Student entrepreneurs dream of standing at the helm of their company with $ 2 million in initial investment and do not consider selling their startup for $ 100 thousand for an acceptable and reasonable act.

As a result of this, unfortunate entrepreneurs drop out of school and say goodbye to the "system." Then hi startup industry. Of course, only until they are thrown out of there with a mass of full cones and impending student loan repayments. Such an end does not even require statistical evidence. Most startups fail and everyone cannot instantly become the next billionaire.

Meanwhile, I have nothing against great hopes. I myself restored my startup with a new team, and I also dream of imminent success. However, I am not going to drop out of school. If everything does not work out, then at least a degree in finance will guarantee a normal existence.

Of course, there are circumstances in which it is necessary to drop out of school to build a business, but these cases are quite few and rare. In addition, if you are a young student, I can guarantee that you do not know anything about starting a successful company.

It’s easy to come up with an idea, the ability to realize it separates failure from success stories. As a student, you have the opportunity to take advantage of a huge collective experience that can help build your future business.

In short, if you are a beginner entrepreneur, then most likely you see everything in pink. I acutely realized the potential failure and the chances of success, and I ask you to heed the warning - jokes are bad with startups. Make sure not to drop out of school, but never stop working in the given direction of transforming your dreams into reality and remain hungry, remain reckless .