The choice of staying in school

Until recently, I never seriously considered not finishing college in 4 years straight. But in all honesty, it has crossed my mind on at least a few occasions this summer.

I think this is a question that many entrepreneurs, both past and present, have faced.

On one hand, you have guys like Bill Gates who dropped out of school. On the other hand, you have guys like Josh Kopelman who managed to finish school.

Again, leaving school for a year or two or three is not something I ever actually considered until lately. So now that this option has come up, I have to come to my own understanding. Instinctively, I understand that this decision has to be personal, made with a grounded outlook, and for all the right reasons.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard other young people say that the only path to success is to drop out of school and do a startup fulltime. They usually follow that up with a listing of a series of massively successful entrepreneurs. They conveniently always skip the names of the guys who failed miserably after they left school.

I think that type of thinking is dangerous and here’s why: leaving school for no reason other than the fact that you think it’s the formula or path to success is not just wrong, it’s flat out foolish.

So here are some of the advantages to staying in school:

1) When you’re a student, you can e-mail anyone in the world for advice and probably have them reply. After introducing myself as a student, I’ve successfully corresponded with everyone from Presidents of Fortune 500 companies to visionary CEOs of high flying Silicon Valley startups to world renowned professors at major universities all across the world. I don’t believe I would’ve had the same level of success in my responses or learned so much information if I had presented myself as a young startup owner.  I was only looking for their thoughts/opinions/advice, rather than looking for some “business partnership” or other silly acronym that usually results in hitting the delete button on an e-mail.

2) Being a student helps you build a success story. From a strictly marketing and PR standpoint, everyone loves a great story about a student entrepreneur who managed to make an amazing business while juggling classes, a social life, a girlfriend, and community service.

3) Universities and colleges have a lot of resources to pour into you and give you access to if you have the desire to go after them. If you’re not part of the school anymore, the school may quickly lose interest in you.

4) All learning is useful for the purposes of expanding your horizons and giving you new perspectives. Steve Jobs (questionable example because he dropped out of school) took Egyptian Calligraphy classes “just for fun.” Ever wonder why Apple came out with such amazing fonts and text editing capabilities?

5) You’re still young and if you have what it takes, the opportunities will always be there. Enjoy some of the fun parts of college a little bit more while you can. The cream always rises to the top anyways

 

Most people who are thinking of leaving school don’t actually need to, yet it seems like the “cool” way to find success. With that all of that said, if you really want to go for it and attempt to live your dreams – do it. But don’t think that it’s the only way to succeed and don’t do it unless you have to – it’s giving up a lot.

As for me, there’s a perfect Russian folk saying that I love to quote at times like these: “When you need it, life will give you a hint.” When the time comes, I know this will be the case.

Is Facebook set to become the ultimate network of social networks?

I’d like to look beyond the current state of Facebook and take a moment to look towards the future of social networking in general. Right now, Facebook is the dominating word on the lips of tech bloggers and entrepreneurs.

Yet how quickly can we forget the seemingly endless stacks of money thrown at other social networks in the past couple of years? What about the guys like Catster , a social network for people with cats, and the cash they got in their Series A?

Well here’s what I’m thinking. They’re done.

I’m going to take a shot in the dark on this one, but here’s something that crossed my mind.

I think the future of Facebook is to exist as the ultimate network of networks. A network that encompasses the entire mass of fragmented niche networks under one enormous roof. Facebook is pushing towards a future where massive networks exist as the aggregation of smaller social networks.

I think that these niche social networks are in trouble, as the new F8 platform allows people to create niche communities within Facebook in a very real, although presently limited, way. Still, if Facebook is in a rush and doesn’t want to let the other small networks die off on their own with time, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Facebook unleash a furious and relentless acquisition of smaller networks right before they throw their doors opens for IPO.

Forget MySpace. Forget Microsoft. Forget Google.

This is the Facebook era.