Alisha
What are some of the best universities to gain a degree in Entrepreneurship?
Is getting a degree in Entrepreneurship even necessary or is real-world experience a better investment of time and money? ~
#entrepreneurship #university
2 answers
Edouard Tabet
Edouard’s Answer
Hi Alisha,
Some of the most successful entrepreneurs are college or grad school dropouts. This includes founders of Apple, Google, Facebook, Dropbox and many others. It's also interesting to note that none of them pursued a degree in Entrepreneurship or something similar. This doesn't mean you shouldn't seek a great education but my advice is to focus on learning a hard skill you're interested in and that will help you build a company or a product, for instance, design or computer science or really any field that you can get passionate about.
A great way to get started with your entrepreneurship career is to come up with a project you're passionate about, find a few people to partner with and kickstart this project from your garage, college dorm or really anywhere.
A few advice on how to pick your first project :
1 - Personal : Work on something that affects you personally.
I started a company in travel because I was passionate about traveling and wanted to share this passion with others, help more people travel and discover new places. Some of my best memories are from trips I took with friends or family and some of my most important decisions in life happened during a trip. I proposed during a trip to Costa Rica. We conceived our first kid during our honeymoon in New Zealand and a trip to the Galapagos was the inspiration behind the first company I started.
2 - Impactful : Try to solve a real problem.
3 - Scale : Try to chose something that will help many people, not just a handful.
Once you have a project and a team, maybe join an incubator like YC. YC is probably the closest and best thing there is to an education program for entrepreneurs. I work at Airbnb and the Airbnb founders, Brian, Joe and Nate all went through this program before Airbnb took off . They also call these type of programs accelerators. The essence of these programs is that they help you connect with the right people who can provide precious advice and some seed capital.
For the first company I started (Rove/ZeTrip) I applied to YC. I actually got rejected but found the process of applying and the in person interview to be very helpful. The feedback and questions I got through this process helped me frame my idea better. These type of accelerators are typically open to everyone, no matter what your background or project is. They tend to focus on projects that can scale to the point of becoming a billion dollar company and impacting millions of people.
In my experience, some of the most important traits, great entrepreneurs share, are
1 - Resiliency
2 - Resourcefulness
3 - Creativity
4 - Leadership
You can learn resiliency and resourcefulness through personal experiences you had to struggle through. My experience with the most creative people I worked with is that they come from a diverse background, things like traveling can help spark new ideas and augments creativity.
Leadership is best learned in group activities like sport and or really anything that involves a group of people working together towards a common goal.
Edouard recommends the following next steps:
Jennifer Haden
Jennifer’s Answer
As with any program in higher education, you have to ask yourself what are your intended outcomes. What do I hope to gain from this experience? Is it possible to achieve my goal without additional access and support from peers and professors?
Depending on your personal situation, you may already have access to people, places, and opportunities that bolster your networks, facilities, and resources; but if you don't, university campuses are a best value for gaining access. The institution you choose should be a good fit for your expectations and aptitudes in achieving your goals.
From the criteria, prioritize what characteristics, programs, degrees, etc. are most important; then research the institutions that meet your criteria. Public/Private? Urban/Suburban/Rural? 2-year/4-year? Secular/Religious? Domestic/International? and so on.
Although you can always do an internet search on "best undergraduate programs in entrepreneurship," it's only "best" for you if it meets you where you are and can take you where you want to be.
I hope this helps!
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