Can Universities Teach Students About Startups?

Can universities teach students about startups? Yes and no. They can teach students about startups, but as I explained before, this is not what you need to know. What you need to learn about are the needs of your own users, and you can’t do that until you actually start the company. So starting a startup is intrinsically something you can only really learn by doing it. And it’s impossible to do that in college.  Startups take over your life. You can’t start a startup for real as a student, because if you start a startup for real you’re not a student anymore. You may be nominally a student for a bit, but you won’t even be that for long.

In yet another amazing essay, Paul Graham talks about the counter intuitive nature of startups. A highly recommended reading.