Degrees Don't Make You A Good Founder, But They Still Open Doors
On this question, I think there are two separate discussions: what “should” be the case, and what actually happens in practice.
First, the “should” discussion.
Whether or not you hold a degree is not the essential issue.
While I was in Silicon Valley, I got to know quite a few engineers.
I was often surprised that many of the ones I thought “this person is amazing” turned out not to have a Computer Science degree.
When I asked why, the answers were things like “I wanted to be a XX back then” or “none of the classes really clicked with me” or “you all should think more seriously about your future!” — nothing more substantial than that.
And yet these people were complete “software geeks,” the kind who code from the moment they wake up on Sunday until they go to sleep.
It would not be an exaggeration to say they had devoted everything to it.
It just so happened they didn’t have a degree.
So, as you can see, technical skill and holding a degree are not necessarily the same thing.
I think most of you already know this, at least empirically.
Now, the discussion of what actually happens in practice.
Suppose your company grows steadily and gets featured in Forbes’ “Startups Set to Break Out Next Year (working title).”
If your degree has nothing to do with your business, the interviewer, hearing your background, will probably think, “(Hmm… the degree doesn’t connect to the business at all… interesting.)”
And even if they lean in and probe, thinking “(maybe there’s an interesting story behind getting a different degree?),” nothing good is going to come out of it, for the reasons above.
Your background just doesn’t make for good media material.
I don’t know whether they secretly wished you’d gotten a PhD in CS at Stanford and then an MBA. (laughs)
Now, suppose your company is raising funds.
Let’s say your business is developing AI-related edge devices.
Suppose you manage to connect with an overseas venture capital firm, and you get as far as being considered for due diligence.
At that moment, suppose another company with a similar idea, at a similar stage, seeking a similar amount of funding, happens to appear before them at the same time.
The other side is a Chinese startup whose CEO holds a PhD in Computer Science from Tsinghua University, with team members boasting equally impressive academic pedigrees — Peking University, University of Science and Technology of China, study-abroad experience at NYU or MIT.
Your team, meanwhile, consists of graduates in electrical engineering or chemistry from a mid-tier Japanese university.
How would this look to the VC? No chance of winning?
But suppose you were actually colleagues at a major development company, working together for over five years in a division developing cutting-edge IoT devices and communication hardware.
How would that look to the VC?
Your prototype is already nearly complete, and your business plan projects profitability by next fiscal year — and it’s a reasonably achievable plan, not an overly ambitious one.
How would that look…
At this point, it’s probably about even. With this much going for you, it’s even.
To avoid any misunderstanding, let me say that VCs are extremely intelligent and serious people.
They don’t sit there poring over resumes and nitpicking like some now-extinct Showa-era job interview template.
But VCs are engaged in an endless process of selecting one company to invest in out of hundreds of candidates.
In other words, they can’t invest with the attitude of “well, this one seems fine, I guess it’s okay.”
They make investment decisions with everything buttoned up, without gaps, with solid conviction of success, after careful, repeated scrutiny.
At that point, of course they look at the degree. Of course they do.
And naturally, they don’t just look at the degree — they also look at the person’s research achievements, papers written, and so on.
That’s how they arrive at a comprehensive judgment.
There’s no question that the degree carries a certain weight in that “comprehensive judgment.”
The content of this post is an excerpt (original text) from the following book. If you’re interested, please consider getting a copy.
The Shape of a Happy IoT Startup
The Shape of a Happy IoT Startup
Originally published in Japanese at https://clazytech.com/2022/10/1255/. Translated with LLM assistance and reviewed before publication.