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What field of study to major in?

Should product-focused entrepreneurs major in an engineering field in college/university, or major in an alternative field of study that may not be relevant to their aspirations but like better?

  • I read that most entrepreneurs are engineers at heart, be it mechanical, software, industrial, electrical, biomedical, etc. This question is inspired by

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    Follow your passion and take the best teachers.   If you prefer aerospace engineering to computer science, study that. The guys at include an AE grad and ex-JPLer.   Any successful startup needs the following (one person can encompass up to 4 of below, but almost never more than that):   1. Entrepreneur 2. Programmer 3. Designer 4. Sales 5. Process person 6. Executions/Just Get It Done. 7. User/Customer. If you have the target customer in-house, that is a huge advantage 8. Glue/Empathy - the person that just cares about what everyone is feeling and smooths things over. This is a highly valuable, underrated teammate who can save your company from disaster.   That said, depending  the school do the following to fill the gaps in your contacts and knowledge. For example:   1. If you go to , or other school with a top-ranked entrepreneuer program, take their best classes on entreprenuership.   2. If you attend a school like , find a way to hang out with wealthy folks, such as the Trustees of the school. .   3. If you attend or especially , join the entrepreneurship club and take speech class.   4. Finally, if you attend , congratulations. Just keep your eyes and ears open, hang out with the engineers and entrepreneurs on campus and at Couppa Cafe, and learn by osmosis.Not advice. No offer. Do not rely. May lose value. Risky. Conf...

Terrence Yang at Quora Visit the source

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Stick with the study that you like better.  You can find talent to pick up the slack in the other fields.  You're going to have a ridiculous amount of stress as an Entrepreneur. Why add to that with irrelevant studies?  Your degrees are irrelevant, outside of a business degree, because you may have to pivot outside the scope of your field of study.  It really depends on what you want to do.  People claim the title of "Entrepreneur" frequently.  It is a title earned by action rather talk.  Ask yourself if you're really an Entrepreneur.  If you answered "Yes" without haven't gone through a startup process then you're lying to yourself.  It's easy to talk about but not so easy to actually do.  Most startups fail and that often strips many "Would-be-entrepreneurs" of the title.  If you want it bad enough then failure is just another step forward.  You'll get back on the horse even if it's financially, emotionally, and physically broke you.  I say this to help you.  Look up all the stories of failed startups.  If you're not willing to risk what these people talk about then don't even try it.  It's not fun getting evicted because a startup crumbled.  It's not fun having to rely on others for help because you've hit rock bottom (financially) from a failed startup.  I initially wrote "ruined" instead of "rock bottom".  Why did I change that?  "Ruined" can be construed as a "Permanent State" "Rock bottom" is just a stepping stone to success. I am a great case and point.  I have been through 2 startups that literally almost cost me everything.  Nothing sucks more than to bleed for something and watch it grow... only to see something come along and destroy it.  However, I still keep trying.

Chapley Watson

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