> But getting in to Stanford or MIT doesn’t magically make you into a member of that privileged class.
The essay (intentionally, no doubt) doesn't pick a side in this fight.
It's very clear on why you should go to the best university: not because it will make you the best founder, but to meet the best co-founders.
> And if you want to start a startup you should try to get into the best university you can, because that's where the best cofounders are. It's also where the best employees are. When Larry and Sergey started Google, they began by just hiring all the smartest people they knew out of Stanford, and this was a real advantage for them.
It doesn't matter whether elite universities are meritocratic or terribly unfair: either way, they've been the source of very many successful companies over the last 30 years, and Paul Graham is betting on that continuing to be the case. (Unlike Peter Thiel, for example, who is telling kids to drop out).
Yes, I know PG isn’t picking a side in that ‘fight’. He’s pretending it doesn’t exist. He’s suggesting that anyone with the resourcefulness of a founder, who has access to that college network, could have an equal opportunity to find the magic combination of cofounders and ideas to make a Google.
My point is that his empirical evidence and continued willingness to bet on startups that emerge from that path does not justify his claim that that path is the open for everyone to take.
If you are among the stratum from whom startup founders and cofounders will most likely be drawn, then sure, 100%, these schools are a networking opportunity which will help you on that path. Great place to meet cofounders.
If you aren’t, going to these schools will not make you magically able to take the financial risks needed to become a founder; they might make you among the smartest people some founders know, and get you a gig working for one.
The essay (intentionally, no doubt) doesn't pick a side in this fight.
It's very clear on why you should go to the best university: not because it will make you the best founder, but to meet the best co-founders.
> And if you want to start a startup you should try to get into the best university you can, because that's where the best cofounders are. It's also where the best employees are. When Larry and Sergey started Google, they began by just hiring all the smartest people they knew out of Stanford, and this was a real advantage for them.
It doesn't matter whether elite universities are meritocratic or terribly unfair: either way, they've been the source of very many successful companies over the last 30 years, and Paul Graham is betting on that continuing to be the case. (Unlike Peter Thiel, for example, who is telling kids to drop out).