Dear Entrepreneur,
Please finish your degree. Don’t fall for the college dropout misinterpretation. Don’t drop out of school yet.

The whole “You don’t need a degree to be successful because Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg and now Jay Z and co dropped out of school and made it“ narrative is another common example of Survivorship Bias which is causing many young people to make unwise decisions.

The people who push this narrative focus only on the achievement, leaving out all the unique details and circumstances surrounding those achievements which you almost always will not be able to replicate.

Mark said he was willing to make the gamble because he knew even if Facebook didn’t work out he could still go back to school.

The disproportionate focus on the stories of the Gates and Zuckerbergs who survived without considering the stories of those who didn’t paints an incomplete picture at best. For every Mark Zuckerberg who drops out and makes it, do you know there are probably 99 other dropouts who do not make it and so you don’t hear about them?

Sure, a university degree does not guarantee that you will be a successful life…but at the very least, it does open up opportunities for you and give you a better shot at life. And if you live in Africa where the systems are such that you need a degree to even get one foot at the door, then getting your degree is even more important.

So if you do find yourself in the university and you have ambitions to start your own business, unless you have a very compelling reason to drop out, please finish your degree and then you can go live out your startup dream.