Mark Zuckerberg. Steve Jobs. Bill Gates.
They all have something in common and most of us know what that is- they were all college dropouts.

Most of us have secretly wished to be one of these uber successful college dropouts at one point or another in our careers. The media certainly glamorizes those that make the decision to dropout and eventually become successful entrepreneurs, politicians, inventors and entertainers. But what the media has failed to do is provide a framework for making a decision on whether or not it’s the appropriate time to dropout of school (Hint: A great idea or business plan might not be enough).

This post was inspired by a close mentor, investor in our company, and successful entrepreneur Dharmesh Shah, the Founder and CTO of HubSpot, which recently IPO'd.


In Dharmesh’s recent post, “Why You Shouldn’t Drop Out to Start Up," he nails why students should stay in school and finish their degree. Which is true…for 99% of students. But for the 1% of students that should consider dropping out, staying in school could be the completely wrong decision for you.

So here’s a list of 7 reasons when you know it’s time to drop out of school:

1. Initial Traction
You don’t have just an idea, business plan, or powerpoint but have shown some initial traction. Depending on the type of company you’re building, that could come in various forms- customers, revenue or active users. Too many times, entrepreneurs want to leave school at the first sign of potential success. Remain patient, try to show 6-9 months of growth before considering leaving.

2. Investment
This is somewhat intuitive but if you’re continuing to show growth and your business has potential, you’re going to attract the attention of angel, venture, or institutional investors. Having outside capital is one of the best pieces of validation that your early-stage company can achieve. Some entrepreneurs understandably feel guilty staying in school with the majority of their day going towards their studies instead of building their company.
Dharmesh happens to be one of our earliest investors, investing when I was a sophomore in college. Good thing he didn’t know our plans :)

3. Fast Moving Market
For some students, the market or type of business you’re starting can have a big impact on your decision. Is this a software or consumer internet service that is in a quickly growing, easily disruptive market? If so, it’s a race to see who gets there first. For more R&D based companies in slower moving markets, it might not make as big of a difference.

4. Location, Location, Location
While most of the hype around startups is centered around Silicon Valley, there are many other hotbeds for startups in the US- Boston, NYC and LA come to mind. With that being said, if you’re a student in rural Alabama or Iowa (nothing against those states, I grew up in Ohio myself) you might want to reconsider. It’s certainly not impossible to leave school and grow your business from those locations, but a strong community network can make a big impact. Larger cities make it much easier to attend networking events, reach out to mentors and find investors than smaller cities.

5. Personal Happiness
If you’re truly not happy, you should pause and think. This doesn’t include when you’re going through a rough time because of a romantic breakup or you happen to be failing a class. More importantly, are you giving everything you have to school, your company, athletic activities, friend groups and still feel that you’re coming up short? You’ll never truly excel at anything in life if you’re unhappy with how you’re spending your time. If you find your happiest, most entertaining moments of the day are spent building and problem solving on your business, that’s a good sign.

6. “Stopping Out"
In most cases, I would recommend exploring if your school offers a “leave of absence” or “sabbatical” you can apply for. Take one or two semesters off to fully focus on your business. Set goals for the progress you want to make and if you don’t hit those goals, consider going back. Chances are once you exclusively focus on growing the business, you’ll become fully immersed and dedicated to the effort.

7. Having a Strong Support System
Any entrepreneur knows that everything isn’t going to go as planned. In fact, most of the time it’s going to go completely wrong! Having a support system of family and friends that genuinely believe in your business makes the “lows” easier to get through. Plus, having a few professors from your university support the decision certainly makes it easier to justify.
To sum it all up, dropping out is not something be taken lightly. Even as a dropout myself, it’s not something I would recommend to most students. But in certain cases, dropping out of college is absolutely the right decision. We’re lucky Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and others decided not to stay in school, otherwise the world might be a very different place than the one we know today.

Would love to hear other people’s thoughts and comments.
Jonathan Lacoste is the Co-Founder/COO of Jebbit, deemed by CNBC as one of the "Top 25 Most Promising Companies in the World." Jonathan and his co-founders dropped out of Boston College when Jonathan was 19.