Most Valued Skills For A Startup

[brentiscooper]

Hey Guys,

I'm 17 years old, I have started a couple of online businesses but my aim in the next few years is to 'start a startup' like many others aspire to do.

I'm contemplating studying either 'business' or 'hacking' at college. I find I'm good on the business side of things, but am wondering if studying CS would be more 'helpful' in the startup world.

Basically, I'm wondering what valuable skills people would recommend acquiring? What skills have been scarce? Which provides more value? Any thoughts will be helpful!

[omitevski]

Skills that have been scarce and always will be are good math skills. Coupled with decent programming skills and you can do magic. There are many coders/engineers that lack a decent background in math, so they are severely limited to what they can do. Besides the technologically cheap ideas are quickly being scooped up. I am not saying that there will be less space for such ideas in the future, it's really hard to say that. But nevertheless having larger scope can give you a competitive advantage. The technologically intensive ideas right now and especially when you graduate in 5 years will be machine learning, AI, robotics, image processing, computer graphics computer vision and they all require decent math background and intuition. Besides having good training in applied math can help you on both fronts, the business as well the engineering part.

[brentiscooper]

I've never been too good at maths, but I'm not bad either. It sounds like heading in the CS direction, and trying exceptionally hard in maths will probably pay off the most in the end. Thanks!

[omitevski]

Absolutely! Many tend to give up on the math part too early, because they can't immediately see how it relates to real world applications. Sometimes you need to let your mind loose and dive deep into theory before starting to think of the applications. But in the end of the day you need to enjoy it for what it really is, not just because of the big pay off.

[brentiscooper]

Good point. I'm studying Software Development and Business Management in year 12 this year, so hopefully that will give me an insight to which one I enjoy doing more. But I think the programming route seems the most exciting!

[JacobIrwin]

I went the business route. Being an entrepreneur is innate. I used to sell the shanked golf balls back to the golfers by my house through a wire fence when I was 6. I would clean the balls first and then I would display the balls on a piece of old carpet (which I found in my garage) out of my Radio Flyer wagon. When I got home I'd have $20-$30, not bad for a kid who is 6, which my mother would "hold" for me.

Back to the point that being an entrepreneur is innate. Now I am 23 and a major in business admin and finance. I find that the big "niche" ideas I come up with (that I can personally produce) have been taken or are reserved by patents. The ideas that haven't been taken require programming skills, which I lack. I must rely on building friendships/partnerships with CS students, hoping that they are willing to take the time to help produce my startups. This route is not so terrible, but also not as convenient.

If I had to go back a few years, I would have chosen the CS route. The entrepreneur in you and I isn't going to wear off (no matter how much of a hacker we become).

Developing programming skills now will allow you to personally create valuable startups in the future by the time you are my age. I recommend this path especially since your talents have already surfaced in the online marketplace.

Good luck.

[brentiscooper]

Thanks very much for posting. I'd find it very irritating to have to rely on other CS students to give me any hope of getting to where I want to be, where as if I could program, I could build my ideas as they came, rather than having to wait 6 months before I built a relationship with a business major.

Programming seems the way to go :)

[jwang815]

I graduated from a top 3 business program and feel that everything I learned can easily be picked up later in life. If you want to hack stuff and build things on your own, studying CS is the way to go.