It's a very scary notion to "put my best foot forward", but I think I'm ready. A lot of my friends here are saying "no don't do it", though, so I thought I'd ask a crowd that might give me an answer I like more. (Admittedly, asking college students about dropping out of college is a little backwards.)
As someone currently on indefinite leave from college to work on my startup... I think you have the order backwards. Get something going first, and when it is going so well that it would be foolish not to work on it full-time, then take the plunge. College is an excellent (and safe) place to throw a bunch of ideas at the wall and see what sticks.
I'm in the process of throwing an idea against the wall right now, we'll see if it sticks.
Edit: (I'm not trying to be rude/argumentative btw - I'm sorry if I was. I'm a little confused now, and will go think more.)
Don't drop out until you have an income from your new business. If you are truly passionate about starting something, and it's obsessing you, you shouldn't need to 'drop out' to get it going.
And even then, when you have INCOME from this endeavor, you'd just be taking a break. It's insurance, really. A degree, however not worth it's weight in paper, will open doors for you.
But so would a hit startup. You could have the next facebook in you. So make it happen, but try, as long as you can, to hold on to the most unique time in your life, the experience of undergrad.
Cherish it and respect it. Leave it when your new venture makes it so clear it's no longer a question you would ask a group.
Leave it when it's obvious.
I do need to drop out to get the startup going, because trying to make myself do the work takes up all my time - and since I'm not willing to just do college work and nothing else, I'm in between a rock and a hard place.
And, the reason why I'm asking HN is to check that I haven't missed (even more) obvious pitfalls. And to see what everyone has to say, gather advice, etc. (Thank you all btw.)
Edit: why the downvote?
Sounds like you need to work on some self discipline. If you can get your social life, studies, hacking, and business efforts under control, THEN I would suggest you should go for the monumental jump and "drop out". If you think you'll have more time when your startup takes off, think again. If you are interested in VC funding at some point, then you might find it challenging when they step in and start calling shots and start telling you directly what you need to do in order to make things successful - some of it might be stuff you will resist in the same way you seem to be resisting your college work.
You sound like a young, intelligent, and energetic guy...see if you can get yourself organized such that every aspect of your college life is organized to the point of efficiency. If you can accomplish that, then you surely will have the management mettle to make a startup successful. Self discipline is an extremely important quality when undertaking something ambitious such as a startup. It seems to me that you should acquire self discipline and other important skills that are not directly related to the technical aspect of doing a startup before dropping out.
Then again, college is to a certain extent what you make of it. You have opportunities there that you're unlikely to get again. Another option you should consider is changing majors. Astronomy or Egyptology or something that's just interesting with little or no direct practical application. After all, you've already got the skills you need to earn a living.
It's hard to go at it alone.
I say that if you don't have a solid cofounder who has your back, an idea and implementation that you're willing to bet your career on, or an extraordinary opportunity that won't be there when you graduate, you should get your degree first and hack in your spare time until then. If you don't have connections, a job with your name on it, significant coding experience, a compelling product, or funding, you're going to have a hard time finding work or even in convincing people to work with you.
That said, programming jobs and startups are much more forgiving in the education category than just about any other job. If you've got the skills and have something to back it up, then you've definitely got a shot.
It's not impossible to succeed, but if you don't have a way to support yourself, it's that much harder. Just know what you're getting yourself into. While you will learn a lot if you drop out and do a start up, know the opportunity costs of what you are going to do.
I actually have an idea that a friend and I have been working on for a while. I'm not satisfied with it yet - but it's getting closer, with each mulling, I think. It's college-related, so we're launching it for Fall term. I'm pretty sure he'll drop out of college with me for the idea, esp. if it works or if we get YC. There's also a hacker friend in princeton who I might be able to convince to drop out with us.
I've thought a lot about going it alone, and it's incredibly scary, but I think I've got the guts for it, too. Of course, I'd rather go with the plan above, until it falls apart, anyway.
Edit: This was very devoid of replying content, sorry. I think I've just had enough of college and want to try something else, mainly because I don't have any spare time. I only barely have a few of the things on your list though - so the real question is, should I still take the jump, and what should I look out for?
When I was at Odeo we did a survey of the office to see who had degrees. I'm pretty sure it was just me and the other middle manager. That's pretty sad, since the fun part of a startup is either being the decider or the doer. Of course both of us went on to start companies, so maybe it doesn't really matter.
Yeah, that's what I want to say. It doesn't matter in a general sense. What does matter, and I've found this to be very true as a founder, is to do things your way. There's no one set of magic advice so you just have to figure out the things that work for you. If school doesn't work for you and startup success is more important than the college social life, then drop out and go for it. If you're more methodical (like me) then graduate, join a startup, learn some lessons, then found your own company.
The CS classes have been good, but pretty mindless, unfortunately. It's a good school and a good program, but I think I could do most of the classes in at least half the time. Except the math ones. Granted, I haven't taken that many higher-level ones yet, because I've had such problems fulfilling the first-year requirements.
Really, I'm just throwing the question out there and seeing what comes back :)
College, in short, is a basic requirement to get a white-collar type job in the United States. If you drop out of college, you are differentiating yourself (in a bad way) from getting hired at a typical company. Startups are more flexible when it comes to hiring.
I would have lunch with a mentor who is at the stage where you would like to be in 2-3 years and ask them for their honest opinion. If you don't have a mentor, focus on finding one this summer. You can even email people you don't know but admire for their advice - asking doesn't hurt.
Stay in school, throw ideas at the wall, see what sticks, go from there.
By all means though, try to finish your degree though.
Even the greatest of minds can fail due to circumstance, when it comes to things like a start-up.
