Simon King asks if entrepreneurs need education
Most children are brought up with the expectation of attending university. However, since the government increased tuition fees, people have thought twice about investing £27,000 into higher education.
Simply put, university is now beyond the means of many, especially in a post-recession era.
If StartUp Britain is correct, the UK will have as many as 500,000 new businesses born of its shores by the end of 2013. This number is boosted by those who have decided against undergraduate study.
Does higher education have any sort of correlation to successful entrepreneurship?
Education can lead to entrepreneurship
As an investor, I am familiar with the importance of looking beyond the statistics to the personalities behind the business
I have my own views on this, which are heavily influenced by my own experiences of university.
Not only did I thoroughly enjoy myself, but I’ve witnessed a number of friends draw on the expertise that higher education provided to go on to form businesses.
For some, university was the key to their businesses as they’ve entered highly specialised sectors including high frequency FX trading, concentrated solar photovoltaics and vertical wind turbine development among others.
Of course being an entrepreneur means so much more than just having as many qualifications as you can achieve.
Can business skills be taught?
As an investor, I am familiar with the importance of looking beyond the statistics to the personalities behind the business. Industry-changing businesses are built by exceptional teams of driven, talented and committed people.
Many believe that the skills required to take the leap and start a business cannot be formally taught. These people would argue that true entrepreneurialism is about taking a risk and that slogging through a university degree for three years is at best a waste of time and at worst a barrier to innovation.
Of course once you’ve got your business idea you will need to secure funding. Building relationships is key to putting the wheels in motion to achieve this. Developing relationships with potential investors before you need financing allows for trust to build naturally over time.
This puts an entrepreneur in a much stronger position when they finally ask for finance.
How to impress an investor
When seeking to impress investors at any stage of your business’ development, never underestimate the power of relationships, they count for a lot in business. A funding relationship is based on the investor and entrepreneur sharing mutual ideas, aspirations and an understanding of each other’s ultimate goals.
For the first-time entrepreneur who hasn’t been to university and learnt about pitching to investors through an associated business club, the only experience many will have of venture capital and the pitching process may be Dragon’s Den.
Trying to navigate new challenges associated with beginning a business, such as raising finance can be daunting. However nowadays there are a number of different programmes available to offer this support and advice to young entrepreneurs.
[button link=”https://staging.uktech.news/2013/09/05/is-university-the-only-option-this-september/”]Click to read how 5 young entrepreneurs
found their routes to success[/button]
As the number of people applying to university has decreased in the UK, the startup scene has seen an incredible growth period in parallel, although admittedly there is not necessarily a direct correlation.
University networks can make all the difference
Starting a business and university experience do not have to be mutually exclusive propositions.
If you’re dead set on becoming an entrepreneur then starting at university with its associated resources and networks can make it a fantastic starting point. It worked for Jobs, Gates and Zuckerberg.
If you choose not to go to university then you should look to make the most of the rapidly growing enterprise ecosystem that is being developed in the UK, including the rising number of incubator programmes and hubs of entrepreneurial activity.
Simon King is a member of the Ventures team at Octopus Investments
image credit: flickr/defaultbb