Is there a correlation between being a business founder and a college dropout?

I was reading up on successful entrepreneurs and many of them seem to be college dropouts. It makes me wonder how much of this is a trend. Are there a lot of successful startup founders who left college before finishing their degrees?

It's crucial to remember that correlation does not imply causation. While there has been a number of successful entrepreneurs who were college dropouts, such as Bill Gates or Mark Zuckerberg, this doesn't mean there's a direct correlation between dropping out of college and becoming a successful entrepreneur.

These cases are exceptions rather than the rule and have received a lot of media attention due to their extraordinary success. The reality is, most successful startup founders have finished their college degrees, often in fields that are related to their industry. Dropouts who become successful entrepreneurs tend to possess unique skills, immense passion for their idea, alongside a substantial element of luck, connections, and timing.

Survey data from the Census Bureau's 2012 Survey of Business Owners backs this up. It showed that business ownership is higher for those with higher levels of education: about 5% of people with a high school degree own businesses, compared to 22% of those with a bachelor's degree and 43% of those with a master's degree or higher. A study published in the Journal of Business Venturing in 2015 also found that even in the technology sector, founders with higher education outperformed those without.

So in general, education seems to impact one's chances of starting a successful business positively. Still, the dropout-turned-entrepreneur narrative continues to be compelling because it offers the appealing idea of achieving great success without conforming to traditional pathways. It's essential to keep in mind that these are exceptions, not the norm.