How Universities Should Prepare Founders
A Y Combinator partner argues that universities should focus on teaching core technical skills like engineering and science rather than specialized entrepreneurship curricula. The piece suggests that building things is the most critical trait for successful startup founders.
Why it matters
It challenges the current trend of universities creating dedicated entrepreneurship degrees, suggesting a return to foundational technical education.
August 2026 How should universities prepare students to start startups? Y Combinator is in the perfect position to answer this question, because we get them next. We're like grad school. And because YC has had 20 years to refine its model of what a promising founder looks like, you probably won't find a better target. What do the YC partners look for? It's surprisingly simple. They want people who are good at building things and have a habit of doing it. The hard part of startups is product: knowing what to build, and being able to build it. And that kind of knowledge comes from studying computer science or mechanical engineering or molecular biology, not management or finance. [ 1 ]
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