Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg are both dropouts of Harvard University, still they achieved unbelievable great things creating worldwide renowned companies.
They both quit their universities early to create Microsoft and Facebook, respectively. Further, Steve Jobs was also dropout, leaving Reed College prematurely to build the Apple brand. Is it the right thing to drop out? Should we take this as an example? India has some of the best universities in the world – should our top students leave?
Traditional thinking, our parents and grand parents tell us that we need to finish college in order to get a good job, decent life, basically anywhere in this world. Yet, these dropouts made billions by pursuing their dreams instead of following the pack and when they made those billions they were pretty young.
Besides they have created companies that have completely changed the way we live, they changed societies over the world. Their courage to do their thing had an impact on the world.
Facebook investor Peter Thiel pays college dropouts a fellowship – smart people need to leave university in order to get the money – maybe this is the right way?
When Elizabeth Holmes was a 19-year-old sophomore at American Stanford University in 2003, she also decided to halt her college career, stop what she was doing and to drop out to start her own company, called Theranos. She had the dream of revolutionizing healthcare.
She said to her professor that was shocked when she revealed her plans: “I want to create a whole new technology, and one that is aimed at helping humanity at all levels regardless of geography or ethnicity or age or gender.”
The idea was to create a technology that would make blood tests easier. Holmes hates needles, and wanted to make blood tests simpler, cheaper and more accessible for all people, rich, poor, everyone. So it took her a decade of quiet work on a technology that would make blood tests nothing more than a painless finger prick.
The smart women created hardware and software that allow for blood tests to be done by pricking someone’s finger and storing the blood in a tiny vial called a nanotainer.
As she is also other people are so afraid of needles and blood, they jujst cannot stand them. It is surprising how many people prefer not to have a potentially life saving medical information when it comes to the little needle. So Holmes’ technology would take away that fear, and make it easier to do the tests which are necessary.
The test can be done at a pharmay, no need to go and see a doctor anymore. And, the same drop of blood can be used for many other tests with this technology.
We know that blood work can be very expensive. But this new test is much cheaper, which was always one of Holmes’ goals when she started Theranos.
It does not hurt, it is more accurate, and especially also cheaper and quicker. It helps the people. And this invention did also help Holmes to become the youngest female billionaire in the world. Theranos is now worth $9 billion. She owns 50 percent of it and this is worth $4.5 billion. On a recently released list of the 400 richest Americans from Forbes she is ranked.
Commenting on her success she said: “We’re successful if person by person we help make a difference in their lives. Our purpose is to give people access to the basic right of being (blood) tested when they need to or want to. If we can do that, then we will have made a difference.”
So we at WomenNow no NOT say you must all drop out of college now. But you should consider whether what you are doing is good for you whether it fills you with joy or whether you are doing it because your parents, friends, boyfriend or husband ask you to do it.
Think about it!
Picture courtesy: Facebook
