Years ago when I was a graduate computer science student, the first book I borrowed from the library (before I even knew the names of my textbooks) was a book on the computer industry in Silicon Valley. I learned about everything from Fairchild Semiconductor to Intel and became familiar, for the first time, with Moor’s law.

I read stories about two college dropouts who started a home-based (actually garage) computer manufacturing business. One of them was successful and would remain so for years. The other one failed, only to emerge stronger later in his life.

My first impression of the failed entrepreneur was sympathy. He had passion, confidence, and a will to execute, which are qualities I always wanted to have. But being from a middle class family and seeing 2 million highly qualified graduates competing for just 100 open positions (in my home country), I couldn’t garner enough courage to drop out of college. Getting a job was on my mind, first and foremost.