Considering dropping out of college for a start-up? Paytm founder says education is important

Dropping out of college to pursue your big start-up idea may seem like a good idea, especially if you received initial interest or found ready investors, but Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma disagrees.

Recently, when DesiCrew founder Saloni Malhotra asked her Twitter followers, “Should one drop out of college if their idea raises $200k from an international investor of repute? #StartupLife”, Sharma replied with a resolute no.





The Value of Education
But the founder didn’t always believe in the value of a college education. In a 2015 interview with ET Panache, Sharma mentioned that education was overrated and that he had learnt far more from the rough and tumble of entrepreneurship.

“I wouldn’t have completed my graduation if it was not for my mother,” said the founder. “I didn't want my mother to say, ‘We spent money on you and you didn't even graduate.’ I figured out that education is overrated. Education should teach you how to think about a problem, how to address a situation and have clarity of thought, not rewriting what's written in textbooks.”