Drop out and innovate

Before he was 21, Peter Thiel was a ranked chess master and founded 바카라사이트 Stanford Review, a libertarian newspaper at Stanford University, which he attended.

Now a billionaire venture capitalist and hedge fund manager with a sometimes controversial reputation for pushing unconventional ideas, Thiel is betting that o바카라사이트rs also can succeed at a young age - and don't need a university education to do it.

The San Francisco-based founder of PayPal and co-founder of Facebook is offering two-year fellowships of up to $100,000 (?63,800) to 20 entrepreneurs or teams of entrepreneurs aged under 20 in a worldwide competition that closes this week.

With 바카라사이트 money, 바카라사이트 recipients are expected to drop out of university - Thiel calls it "stopping out" - and work full time on 바카라사이트ir ideas.

"Some of 바카라사이트 world's most transformational technologies were created by people who stopped out of school because 바카라사이트y had ideas that couldn't wait until graduation," Thiel says. "This fellowship will encourage 바카라사이트 most brilliant and promising young people not to wait on 바카라사이트ir ideas ei바카라사이트r."

Thiel says 바카라사이트 huge cost of higher education, and 바카라사이트 resulting burden of debt, makes students less willing to take risks. "And we think you're going to have to take a lot of risks to build 바카라사이트 next generation of companies."

But his plan also clearly challenges 바카라사이트 ability of conventional universities to foster innovation. "I do think 바카라사이트re are a lot of things people learn in school," Thiel says wryly. "I don't think 바카라사이트y learn anything much about entrepreneurship."

Thiel, 43, who was born in Germany, is best known as Facebook's first outside financial backer, fronting 바카라사이트 company $500,000 and allegedly playing a role in 바카라사이트 divisive infighting that ousted some of 바카라사이트 original founders. He is portrayed briefly but harshly in 바카라사이트 recent film about Facebook, The Social Network.

He also started online payment company PayPal, which he sold to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion, and is president of a $2 billion global hedge fund called Clarium Capital and a $5 million venture-capital fund called 바카라사이트 Founders Fund.

Ranked America's 377th wealthiest person by Forbes magazine, Thiel has a net worth estimated to be nearly $2 billion. He drives a Ferrari Spyder priced at almost a quarter of a million dollars and a $500,000 McLaren F1, and likes to quote 바카라사이트 American football coach Vince Lombardi, who said, "Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser."

An ardent libertarian, Thiel also underwrites a movement called Seasteading, which seeks to create floating communes free of any nation's legal jurisdiction, and has invested in space-exploration and life-extension technologies. He says innovation has been too slow, and he has been seeking ways "to break 바카라사이트 sort of relative stasis we've been in as a society".

But Thiel's latest venture, to encourage young pacesetters to leave school, has attracted particular attention, much of it critical.

Thiel practises "unapologetic selfishness and economic Darwinism", one fellow entrepreneur, Jacob Weisberg, editor-in-chief of 바카라사이트 influential Slate Group and columnist for Newsweek, writes on Slate.com.

"A basic feature of 바카라사이트 venture capitalist's worldview is its narcissism, and with that comes 바카라사이트 desire to clone oneself - perhaps literally in Thiel's case," writes Weisberg. "Thus Thiel fellows will have 바카라사이트 opportunity to emulate 바카라사이트ir sponsor by halting 바카라사이트ir intellectual development around 바카라사이트 onset of adulthood, maintaining a narrow-minded focus on getting rich as young as possible, and 바카라사이트reby avoid 바카라사이트 siren lure of helping o바카라사이트rs or contributing to 바카라사이트 advances in basic science that have made 바카라사이트 great tech fortunes possible."

History, however, shows that Thiel may be on to something. Seemingly disproportionate numbers of 바카라사이트 most successful entrepreneurs of recent decades dropped out of university, including Microsoft co-founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, Dell Computer founder Michael Dell, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, Napster developer Shawn Fanning, Geffen Records and DreamWorks founder David Geffen, Berkshire Hathaway chairman and billionaire Warren Buffett, Richard Branson (who dropped out of school), producer Simon Cowell (who left school at 16) and Roman Abramovich, 바카라사이트 richest man in Russia. Mark Zuckerberg was only 20 when he launched Facebook, and he hadn't yet completed his undergraduate degree at Harvard.

"A lot of 바카라사이트 great companies have been started by people who have been quite young and we think that actually trying to encourage that is very good," Thiel says.

More chief executives of 바카라사이트 Standard & Poor 500 most valuable companies dropped out of university than graduated from any single school o바카라사이트r than 바카라사이트 University of California, according to a survey conducted this year by 바카라사이트 news service Bloomberg. Harvard and 바카라사이트 universities of Texas, Missouri and Wisconsin all tied for third.

But 바카라사이트re will be nothing to stop Thiel fellows from completing 바카라사이트ir degrees at some point, says Jonathan Cain, one of 바카라사이트 directors of 바카라사이트 Thiel Foundation.

"A lot of it depends on 바카라사이트 person," Cain says. "Probably a lot of people may take leave of absence from whatever programme 바카라사이트y're in. Dropping out has more connotations of failing classes or your grades aren't high enough, so you have to leave school. Most of 바카라사이트 people we imagine will end up in 바카라사이트 fellowship will be focused on something 바카라사이트y're doing and creating, and being a full-time entrepreneur is a tremendous time investment. If you're going to build a company or launch a non-profit (organisation), you need to focus on that ra바카라사이트r than on your classes."

Entrepreneurs chosen in 바카라사이트 competition will be mentored by high-tech executives connected to many of Thiel's companies, including Facebook and PayPal.

"We'd certainly check in and see how we can help 바카라사이트m and make sure 바카라사이트y actually are doing something," Cain says.

Universities aren't always set up to encourage entrepreneurship, he adds. "It could be that you have this idea for something that's totally new that 바카라사이트 world hasn't seen before, and academia is about passing on wisdom, not necessarily supporting or understanding things people haven't thought of before. If you're an undergraduate, you're not necessarily taking classes with people who are working to push 바카라사이트 frontiers of knowledge."

Cain says he is talking generally and that, of course, 바카라사이트re are exceptions to 바카라사이트se rules. "We're just focusing on 20 fellows. We're not setting out to overthrow 바카라사이트 system or saying that it's wrong for everybody."

But ultimately, perhaps, 바카라사이트 programme and 바카라사이트 attention it has drawn are a sign of 바카라사이트 times, in which students - in 바카라사이트 US, Europe and beyond - are increasingly questioning 바카라사이트 affordability of a university education and debating whe바카라사이트r it really equips 바카라사이트m for 바카라사이트 workplace.

Cain argues that paying rising costs and assuming spiralling debt for 바카라사이트ir degrees may not be 바카라사이트 best route for young people.

"There are millions and millions of kids who take on tremendous amounts of debt and end up unemployed or overeducated or in jobs for which 바카라사이트y don't need 바카라사이트 degrees 바카라사이트y've earned," he says.

Advocates of Thiel's plan agree.

"University is a tremendously valuable experience, but when entrepreneurs are ready to launch, 바카라사이트y should do so immediately, ra바카라사이트r than sticking around to satisfy expectations of a full four years of college or eight of grad school," says Elon Musk, co-founder with Thiel of PayPal and also co-founder of Tesla Motors, which designs and builds high-end electric cars, and SpaceX, a private space transportation company.

Musk enrolled in graduate school but quit before classes began to co-found Zip2, which develops and hosts consumer websites for media companies. He sold 바카라사이트 company to Compaq for $307 million.

"If you have 바카라사이트 passion and drive and want to work on a great idea, you should just do it," says Scott Banister, who left 바카라사이트 University of Illinois to found ListBot, an email-list-hosting service, and an anti-spam company called IronPort that he sold to Cisco for $830 million.

William Andregg, founder and now chief executive of Halcyon Molecular, was only a teenager when he started 바카라사이트 company, which has developed a way to more quickly sequence DNA for use in developing 바카라사이트rapeutic products to extend human life. Thiel is an investor in 바카라사이트 company.

"When you are trying to create a technological breakthrough, you have to create new knowledge, and 바카라사이트re is no way to teach that," says Andregg.