Max, VCs are not in the business of screwing entrepreneurs. They take enormous risks that fail about 60% of the time. They need entrepreneurs...and entrepreneurs need VCs.

This is a very unusual approach, one I had never heard before. Does it work? Only time will tell. Founders Fund has a very different approach. Most VC firms are somewhere in the middle.

BTW, Max, most VCs are former entrepreneurs themselves and have done it multiple times. They know a lot about what it takes to start a company and make it successful. Your mileage may vary. :-)

• 1 week ago

Aaron, See my response to Mary below. BTW, the link you provided doesn't work. I am really interested to see these statistics. Can you repost the link? Thanks!

• 1 week ago

Mary, Thanks for your comment. After reading all the comments here and on Reddit I tend to agree with you. However, can you point me to any data that supports your statement "More graduate degrees are given out in Science and Engineering fields in the US than ever before" ?

Over the past 15 years I have hired software engineers in Boston and Silicon Valley. It is really tough, the starting salaries are higher than any other position in the Tech world, and advancement is very rapid for talented engineers. The economic forces are speaking loudly that engineering is highly desirable. Add to that the number of engineers the US imports from abroad, the need always exceeding the number of visas available, and it sounds like a tight market to me.

That said, I agree that the high dropout rate has more to do with poor math skills of applicants, and poor screening by college admissions people. Engineering education can and should be improved. Yes it is hard, but it doesn't need to be boring and torturous.

• 1 week ago

Chris, I read your post on home ownership rates. Interesting that the "normal" rate of home ownership had been 64.5% for years and then jumped to 69% between 1995 and 2004. A swing of less than 5% of home ownership caused defaults to rise, credit markets to crumble, and banks to fail?____The real problem was Wall Street engineering credit swaps, derivatives, and wildly leveraged positions to the point that a small increase in mortgage defaults caused the whole banking system to collapse. Amazing!

• 2 weeks ago

I would put USA engineers up against engineers from any other country...and bet heavily on them. Creativity and thinking outside the box is what makes America different. Many of Americas best entrepreneurs are engineers that saw an opportunity and knew how to build it. Knowing how to build it is only half, or less, of the key to success.

• 2 weeks ago