After Figma's blockbuster IPO, CEO Dylan Field made $5 billion without a degree! Do Gen Z need college to succeed?
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Figma's Explosive IPO Propels Dylan Field Into Billionaire Status
The Thiel Fellowship: Betting on Dropouts
How Dylan Field's Bold Leap from College Dropout to Figma CEO Paid Off
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Other Billionaire Dropouts Who Skipped the Traditional Path
Mark Zuckerberg
Jack Dorsey
Sam Altman
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Larry Ellison
Bill Gates
Is College Still the Safe Bet?
Gen Z Is Rethinking the Value of a College Degree
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As Gen Z continues to question whether a college degree is still worth the price tag, Figma cofounder and CEO Dylan Field just added fuel to the debate, with a $5 billion fortune and no diploma to show for it, as per a report. Field's story sounds like a modern tech fairytale, but for many young people today, especially Gen Z, it also brings up a real question: Do you actually need college to succeed anymore?Last week, Field, the 33-year-old CEO and cofounder of design software company Figma, officially became a billionaire as his net worth jumped to around $5 billion after Figma's explosive IPO, which saw its share price climb 333% and pushed the company's market value past $70 billion within days, as reported by Fortune.Field, who flunked out of Brown University over a decade ago, is now among the youngest tech moguls because of Figma's blockbuster IPO. Back in the early 2010s, Field took a big risk after doing internships at LinkedIn, Microsoft, and Flipboard, he applied for the Thiel Fellowship, a scheme that invites young entrepreneurs to drop out of college and start businesses, according to the Fortune report. Sponsored by billionaire Peter Thiel, the fellowship, which is given to young people who 'want to build new things instead of sitting in a classroom', awarded Field $100,000 and the liberty to work on his startup full-time, as per the report.ALSO READ: Top economist sounds alarm: US economy teetering on recession and is on the brink of big trouble During that time, Field's parents admitted that they were skeptical, with his mom telling CNBC that she feared he would want a degree to fall back on later in life, according to the Fortune report.While Field's father, Andy, said that, 'I'm quite nervous, yeah,' adding, 'Most startups do fail. I think he has a good shot, but certainly not a sure thing by any means,' as quoted in the report.Dylan never fit in with conventional schooling and had even thought about quitting high school. The Thiel Fellowship provided him with a platform, and his intuition worked. What began as a gamble turned out to be one of the most successful tech IPOs of recent times. In 2012, the same year Facebook went public (a company also created by a dropout enabled by Thiel), Field left school to build Figma, as reported by Fortune.ALSO READ: Trump orders NASA to kill 2 satellites that can function for many more years - the reason will shock all Field is part of an elite group of tech moguls who've demonstrated that achieving success needn't involve a degree. Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Oracle's Larry Ellison all notoriously left college before they went on to found their multi-billion-dollar enterprises, as per the Fortune report.Here are a few of the most well-known names who made it big after dropping out, as compiled by Fortune:He had famously left Harvard in 2004 to build Facebook, which quickly became a global social media giant. Though he later received an honorary degree, his estimated net worth of $272 billion proves he didn't need one to change the world, according to the report.The Twitter and Block cofounder dropped out not once, but twice, first from Missouri University of Science and Technology, then from NYU. He left just one semester before graduation to launch Twitter. When Elon Musk bought the company in 2022, Dorsey walked away with $268 million. He's now worth about $4.7 billion.Before founding OpenAI, Altman dropped out of Stanford in 2005 to pursue a startup, that leap eventually led to his role in one of the most influential AI companies today. His current net worth sits around $2 billion.Ellison dropped out of two colleges before moving to California and diving into the tech scene. He co-founded Oracle and is now the second-richest person on Earth, with a fortune of over $300 billion.One of the most famous dropouts ever, Gates left Harvard in 1975 to build Microsoft. While he once thought he'd return to finish his degree, he ended up becoming one of the most influential tech leaders in history. Today, he's worth roughly $123 billion.However, skipping college isn't a golden ticket to billionaire status, just look at leaders like Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Google's Sundar Pichai, or Apple's Tim Cook, who all hold advanced degrees, according to the report. But more and more Gen Zers are starting to wonder: is college still worth it? As they doubt whether the promise of a high-paying, secure job after spending four years on campus will be fulfilled, as per Fortune.A recent survey by Indeed found that over a third of graduates believe their degree was a 'waste of money,' and with so many young people struggling to find jobs in their chosen fields, it's not hard to see why doubts are growing, according to Fortune.Even Zuckerberg pointed out on the podcast 'This Past Weekend', with Theo Von, 'I'm not sure that college is preparing people for the jobs that they need to have today. I think that there's a big issue on that, and all the student debt issues are … really big,' as quoted in the report.He added that, 'The fact that college is just so expensive for so many people, and then you graduate and you're in debt,' as quoted in the Fortune report.No, he dropped out of Brown University after receiving the Thiel Fellowship.Around $5 billion, due to Figma's massive IPO.
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