“If it’s a sure thing, then it’s already on its way out.” – Investor’s saying
As the Managing Director at a tech accelerator, I face a dilemma. I need to fund the most talented people, because they’ll be most likely to build great companies. But I also need to find the hidden gems. I’m the sort of person who’s always looking for the best deals. Let me tell you, great deals almost always come from unexpected sources.
Here’s the problem: If I look for talent in the same places everyone else does — at Stanford, Harvard, and MIT — I’ll have to fight crowds of investors and even other accelerators who are trying to do the same thing I am. I don’t like lines, and I hate waiting, so I don’t go with the crowd. I try to create value where others don’t recognize it.
So how do I decide where to scout for talent? I look for founders from underrated schools. Until now, I’ve been looking in places like Harvey Mudd, Columbia, Cornell, UCLA, USC, UC Berkeley, and Michigan, to name a few. I believe all of these schools don’t get the credit they should for engineering talent and innovation.
But there’s a problem with that approach. To decide which schools are under-rated, I have nothing more to go on than my gut feeling. I hate that. I knew I needed something more precise or else I’d feel guilty. After all, I’m an engineer.
There must be a better way than just guessing or reading the “Top Engineering Colleges” list to decide where I recruit from.
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