College, Bitcoin, and the question parents are really asking
Read time: 2½ minutes
Welcome to issue #037 of Unicorn Parents. Each week, I share practical insights and reflections to help you build a profitable business without missing the magic at home. If you’re serious about winning at work while raising great kids, you’ve come to the right place. This is a community built for ambitious parents who want both.
Simon, my partner at Ethos, once shared something that stuck with me.
He doesn’t believe in 529 plans.
He’d rather give each of his kids Bitcoin.
His reasoning:
College may not be necessary, credentials are fading, and financial sovereignty plus real-world skills will matter more than institutional pathways.
I understand where he’s coming from.
And yet, after more than 20 years working in education, I’m far less willing to dismiss college outright.
Not because I’m nostalgic.
But because I’m realistic.
This tension sits at the heart of many modern parenting conversations, especially among founders.
Today, founders and investors are far more accepting of:
Nontraditional backgrounds
Self-taught builders
Portfolio-based credibility
Skills over resumes
In some circles, “college dropout” has even become a status signal, especially in AI.
That openness is real.
And it’s a gift.
It means our kids are not locked into a single narrow path to success.
But here’s where parents must slow the conversation down.
Founders can afford to be philosophically radical.
Parents cannot.
Why?
Because founders accept upside risk.
Parents manage downside risk.
The venture world celebrates exceptions.
Families live with probabilities.
And when you zoom out from mythology to data, something very boring (but very important) emerges:
Most successful founders still have degrees.
Many attended strong universities.
Most benefited from networks, signal, and structured environments…whether they finished or not.
The dropout stories are loud.
The degree holders quietly dominate the median outcome.
What College Still Does (That Bitcoin Doesn’t)
Bitcoin is an asset.
College is an environment.
Assets compound financially.
Environments compound people.
Even in a skills-first economy, college still provides:
Signal: quiet, but persistent
Networks: peers, mentors, alumni
Time: to mature judgment without irreversible consequences
Range: exposure beyond one tool, trend, or obsession
Optionality: when plans change (and they almost always do)
Founders don’t like to say this out loud, but many still:
Recruit from their alma mater
Trust familiar institutions
Anchor credibility to recognizable signals
College is no longer sufficient.
But it is far from obsolete.
So the real divide isn’t:
“Should my child go to college or drop out?”
It’s this:
Should college be a default pipeline—or a strategic platform?
Simon rejects blind credentialism.
I defend strategic optionality.
Those positions are not opposites.
A Better Mental Model for Unicorn Parents
Here’s a framework that actually helps families make decisions:
College is no longer mandatory
College is still valuable
College should be instrumental, not ideological
The worst outcome isn’t dropping out
The worst outcome is drifting without structure, signal, or skill
For many kids:
College + portfolio beats either alone
Degree + real work beats credential chasing
Networks + skills beat hype narratives
And for a small minority:
Non-college paths will outperform dramatically
But parents don’t raise children for edge cases.
They steward downside, reversibility, and long-term compounding.
Where I Ultimately Land
I don’t believe college is required anymore.
But I also don’t believe it’s disposable.
The network and signal alone keep it an attractive option for many—and will continue to do so, even as skills-based hiring expands and alternative paths mature.
Bitcoin might be a powerful gift.
So might college.
The wisest families don’t choose one ideology.
They build resilience, skills, and optionality, and let the child grow into the path rather than forcing the path onto the child.
That’s not conservative.
That’s responsible.