11 Entrepreneurs Who Didn't Drop Out of College

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We love to hear stories of individuals who beat the odds and became successful even without an education – perhaps because we want it to mean we can drop out of school and join the billion-dollar lifestyle, too.

But the work that goes into becoming an entrepreneur becomes understated, and the less-sexy paths of entrepreneurs who spent years in the classroom get brushed under the rug.

To show a more realistic view of the entrepreneurial world, here are eleven entrepreneurs who graduated college, and even went on to earn their Master’s.

1. S. Kent Rockwell, ExOne

As far as IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) go, ExOne is the second best performer of the past six months and a manufacturing company founded in 2005.

S. Kent Rockwell, the company’s current Chairman and CEO, helped to restructure the firm when he joined the team in 2008 and was so confident in its success that, as a venture capitalist, he invested $41 million of his own money in it.

He has a Bachelor’s in Economics and Business from Lafayette College and earned his graduate degree at The Wharton School, UPenn’s business school.

2. Ivan Bergstein, Stemline Therapeutics

Stemline is the fourth best IPO performer entering the market as a biopharmaceutical company with therapeutics aimed at cancer stem cells. Ivan Bergstein is both the CEO and Founder of Stemline, and his accomplishments include raising over $100 million for the company in its public stage.

He earned an M.D. from the Mount Sinai Medical Center and was named the Jerome A. Urban post-doctoral medical fellow at Cornell University Medical College. His residency and clinical fellowship were completed at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center.

3. Ryan Martens, Rally Software

Rally Software, the fifth best IPO performer, is a software company founded by Ryan Martens, who currently serves as the firm’s Chief Technology Officer.

His mission is to lead the technology industry into a sustainable service model. He launched an organization in 2012 called Rally for Impact, whose goal is mobilizing citizen engineers to tackle the world’s toughest problems.

After receiving a B.S. in Civil Engineering at UC-Boulder, he continued on to earn an MBA.

4. Paul Graham, Y Combinator

Y Combinator is a Silicon Valley seed accelerator providing startup funding to new ventures, and Paul Graham is its co-founder.

Inc. magazine interviewed Graham in its most recent issue and found that the startups who receive intensive advice and aid from Y Combinator have collectively raised more than $1.7 billion in funding, putting the total valuation at $11.7 billion. Some well-known companies to receive Y Combinator funding are Reddit and Dropbox.

Graham earned an M.S. and a Ph.D. in Applied Sciences with a specialization in Computer Science from Harvard. He also studied painting in Rhode Island and Florence.

5. Rose Cook and Lynn Faughey, The FlexPro Group

Twin sisters Rose Cook and Lynn Faughey, who were also featured in Inc. magazine, together founded The FlexPro Group, a pharmaceutical consultancy.

Cook owns 51% of the business and is listed as the company’s President, allowing her to make the final call on tough decisions. Faughey is Vice President.

Both women studied Engineering at Rutgers University, but Cook took MBA courses in Pharmaceutical Management while Faughey earned a Master’s in Secondary Education specializing in Mathematics from Arcadia University.

6. Rob Israel, Doc Popcorn

Another two-some was featured in November’s issue of Inc. magazine. Rob Israel and his wife Renee are in an interesting business: popcorn. Together they own and run a natural-popcorn franchise called Doc Popcorn based out of Boulder, Colorado.

Rob acts as CEO and Renee is the marketing chief, but they both have Master’s degrees. Rob attended Harvard Business School, while Renee went to the Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Photo by Rusty Clark on Flickr

7. Sarah Wollnick, GreenCupboards

Inc. magazine shows Sarah Wollnick with her partner and husband Josh Neblett and third partner Tom Simpson, the couple’s former adjunct professor. The three of them founded GreenCupboards, an online retailer of eco-friendly products.

Wollnick and Neblett took Simpson’s Entrepreneurship course at Gonzaga University; Simpson had purchased the domain name GreenCupboards.com for use in the clasroom, and Neblett and Wollnick approached him asking to make a business out of the domain.

Simpson is chairman, Neblett handles culture and strategy, and Wollnick manages supplier relationships. While Simpson has an MBA from The Wharton School, he is not involved in the day-to-day operations of the business. Wollnick and Neblett both studied business during their undergraduate years, but Wollnick went on to earn a Master’s in Business Administration with Ethics.

8. Julie Haley, Edge Solutions

Of America’s 10 fastest growing private companies, Edge Solutions ranks in at number three, offering IT solutions to mostly manufacturing clients.

Julie Haley, CEO, studied English at Roanoke College then went on to earn a law degree at the University of South Carolina School of Law, practicing law for many years before co-founding Edge Solutions with her husband in 2008.

9. Lakeshia Grant, Virtual Enterprise Architects

Virtual Enterprise Architects is a business and IT consulting firm in Washington, D.C. The business, founded by LaKeshia Grant, is all about charitable giving.

According to the Inc. magazine feature, the company matches up to $3,000 each year in charitable contributions per employee. An award is also given to the staff member with the most volunteer hours.

Grant earned a B.S. in Finance and a MBA from Morgan State University.

10. Kirk Hawkins, ICON Aircraft

ICON Aircraft created a recreational aviation vehicle with innovative technologies and not requiring an official pilot’s license.

The sport plane, the A5, changed the status quo with spin resistance and Angle of Attack. The plane was only possible with a change in FAA regulation in 2004, which created the Light Sport Aircraft category.

Kirk Hawkins, Founder and CEO, flew F-16s in the Air Force and 767s for American Airlines. He earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Clemson University and a Master’s in Engineering from Stanford. He also graduated from Stanford Business School.

Photo by Derek Hatfield on Flickr

11. Charles R. Schwab, Charles Schwab Corporation

Though extremely difficult to find a well-known entrepreneur with a graduate degree, Charles Schwab stands out among the pack.

Charles Schwab Co. is a highly recognized brokerage firm scattered across the United States. Charles R. Schwab is currently the Chairman of the Board of the 1971-born corporation.

After a B.A. in Economics from Stanford, Schwab earned an MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business.

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