Do entrepreneurs need to go to college?

No. Looks like their success is determined by intelligence and confidence, not formal education:

I investigate the effect of human capital on entrepreneurship using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth – 1979. I find that individuals with higher measured intelligence and self-confidence are more likely to be entrepreneurs. Furthermore I present evidence suggesting that intelligence and self-confidence affect business ownership through two different channels: intelligence increases business survival while self-confidence increases business creation. Finally, once we control for intelligence and self-confidence the effect of formal college education almost completely vanishes. These results are robust to controlling for selection into entrepreneurship and selection into college.

Source: “Intelligence, Self-confidence and Entrepreneurship” from IFN Working Paper No. 887, 2011

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