Relationships Talk

A decade ago, Harj Taggar was faced with a dilemma: He had an idea for a business, but he was enrolled in law school and reluctant to drop out.

Instead of letting the fear of making the wrong decision paralyze him, Taggar evaluated his options using a simple strategy: He got as specific as possible about the risks of dropping out.

Taggar is a former partner at the startup accelerator Y Combinator; he’s also the cofounder and CEO of Triplebyte. When considering whether to leave law school, he thought to himself: “OK, what is the big risk here?”

He had no real expenses and minimal savings. He remembers realizing, “The worst-case scenario here is, I work on a startup, it doesn’t go anywhere, and 12 months later, I re-enroll in law school.” Taggar left school and was subsequently accepted into the startup accelerator Y Combinator, to work on his first startup.

Taggar still recommends the risk-evaluation strategy to young professionals today.