The next morning, there's a reply from Marchetti sitting in my inbox, timestamped 4:11 AM Boston time. The subject line is blank. The body is two sentences:
Why don't you just take a semester off and focus on your work? If you're as serious as your emails, you'll get more done in six months than most PhDs do in six years. I stare at the message for a long time. The idea feels radioactive. No degree. No fallback. Just a one-way ticket to maybe and a pile of student loan debt if it all goes to hell. But if I'm honest, I've already made up my mind. I never cared about the degree; I cared about the work. I walk to campus, thinking it over, letting the idea roll around in my skull. The worst case is I bomb out and crawl back in a semester behind schedule. The best case is I actually build something that matters. How many people ever get that shot? I stop by the engineering building to pick up some books I left in a locker. On the way out, there's a battered flyer taped to the glass doors:
UC Startup LaunchPad - Pitch Day! Bring your best idea and a 1-slide deck. All disciplines welcome. Top teams get funding, mentorship, and workspace in SF for a semester. It's two weeks out.