1. I did not mean to imply educated people are not necessary. Just that I think it is very difficult to say that early stage start-ups are more successful if they have people with masters/phd’s start them. I am only addressing the initial creation of companies not the “growth” of said companies.

2. I think that bringing people from outside Phoenix that are educated is a perfectly sane way to grow an economy. The current problem is we are not even starting the companies.

When painted with a broad brush, of course you’re right – some PHDs will fail, and some with a mere high school diploma will succeed. However, the correlation between educational achievement and higher wages, industrial progression, cultural depth and yes, even entrepreneurial success, across a given population is there and has been studied, documented and accepted for a very long time.

Let’s say that an entrepreneur with only a bachelor’s degree starts a new tech company. He/she has the drive and the smarts to gain a foothold and start momentum. However, the long term success of that company is eventually going to hinge on getting people on the payroll with graduate-or-higher credentials – whether they’re mechanical/chemical/software engineers, MBAs, lawyers, accountants…the list goes on. And unless that new business owner plans on hiring them from their houses in Seattle, the business will benefit from having the widest breadth of awesome students right here in our backyard.