If I'm hiring for a QSR, pedigree doesn't matter. And if all I ever did in my life was work for a QSR, I might assume that pedigree doesn't matter. But that doesn't mean that the right pedigree wouldn't have put me in a much better position, I just wouldn't realize it.
You're just now about to find out how things work in the real world, instead of the "theoretical" öööö believed by the academics.
Not that I need to appeal to authority, despite the fact that you feel the need to go ad hominem, but I've already started up and sold two businesses and own three more.
The bigger question is: why you feel the need to insult someone you know nothing about? And why insult a degree that someone may or may not have? Why not just stick to the topic?
Oh horse s**t. In the computer science world (where I work) there are 2 places where your degree matters for a VC....a PhD from Carnegie Mellon or any CS degree from Stanford. And by a LONG stretch, it's like the old Hertz commercial.
Well, that's sort of true. Pedigree matters. Working for McKinsey / Bain / BCG matters, and they only hire from a handful of schools (incidentally, that includes GT). Coming from Google or Apple or Blue Origin matters, and you can't really tell me someone from Georgia Southern has the same opportunity applying to those companies as someone from Georgia Tech.
And even looking at your Stanford comparison, look at the people who go there. It's McKinsey / Bain / BCG alumni with letters of recommendation from partners, or HBS graduates who use their connections to form a startup, etc.
Pedigree matters. If you're leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else (like Bill Gates or Michael Dell) it doesn't, but for those in a crowded pool of smart people trying to elbow their way ahead, it does. A prestigious undergraduate degree isn't the only way to build a pedigree but it's a good first start, and those with that start will outperform those without it, all else being equal.