Students : Launch Your Startup The Soonest Possible Whilst You Are Studying

Starting a business is always a challenging goal. Aspiring entrepreneurs need to take all the Students : Launch Your Startup The Soonest Possible Whilst You Are Studying advantages they can get to increase their success rates. Strike while the iron is hot, as they say.

One of the things young aspirants should do is to start as soon as they can, preferably while they are studying. There are several practical reasons for this. Take a look at them below.

Resources and Courses for Students to Learn More About Startups in 2022

10 Important Skills and Qualities for Startup Entrepreneurs

Why Start as a University Student?

Work with Peers

Being among peers is one of the best things for entrepreneurs. They are in a learning environment, full of imaginative, hopeful, and ambitious individuals. A great thing about being in university while taking the steps to launch a startup is they are among people who have a similar mindset and vision as them.

Entrepreneurs can use this as an opportunity to create a team of equals who can help them proceed with their plan. This is a time- and cost-efficient way to start because it makes assembling a group of people with specific specializations is easier as they are probably already working together as peers.

Moreover, it can help save money because they do not need to hire people to become part of the team, thus they can do away with the expense of paying salaries. Instead, entrepreneurs have partners who they treat as equals and co-founders.

Captive Pool of Respondents

Entrepreneurs do not need to go far when doing market research and getting market feedback. They already have a captive audience in the form of university peers. This gives entrepreneurs an open market composed of individuals within the same segment, which means that they can cater to this immediate market better.

Having a captured pool of respondence is definitely a good thing, especially for startup owners. According to Steve Blank (2010), a startup is “an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business model.”

Startup entrepreneurs are always on the verge of discovering profitable, scalable, and replicable business models, so they need significant amounts of feedback to further improve their offerings and system.

Less Pressure

One thing aspiring startup owners should consider is their circumstances during and after university. Those who are considering to put off launching a startup after graduation should remember that they may have fewer responsibilities while attending university, as opposed to after graduation.

Once graduated, they may be pressured to earn by securing a job. A few years down the road and they may have a family that they need to prioritize instead of pursuing their dreams of establishing a business.

Of course, this is not to discount the fact that a lot of students getting higher education are not privileged enough. Many work while studying, and some may have decided to pursue higher education after they have had families.

Student Discounts

A practical reason why it is better to launch a startup while attending university is that they can take advantage of various student discounts, mostly from software companies. A good example of this is Microsoft’s free access to the Office suite. GitHub also has a free Student Developer Pack.

Many other companies offer free or discounted programs for students. Instead of paying for subscriptions, students can get a head start not only by starting early but also by saving money through these student offers.

Higher Chances for Success

Overall, it is more sensible to start a business while still in university because it offers higher chances for success. It is almost impossible to penetrate the market after graduating because they do not have a captive audience, which they can use for market research and feedback.

Aspirants are also more likely to have time and energy to spend on the planning and operations stage because they do not have to work the daily grind, that is, 40 hours for five days a week, sometimes more.

In some countries, a certain portion of the citizenry is required to do national service, which gets them out of commission for a few months or years. After they come back from service, their priorities could have changed and access to resources could have become more difficult.

Famous Startups Created by Students Whilst Studying

Some of the most successful companies, today were started by students. The following are just some examples.

Facebook

Mark Zuckerberg launched The Facebook in 2004 while attending Harvard (History, n.d.). It was initially intended to create a social network for Harvard students. It is now one of the top social media sites.

Google

Google was founded in 1995 by Stanford students Larry Page and Sergey Brin right in their dorm rooms (Google, n.d.). Today, Google is the biggest search engine on the Internet.

Dell

Michael Dell founded PC Unlimited which went on to become Dell while still a student at the University of Texas in 1984 (Dell, n.d.).

WordPress

Matt Mullenweg was a student at the University of Houston in 2003 when he started blogging using the WordPress predecessor cafe2b. After Michel Valdrighi left the blogging tool, Mullenweg took it upon himself to develop a similar tool with Mike Little (WordPress, n.d.).

Snapchat

Snapchat was founded at Stanford by Evan Spiegel, Reggie Brown, and Bobby Murphy (Biography, n.d). Spiegel (CEO and designer) and Brown (chief marketing officer) met at the Kappa Sigma fraternity, and later on recruited Murphy (CTO), who had already graduated.

Time Magazine

Time Magazine was founded by Henry R. Luce and Briton Hadden in 1923 while attending Yale (Brittanica, n.d.). The two journalists intended to launch a magazine that would serve as a systematic and concise source of the latest information about the happenings in the United States.

Fedex

Frederick W. Smith came up with the idea for FedEx as a Yale student where he wrote a term paper outlining its concept. He later brought this idea to life in 1971 (Fedex, n.d.).

The Bottom Line

Starting early offers lots o advantages for entrepreneurs, giving them leverage not only to plan a startup but also to launch the business itself. Students might do well by making the most of their years in university by establishing a startup.