Final Year: My Last year at UWI

Article Courtesy of Brazen Careerist

My business partner Yu-kai Chou and I started companies while we were undergrads. Not only did we have a great experience that added to our skillsets, but more importantly, we were able to find out what the entrepreneurial life was like before we committed to it full-time.

Here are the benefits and advantages of starting a company as an undergrad:

1. The safety net

As an entrepreneur, you will fail. The great thing with failing as an undergraduate is that you have your university safety net. You can take your failure as a complete learning experience; just another class you took for extra-curricular activities. You don’t have a mortgage to pay, student loans to pay, and you’ll most likely still have your parents support. Milk this time and take advantage immediately!

2. There are potential mentors everywhere

Find a professor that you admire and let him know about your startup idea. More likely than not, your professor will gladly give you advice or refer you to someone who can help you out. More importantly, a lot of professors previously worked in industry so they can potentially connect you with a lot of influential people. If you don’t have any professors with startup experience, go sit in at an MBA class until you find a professor you admire. Talk to him and make him your mentor!

3. Start a team with your peers

Not only is your university full of great potential mentors, but you also have a wide selection of peers that can hop onto your team. If you have a good friend that seems to have the entrepreneurial spirit, go ahead and start a company with him. There’s nothing better and more fun that starting a company with your best friends. Don’t have entrepreneurial minded best friends? You can go to the engineering school if you need a programmer, the art school if you need a designer, or the communications school if you need a business developer. Network within your university!

4. Leverage organizations

This is what Yu-kai and I did super well. We leveraged our business fraternity Delta Sigma Pi, we leveraged the organization we founded on campus called Bruin Consulting, and we leveraged the entrepreneurial MBA community by joining the Entrepreneurs Association. Find the business organizations on your campus, join them, and leverage your contacts to build a team, get mentors, and refine your idea. Remember, don’t start your company alone; you are exponentially more powerful with a solid team.

5. There is always more time as an undergrad

You can try to argue with me on this one, but as an undergrad, you have WAY LESS responsibilities and A LOT MORE time to do what you really want to do. Think about it: you don’t have to go to class, you can read business books during class, there is no wasted time on travel (if you live on campus), and there is no 40 hour work week. Utilize this time to work on your startup.

6. Beef up your resume and shine above your peers

You SHOULD have a corporate internship as an undergrad. Instead of adding another corporate internship the next year though, you should compliment your experience and resume by starting up your own company. You will gain a myriad of skillsets that you will not acquire while working the corporate world, and more importantly, you will stand out above your peers because most of them will NOT have started their own company. This can be the X-factor that gets you your dream job out of college.

7. Understand the lifestyle before committing to corporate

Out of all the benefits and advantages, this is #1 … or #7. Whatever, save the best for last, right? You need to know the entrepreneurial lifestyle before you jump into it post college. The nights are long, the pay is non-existent, and the passion has to be there. Once you have that experience, it gives you a complete understanding of your potential career paths. Take the leap, because the safety net is there and the experience is more valuable than anything else you can do in college!

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