How College Is Like A Start-up Business

For the last twenty years I’ve followed two dreams.  My dream of continuing to help students find their potential at college and above and also my dream of owning small businesses.  I’ve been one of the lucky ones that has been able to do both of those.  It wasn’t easy by any means but when looking back in reflection, I can easily say I wouldn’t take another path.  I started contemplating how the next step in a student’s career is a lot like starting a business.  It came to me when I hit my twenty year mark, yesterday of working in higher education.  I’m big on reflective learning.  Reflective learning is where you look back on a chunk of time or a situation and you get data and insight that helps you moving forward.  A lot of people get stuck on the “reflective regret” which is where you look back and all you want to do is change that specific moment in time.  Don’t get me wrong, we all have a particular situation like that. But the danger for most, is that the situation they reflect on will consume them and they will miss everything else.  I’ll digress back to the topic now, or we could get stuck on this topic for the whole post.

When you look at starting a business, the first thing is the idea.  How it fits into the workplace and what need it fulfills.  You start coming up with a prototype and doing due diligence on product viability.  Everyone tells you that it sounds like a great idea so you embark on it.  You start working feverishly on it, constant tweaks and late nights, crawling your way to the top of the competition.  At some point, you may need capital and you start to look for venture funding.  Venture capitalists (VC) are people that invest time and money into you and your idea to help make it even bigger and better than it was.  They own a part of your business now, so you can’t let them down or waste their money.  If all goes well, your product/business goes well, you make enough money so that you and your investors are happy and you are proud that you were able to grow something into the giant that it is now.  A lot of young students that are thinking about college or trade school right now, may have that entrepreneurial itch and may choose to go that route right out of the gate.  About 10% of them will be successful at that.

So how is college like a start-up business?

The next steps that you take for determining college and beyond will mirror almost identically the same growing pains that a budding entrepreneur feels when starting a business.  So let’s break down the steps as it relates to you from above…

• “The first thing is an idea”:  So for a student, that idea starts with what to major in at college or a trade school.  Followed closely by the next step of where to go to school.
• “How it fits in the workplace and what need does it fulfill”:  What are you going to do with your major, is there a need for it, are there jobs available for it?  Does an entry level job out of college allow you some upward mobility?
• “Product Viability”:  Have you talked to people with that particular major, have you done a job shadow, have they shared where that particular industry is going with you?
• “Feedback”:  So everyone says that it sounds like a great idea so you decide that’s what you’re going to do as a major/college choice.
• “Venture Funding”‘:  No big surprise here, we know that the next step in your learning journey is going to cost money.  You may have access to grants, scholarships, loans, etc.  But what about people like your parents that co-sign on a loan or have an educational savings plan for you?  As a young adult, you need to realize the severity of taking this capital.  They expect to see results.  If your business was to take on VC, you need to perform. It’s no different in the business of “You”.  You need to perform when someone is willing to back you.  Guess what?  They already believe in you or they wouldn’t help in any type of way.
• “End Result”:  A couple years have passed since you opened, “YOU, Inc.”  You’ve been focused on your studies and you have been working hard to make sure that the time investment you have made pays off at the same time making sure that the VC money that you accepted has paid off for them as well.

Right now, when you ask students about having their own business, they are very excited and willing to put in the time.  You need to remember that “YOU, Inc.” is the most important business that you will ever run and you need to make sure that that company is running fluidly first before embarking on another one.  You have the power to do and go wherever you like, it just takes hard work and determination.

As always… Dream It, Believe It, Do It and Win It!