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Starting a business while in college sounds easy and even glamorous, right? The freedom to experiment, the optimism of youth and a wealth of resources at your fingertips. But the reality is that there is an overwhelming flood of conflicting advice about easy methods to spend your time and prioritize tasks when you are just starting out and attempting to get your enterprise off the ground.
I started a company – BONDmobile app for distant and hybrid teams – as a Babson College student. As I launched and grew my enterprise, I realized how much time I was initially wasting attempting to do the whole lot as a substitute of focusing on what was really vital.
Here are 4 lessons I learned building my business and what I would do in a different way if I could start over.
Use your time effectively
In the early stages of starting a business, you’ll encounter countless opinions about what you need to do. But the truth is that all of it comes all the way down to two things: understanding the customer and building the product as quickly as possible. That’s all.
When I was just starting out, I didn’t have the technical skills to build my product – and that was a blessing in disguise. This forced me to come back up with creative, non-scalable ways to validate concepts. For example, in the first version of BOND, I manually sent reminders and responses to over 80 users via WhatsApp every day for 206 days. At 9:00 I sent the prompts and at 9:00 I sent the results. It wasn’t until day 150, when I had 89% each day energetic users, that I even considered building a tech solution, a minimum performance product to begin scaling the obligatory each day tasks.
Doing things that do not scale to start with forces you to know your customer more deeply and refine your product based on real-world feedback, which ideally forces you to remain on track.
Surround yourself with the right crowd
If you should speed up your development, surround yourself with individuals who are on the same path. For me, living in eTower—the student founder’s home at Babson—was the best decision I made. Being around entrepreneurs 24/7 has modified the way I work. I quickly realized that successful entrepreneurs share several key traits: resilience, false confidence, and a relentless work ethic.
Resilience comes from a deep attachment to the problem you are solving or a burning desire to unravel it irrespective of what. Delusional self-confidence, which could seem strange at first, is also helpful. Self-confidence comes from many sources, but maintaining it in difficult times is about having the right people and support around you. It’s about surrounding yourself with those that truly consider in you while also not being afraid to present you the tough, honest feedback you wish. You need individuals who will challenge your ideas, push you to enhance, and proceed to consider in your ability to build something truly impactful. Finally, working hard, smart and consistent is a skill that could be honed by learning from others who have been in the game longer than you and applying their hacks while developing a few of your personal.
Having like-minded entrepreneurs and other experienced advocates around you provides constant guidance and direction that can aid you improve and grow your enterprise.
Take advantage of funds and resources
For a college student, raising money could be like climbing a mountain with no peak in sight. But here’s the thing: not raising too much in the starting is actually a blessing. You don’t need a lot of capital when you are still determining what’s value paying for and what that you must master before outsourcing.
Learning to be spry is a superpower for student founders. There are countless resources – pitch competitions, accelerators, and funding opportunities – just waiting for you to make the most of them. Pitching in particular is one of the best investments you’ll be able to make in yourself. It pushes you out of your comfort zone, teaches you to think for yourself, and helps you improve your storytelling skills.
As a CEO, that you must have the option to convincingly answer three key questions: Why you? Why this? Why now? Mastering the art of pitching has helped me raise over $50,000 from competitions alone.
Don’t wait until your product is perfect
Here’s the kicker: Your product won’t ever be perfect. The worst thing you’ll be able to do is wait for perfection while delaying the opportunity to learn from real customers. I wish someone had told me sooner you could start charging before you think you are ready, because it’s actually a great sign that you just’re on the right track and provides precious real-time feedback.
When I started working in the BOND program, I was afraid of rejection. I delayed the launch for six months, pondering I needed to have the whole lot working perfectly before I asked anyone to pay me. I’ve learned that the feedback you are afraid to listen to is often exactly what that you must hear.
My advice to anyone sitting on an idea: just start. Founding BOND was the best decision of my life because it was the fastest strategy to expand my knowledge, skills and establish contacts. Remember for entrepreneurs: “The only failure is not to try.”