Entrepreneurs on Campus
Students are told to wait until they graduate, or to drop everything. Most do neither.
Advice about starting while still studying usually comes in two forms: finish your degree first, or leave and build something. The real situation for most students lies between those, and has practical questions about time, exams, attendance, family and money. In this session a visiting founder discusses how to think about it, and what small step is possible without giving anything up.
Explore this page6 sections
The choice is presented as all or nothing, and it rarely is.
Stories about people who left college to build something are popular and misleading, because they leave out the many who did not leave and the many who did and found it hard. Students are left to guess whether they are allowed to try anything at all.
A student who wants to try something has practical questions that a talk on success does not answer. How many hours can I spare without failing a paper? Does my college mind? Whose money is this? What if it does not work?
This session does not encourage students to start a business while studying, or discourage them. It takes the question seriously and helps students see what the real trade-offs are before they decide.
What the speaker is briefed to cover
28 topics across 7 areas. Seven questions a student should settle before starting something alongside a degree.
What 'Starting' Can MeanA range of sizes, most of them small.5
- Selling a service or skill to a few people, with no registration at first
- Making and selling something small to a known group
- Helping an existing family business try a new idea
- A project with a customer in mind, not only a marks-based project
- Doing nothing yet, and finding out more first
Speakers are asked to describe options of different sizes, not to recommend one.
Time and StudiesThe practical limit.4
- How many hours a week were possible alongside classes and exams
- What they dropped to make time, and what they refused to drop
- How they handled the weeks before exams
- What happened to their marks, said plainly
College Rules and PermissionsCheck your own college; they differ.4
Rules differ between colleges, universities and courses. The speaker cannot say what yours permit. Students should read their own rules and ask.
- Attendance rules and what happens when business takes time
- Whether the college or university has any policy on student-run ventures
- Use of hostel, lab or campus facilities for something commercial
- Whom to ask: a faculty adviser, the entrepreneurship cell or the head of department
Family, Money and RiskWhose money is it, and what is at stake.4
- Talking to parents about it before starting rather than after
- Whether to use family savings, and when not to
- How to keep the business money apart from tuition and living money
- What happens to relationships if it goes badly
Age, Agreements and FormalitiesGeneral only; get proper advice.4
- Why age matters when signing agreements, and why a student under eighteen should involve a parent
- When an informal start is fine and when something should be in writing
- When a registration or tax rule starts to apply, and who to ask
- Who to turn to for legal or accounting advice rather than guessing
No legal or tax advice is given. Students should check current rules on the official sites or with a professional.
Partners and ClassmatesWorking with friends.3
- What to agree before working with a classmate
- How to talk about who does what, and who owns what
- What happens when one partner wants to stop or has an offer from a company
When to Stop or PauseAs important as when to begin.4
- Signs that studies are suffering more than they should
- How to pause without giving up what was learned
- What to do when a campus placement offer arrives while a small business is running
- What the founder would say to a student who is unsure
What the founder prepares
- A plain account of how they balanced, or failed to balance, studies and a first attempt
- What they would do differently with the time they had
- A set of questions a student should settle before starting
- Clarity that their circumstances may not match each student's
What students can ask
- Did your marks suffer, and did that matter?
- How did you talk to your parents about it?
- How did you manage exams?
- What would you do with a placement offer in hand?
- What was the smallest thing you tried first?
How the session runs
The founder speaks for about twenty minutes, working through the questions above, and the rest is open discussion. Students are asked to write one question on paper before they arrive or at the start, so that students who would not ask aloud are still heard. The speaker is briefed on what to cover and on the no-pitch rule (they may describe their work, but may not sell, recruit or ask students to sign up for anything), and on saying clearly that they are not giving legal, tax or academic advice. A member of the college's faculty stays in the room, which also helps students ask about the college's own rules.
What your students leave with
- A clearer view of what starting something small during a degree can mean
- Awareness of the questions to settle first: time, college rules, family, money
- An understanding that one can try something small without leaving anything
- A way to decide when to stop, as well as when to start
- Knowing when to speak to a faculty member, a parent or a professional
- Questions to ask a founder who began while studying
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Give students a straight discussion of the question they are already asking each other.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.