When you hear about startups founded by student entrepreneurs, the first company you think of is probably Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg. However there are many students doing the same thing — taking their businesses from dorm rooms to board rooms.
Solé Bicycles
Solé was started back in 2009 by Jake Medwell and Jonathan Shriftman, fraternity brothers at the University of Southern California. For students at USC, biking was the easiest way to get around, and they made it their mission to make bicycles a natural extension of their lives. They started creating fixed gear bicycles that were both stylish and affordable. They won a $15,000 grant from Inc Magazine and Alibaba, and with their savings as well as loans from family, they got their business off the ground.
Her Campus
This magazine was founded in 2009 by three Harvard University undergraduates: Stephanie Kaplan, Windsor Hanger, and Annie Wang. They entered the i3 Innovation Challenge sponsored by Harvard Student Agencies with the idea to launch an online magazine targeted toward college survival. The award secured national attention, financial assistance and free office space. It started off exclusive to Harvard and has since expanded to more than 200 college campuses.
Big Fish Presentations
Started in 2011 by Kenny Nguyen, Big Fish Presentations knows how to give an unforgettable presentation. Inspired by a boring presentation from a Fortune 500 company presented during a class at Louisiana State University, Nguyen saw an opportunity to solve a problem. With less than a thousand dollars, he started to help people create presentations that capture the attention of their audiences. Nguyen is still in school with plans to graduate in 2014. Currently all of his employees are full time undergrads and Nguyen plans to grow his company into a million dollar business.
Planana
Formerly known as trueRSVP, Planana was founded in 2011 by Fei Xiao and Anna Sergeeva, seniors at University of Southern California. The company’s mission is to ensure events are well-attended. It predicts event attendance through an algorithm, establishing a “flake rating” that will gauge the likeliness of users attending an event after they RSVP. They won the DEMOgod award and secured their first seed round funding from Tech Coast Angels. Xiao and Sergeeva transformed into Planana after realizing that predicting attendance was not enough. They joined Dreamit Austin in January of 2013 to further grow the company.
FamilyLeaf
Created in 2012 by Ajay Mehta, Henry Lio, and Wesley Zhao, FamilyLeaf plans to bring families together. In 2011, Zhao and Mehta took leave from University of Pennsylvania Wharton School and NYU to move to San Francisco. They secured money through the Y-Combinator and the Start Fund for a project that never launched. However, the pair met Lio and switched their focus to build a digital network for families. They believed it would fill the gap in social networking by providing a safe place for families to message, host news feeds and curate photo albums. FamilyLeaf was acquired by Origami Labs in July of 2013. The founders have since parted ways to work for other companies and projects.
Written by Jessica Finger. Jessica currently works for Noodle, whose mission is to help anyone make a more informed decision about their education. From preschools and colleges to local classes or finding a tutor, Noodle allows you to search thousands of opportunities, get advice from experts while staying organized.
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