Examples of Businesses Started by College Entrepreneurs
Aquarium service
Coffee shop
College marketing, promotions, and consulting firm
Computer retailer
Computer sales and repairs
Custom cookie business
Deejay business
Designing classic video game controllers
Dorm design and dorm accessories
Driftwood art furniture and accessory company
European gay wedding service
Genealogy software company
Glow-in-the-dark bicycle technology
Greeting card company
Gymnastics business
International network of reptile breeders
Landscaping company
Manufacturing and retailing gardening accessories
Mobile aircraft detailing service
Motivational speaking company
Music business
Online investment newsletter
PDA communications computer consulting
Real-estate developer
Rehabilitation software company
Replica hockey jersey company
Residential and commercial painting company
Retail clothing store
Sign manufacturer
Summer storage service for college students
Web hosting company
Web sites where students can list and exchange textbooks
Web/graphic design
Window cleaning service
Workout facility/gym
Well-Known Businesses Started by College Students:
In addition to Microsoft, Dell, Napster, Netscape, FedEx, Apple,
Tripod, and TheGlobe.com, here are some other enterprises started by
college entrepreneurs:
Virante, "Web marketing services for emerging
growth and high potential companies," started by
Ryan Allis
when he was in high school and revived when
he was a student at the University of North Carolina.
Mistico Jewelry, started by Missy Fine in
high school and continued when she went to college at Babson College,
Babson Park, MA.
Plaxo, started by Todd Masonis and Cameron Ring
when Ring was working on his master's degree. Plaxo keeps people
connected by solving the problem of out-of-date contact information.
CertificateSwap.com,
founded by Cameron Johnson when he was a 19-year-old student at Virginia Tech and later
sold. Johnson then started EMazingSites.com,
a search-engine optimization site.
Dream On Information Technology, Inc.,
founded by University of Central Florida students Alex Volin and
Keith Rogers, offering Web design and technical outsourcing.
GoSMG.com, started by Jason Smith while he was a
student at Cypress College, is a fundraising product and program
distributor.
TicketAdvantage, founded by Adam Witty
when he was a senior at Clemson University, provides transactions for
ticket buyers and ticket sellers to sports and entertainment events
around the world.
Inventables,
which creates "how-to" materials for entrepreneurs, inventors, and engineers, is actually
the second company that Zach Kaplan and Keith Schacht started as
students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Kaplan, a
mechanical engineering major, and Schacht, a computer science major,
joined Lehigh University marketing and finance major Brian Witlin, in
founding Lever Works, Inc, an Internet applications development
company that the trio sold to e-learning company Leo Media, Inc.
College Prowler, founded as a
class project by Luke Skurman as a student at Carnegie Mellon
University, offers guides to the top 200 colleges.
Axon Sleep Research Laboratories
was hatched when Brown University student Samee McDannel told a friend after a
difficult exam that a groggy morning had made her test go poorly.
From this conversation sprung the inspiration of an alarm clock,
SleepSmart, that would guarantee the end of sleepy, bleary-eyed
mornings by monitoring a user's sleep cycle. Business-oriented Brown
student Eric Shashoua soon joined Samee. In 2003, Axon Labs won the
Brown University Entrepreneurship Program Elevator Speech competition
after pitching their SleepSmart product.
AllDorm Inc.,
a college furnishings manufacturer, was started by Ryan Garman, Kevon Saber,
Chad Arimura, Ivan Dwyer, who met at Santa Clara University.
