tech-company, idea, e-commerce, competitionI’m 17 now and I would be soon joining a college, and I also have a startup idea at the back of my head. How do i manage both studies and business?
Plus I was thinking of going hyperlocal, but to attend college I would have to go to an altogether different place.
What should I do? Should I wait for college to get over? Will this not let other competitors in the market gain monopoly?
Consider that the college environment could actually be a benefit. If you are studying business, or another field related to your idea for your startup, you may make friends with like-minded people you could partner with. As a team, you may be able to implement your idea more quickly. You may find people who are expert in an area that you would have had to learn from scratch. You’ll definitely have access to smart people who can help solve problems and brainstorm new features / markets you haven’t thought of. Even your professors can help.
Just be sure to create solid contracts, so everyone knows how much of the company they own, how all income would be split up, etc.
A flexible professor may even consider this a project that you could use for college credit.
While I was getting my MBA, I spent half the time building a web-based business, so it is certainly possible to do both. After I completed my studies I did the business full-time after that.
If your business requires that you be in the specific location and you have the ability to execute that business idea (i.e. money, etc), then you might have to refocus your college for a more local one. Initially you may be depending on other people to operate the business part of the time.
If you opt to go to college and hold off starting the business, you have to ask yourself if it’s probable that someone else would start a similar business.
If it’s no probable, then you might at least start college while building out the business plan and having a much stronger business case before you start executing.
If played right, any amount of college can help you get a better idea of what needs to be done for your business so you start it with a strong financial base. You might try to focus your initial classes on those which will help with your business idea (Accounting, Finance, others).
In the end, while I believe college is beneficial for the knowledge it will provide, it’s not essential or a guarantee of success. There have been very successful college graduates, but there have been very successful college drop-outs like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg…
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