




That’s the impression got when I was in college.

But you know what’s cool?

The times are starting to change.







1. University incubators and accelerators

ASU SkySongUniversities all over the nation are offering extremely kickass resources to student entrepreneurs, including funding, incubators and accelerators.


Not every university has invested tens of millions of dollars in student entrepreneurship like ASU has…but many universities at least have a business plan competition that includes a nice pile o’ cash as a prize.

Beware, though: universities have essentially 2 reasons for helping out:

1. a genuine sense of helping students pursue entrepreneurship as a career path, and


2. University business consulting.

Universities often offer programs specifically designed to help the surrounding business community.  As a student, you’re prime to take advantage of these for your own startup endeavors.

For example, ASU has the Innovation Advancement Program that does business and legal consulting (they charge around $400 for a semester of work; many schools do it for free).  The University of Connecticut has the Connecticut Center for Education and Innovation (CCEI)–which does business consulting–and the IP Law Clinic, which offers free patent filing and analysis.

 3. Meetup groups.

meetupMeetup.com is a godsend for student entrepreneurs.  Meetup is essentially the platform for groups of people united around a common interest to get together and chill / do work.

You know how 98% of people just give you a weird look when you say you want to pursue entrepreneurship?  Well, Meetup is a great way to connect with the other 2% of people that get you, man!


It’s amazing to me how few students actually take advantage of Meetup.  For example, I help run a Meetup group in Hartford, CT, that hosts monthly coworking.  After 10 or so sessions, a university student has only shown up once.  Why university students would turn down free pizza, free beer, and the opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs at a coworking event is a topic that must be outside of my expertise, because to me, it makes no friggin sense.

4. Professors who actually care about entrepreneurship.

Not every professor at your school is some old stodgy academic who’s spent the last 30 years complaining about having to teach 6 credit hours this semester instead of 3 and writing academic journal articles that no one will ever read.



At ASU, I met a professor who had made serious cha-ching starting companies, and basically just chilled out and taught classes for the semi-retirement lifestyle (“I have to go to New York this weekend for a board meeting” was one of the most frequent things I heard him say”).

How many kids do you think actually went to his office to ask about starting a company?  I don’t know, but I’m guessing it wasn’t more than a few.  And like most genuinely helpful people, I sense he would have been willing to help almost anyone that went to his office hours.

How to find professors who actually care about entrepreneurship:

  • Go to your school’s management or marketing department (in the School of Business), and ask the dean / someone else who seems like they are in the loop with the department if any professors there have a background in entrepreneurship.  (Of course, if the business school has an entrepreneurship department or classes–which ASU did–talk with them).
  • If you’re want to do a web startup, do the same thing with your school’s computer science department.
  • Be wary of professors who “teach entrepreneurship” but don’t have an actual background in starting companies (some of them just researched entrepreneurship academically; I’ve found those professors often don’t have any practical knowledge about entrepreneurship they could pass on to you).


5. Computer science clubs and classes; and university software development programs.

Looking for a programmer?  Don’t pay some shady freelancers on ODesk to program your app…try to get kids from your school’s computer science department to do it instead!


But there’s other ways, too:


If you can find a way to get in on this…I know Arizona State University and the University of Connecticut have it, for example…it’s essentially a goldmine of free (or inexpensive) programmers.  For example, UConn only charges around $7,000 for a year of programming to non-students (and I’ve seen this for as low as $1,500 at other universities)…and has even done work for free for student startups.



Did I get you excited?  Good.


Do they say “startups have to pay a fee”?



 ”RC, it almost seems like your advice is too simple…just go talk to people, and they’ll help you out??”

YES, you dolt!!!

Just showing up is 80% of the win!

Here’s an example:

Srinivas RaoYesterday, A-list blogger Srinivas Raofounder of the awesome interview podcast BlogcastFM and the personal development blog The Skool of Life, hosted an office hours session on Spreecast that was advertised to everyone.

Here, Srini engaged one-on-one with attendees, and you could ask him questions and talk with him about basically anything!

I learned 2 things from yesterday’s office hours:

1.) Srinivas is an awesome guy that genuinely cares about his readers, and,

2.) It’s amazing how few people took advantage of this opportunity.

To my utter amazement, there were only about 15 people who logged on to the Spreecast.

Now, that made for an awesome and intimate event…but think of how many people missed the chance to build a cool relationship with a top blogger and the other awesome people who attended the session.

All they had to do was log on to the site!  I bet you some of those people who missed the event last night are cold-emailing him pitches for exposure today…an e-mail I’m sure will go straight into the Recycle Bin.

The point is: there’s so much that can be gained from just showing up.  And as you beginto develop your startup career and bud as an entrepreneur, never forget the value that comes from persistence and simply being present.

Just show up.


Let me know in the comments below!



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