Eighteen months ago, my roommate and I came up with a crazy idea: We wanted to create a smartphone app that led students on real-world treasure hunts every day. We were two broke college kids motivated by a passion to make this campus a happier place. As I sold old clothing to thrift stores to finance our idea, I had no clue how Campus Pursuit would grow in the coming months, transforming the lives of my roommate and I in the process.
Fast-forward 18 months: Campus Pursuit is working with local businesses in addition to brands from Chicago, New York and Tel Aviv, running treasure hunts at five colleges. Thousands of students use Campus Pursuit and we plan to launch at 15 schools across seven different states in August.
I am approached by entrepreneurs at Binghamton University all the time, and I love chatting with students in the initial phases of their start-ups. College is the best place to start a business. I would highly recommend to any student thinking about starting a business in college to stop thinking about it and start working on it. Here’s why:
Most students have a portion of their expenses covered in college. Whether it be your parents’ support, financial aid, student loans or checks from your rich grandma on Long Island, most of us have some sort of financial cushion that won’t exist after graduation. Use this financial cushion to your advantage. It’s OK if you aren’t immediately drawing a salary or any initial profit from your start-up. Most college students don’t have car payments, insurance payments, electric bills and other expenses. If your college start-up fails, chances are you won’t be evicted from your home and lose your life savings. If you fail, at least you know you tried in college and gave it your best shot.
You are connected to the Internet and have access to a world of resources in the palm of your hand. We initially developed the Campus Pursuit app by using software we found on the Internet and by reading through dozens of online forums. We were able to connect with local business owners and even have 2 a.m. phone calls with companies in Tel Aviv over the Internet. You can create something in your dorm room and distribute it to millions of people on the Internet.
BU is an amazing school, filled with an extremely supportive community. When we first launched the app, there were many glitches. Countless strangers let us play around on their smartphones to fix the bugs. It’s no surprise that platforms such as Facebook, Snapchat, Yik Yak and Reddit all began on college campuses. BU students provided so much feedback about Campus Pursuit, which proved fundamental in later updates to the app.
The professors and faculty at BU want to see you succeed! There are so many resources available at this school, including the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Partnerships. One of our most important mentors at Campus Pursuit was our ENT 460 professor, Antonio Frontera. BU is full of professors with years of experience.
Don’t let anything hold you back; pursue your entrepreneurial dreams while enrolled at BU. I am graduating from BU with a degree in political science next month. The fact that I co-founded a company at BU and employ 45 student brand ambassadors at 15 schools won’t be written on my diploma at graduation. Your college experience isn’t defined by the title on your diploma, it’s defined by the projects you accomplish. Don’t wait until you graduate to pursue the projects that differentiate you from your peers.
– Scott Wisotsky is a senior majoring in political science