Facebook began as a site for Harvard University students developed out of Mark Zuckerberg’s dorm room, as the story goes. But Yahoo!, Google, Reddit and Microsoft began as projects by college students too. In fact, Binghamton University has its own share of entrepreneurs willing to forgo positions at established companies and, instead, start their own.

Around 60 people went to last year’s Startup Weekend Binghamton, many of whom were BU students, forming teams and presenting prototypes and business plans to judges who rewarded the best startup idea with a cash prize.

In September, 19 BU students traveled to the University of Michigan to attend MHacks, a “hackathon,” where student programmers and designers gathered to create applications and devices, and competed for $30,000 in cash. But why are students choosing to join or create startup companies over working for an established company? BU’s own entrepreneurs were quick to point out the major differences between their startups and other companies.

Zachary Feuerstein, a junior majoring in computer engineering, spent the last summer as an engineer on Circulate, a website for reading and sharing news articles.

“From day one interning there, I saw the results of my work put up on the website,” Feuerstein said. “I also had a lot of creative freedom to come up with whatever I wanted and not just be shut down because I was an intern.”

Circulate also gave Feuerstein some equity in the company, which gave him a stake in future profits.

“The equity was something you can never get at a large company, and it’s great because it gave me incentive to make the product as best as it can be,” Feuerstein said.

Other students working at startups agreed. Jordan Messina, who graduated from BU in 2009 with a computer science degree, has since founded a few companies. Most recently, he founded Designly, a website designed to make website creation easy.

“After school I worked in corporate America for a few months, and it was painful. Things move slow, and you can’t make much impact. I was miserable and uninspired,” Messina said. “Startups, whether you start your own or join one early, give you the opportunity to learn more than you can imagine and accomplish so much in such short periods of time.”

While the rewards of a startup succeeding can be great, money isn’t the only reason these entrepreneurs choose startups.

“I spent all summer creating this website, and it is the greatest feeling when many people use and love something that you made,” Feuerstein said.

David Corrigan is a graduate student studying computer science who wants to use his company to help BU students. He’s making his own software company called Hourglass Applications.

“I have been writing applications for a few years while mentoring students willing to learn mobile programming,” Corrigan said. “At one time I had as many as five students working with me on mobile applications just because they wanted to learn.”

Corrigan wants to keep the company local, employing BU students and offering an internship program to mentor students in software and application development.

Startups provide a wealth of opportunities for students, but they also present unique challenges.

“I did everything from traditional back end web development to accounting, payroll and doing the dishes,” Messina said. “When you have a small team and you need to move fast, you’re above nothing and have to get your hands dirty, even if it means quite literally.”

Creating your own business can be risky and will definitely require hard work, but smaller, growing companies also offer opportunities and rewards that bigger companies don’t. Who knows? The next Silicon Valley phenomenon might start right here at Binghamton.