Some of the world’s most successful companies started in college dorm rooms. It’s not surprising to see entrepreneurship rising in popularity amongst college students. The combination of student passion and university support has led to numerous startups emerging on campuses across the country.
Working with college students and startups around the globe, we love watching students take the proverbial plunge into entrepreneurship. In this blog series, we will make stops at various college campuses looking to profile top student-led startups.
Second up: the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Incubators such as the iVenture Accelerator and Technology Entrepreneur Center contributed to such success.
Our team identified four student startups that have received recognition in the UIUC startup ecosystem. We’ve asked the founders to share their stories and provide some advice for future entrepreneurs.
First up, we connected with Talia Farrell-Rosen, co-founder of Uchange Scholars. Uchange Scholars is a mentoring organization that connects high schoolers from underrepresented backgrounds with college students for one-on-one assistance with the college application and decision process. Talia has a degree in Clinical/Community Psychology and Spanish from UIUC, and she believes that everyone deserves a quality higher education.
Q. What inspired you to create Uchange Scholars? What problem are you trying to solve?
High school students from underrepresented backgrounds (e.g. students who are part of racial/ethnic minorities, students who will be first generation college students, and students from low-socioeconomic backgrounds) face stress, confusion, and worry while navigating the college application process, often with little to no help. Going through the college application process ourselves, we know it is near impossible to successfully apply and get into college without the right support. Uchange Scholars makes the college application process less stressful and a more positive experience for high schoolers from underrepresented backgrounds. Our solution is simple – we provide one-on-one peer mentorship, consistent support and accountability for a year, and free college swag as an extra treat!
Q. What has been your proudest moment?
Our proudest moment was when our mentees celebrated their acceptance to their dream colleges knowing how hard they have worked to complete each part of the college application. The feeling we get when our mentees succeed is what makes all the hard work and struggle worth it.
Q. What are the most important qualities a founder should have?
Most importantly, a founder should be passionate about solving a problem, whatever that may be. They also need to stay consistent and trust in their startup’s mission, no matter how tough it gets.
Q. What is something you wish you knew before you started your entrepreneurial journey?
It’s normal to go through a lot of changes to your start-up. It’s okay to figure things out as you go– you will fail many times. In fact, it is better to test out different ways of approaching the problem you aim to solve as there is no one right solution.
If you are interested in learning more about Uchange Scholars and their mission, check out their website, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Next up, we connected with Saher Afridi, co-founder of Xchanje, a mobile marketplace that enables users to buy, sell, and rent clothing from other users nearby in order to incentivize sustainable shopping and increase accessibility of apparel. Saher is studying Finance and Entrepreneurship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Q. What inspired you to create Xchanje? What problem are you trying to solve?
While living in a sorority house, I was constantly asked by members if they could borrow my clothes. It was hard to keep track of who borrowed what, and it got to the point where my friends were borrowing my clothes more than I was able to wear them. Xchanje makes it possible for clothing lenders to profit off their clothes without having to sell them.
Q. What are the most important qualities a founder should have?
Both of our founders, Saher and Tyler, have an optimistic outlook on the success of the business and truly believe that it will succeed one day. We believe that the most important quality of a founder is to believe in yourself and the business you are working on.
Q. What is something you wish you knew before you started your entrepreneurial journey?
I wish I understood the importance of having recurring meetings set on the calendar. As a student start-up, we all get busy at times so it is important to have expectations written down and scheduled to make sure that we are all kept accountable.
If you are interested in learning more about Xchanje and their mission, check out their website, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Next up, we connected with Benjamin Ray and Nolan Clarke, co-founders of VRtuMind. VRtuMind is an accessible mindfulness application that utilizes virtual reality experiences to aid students’ mental health. Their goal is to make people happier on a global scale.
Q. What inspired you to create VRtuMind? What problem are you trying to solve?
Social media is founded with a vision to build community and bring the world closer together. However, as these platforms grow, they evolve mechanisms that exploit innate drives for social validation to shape your desires. We use similar mechanisms to instead help direct where you want to go in your life.
Q. What are the most important qualities a founder should have?
I think it’s essential to talk about the worst moments. Founding a company is one of the most manic-depressive things you could do. The worst moments are when you do an insane amount of planning, and it doesn’t come together. Bad moments happen 5-10x more than good moments, so founders must learn to love failure. You did 20% of the work by building the thing, the other 80% is in learning what you did wrong.
Q. How do you stay motivated? What keeps you going during hardships?
When you decide to start something new, it feels like you’re pushing against some invisible force that wants you to take a more traditional path. Most people around you reinforce this. Your best friend might be getting a 6-figure engineering salary and here you are, living with your parents, tinkering with some idea you had four years ago that might not work out. When you’re doing something new, there usually isn’t much external validation to make you feel comfortable. It’s essential that you become someone who thinks very deeply about what you are doing, becoming very intentional about your actions. If you plan well enough beforehand, you can feel comfortable setting non-negotiable rules about how you live your life. The last thing you want to do is rely on motivation. Ask yourself this: When you have a baby, will you stop feeding it when you run out of motivation?
If you are interested in learning more about VRtuMind and their mission, check out their website, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Finally, we connected with Joshua James, co-founder of Allergenius Baking Co. The Allergenius Baking Co. aims to be the most accessible bakery in America that provides delicious, vegan, non-GMO cookies & other baked goods.
Q. What has been your proudest moment?
As part of our high school entrepreneurship course, INCubatorEDU, in which we founded the company, we were able to pitch our business in a small local competition with a prize pool of $2,500. After winning this competition, we were pooled into the program’s National Pitch Summit semifinal round, then selected by the judges to compete in the finals! My proudest moment with Allergenius was winning 1st place & $15,000 in prize grants at the INCubatorEDU National Pitch Summit in July 2019. More about our journey here.
Q. What are the most important qualities a founder should have?
Above all, a founder should have vision and purpose. Vision: An unfettered, unwavering belief in your company’s mission to successfully solve critical problems, as well as a vision for yourself and your own capabilities. Purpose: A clear idea of why you’re passionate about solving those critical problems, beyond just making money.
Q. What is something you wish you knew before you started your entrepreneurial journey?
This question is always hard for me because the core function of venturing as an entrepreneur is learning by doing. There’s nothing that someone can know prior to beginning their journey that will prepare them for the roller coaster of entrepreneurship- it’s exciting & inspiring, yet challenging and a tremendous amount of work. I guess the one thing I’d say is: Josh, entrepreneurship is so addicting.
If you are interested in learning more about Allergenius Baking Co. and their mission, check out their website, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
It is truly exciting to see so many students take action to make a difference in the world. If you know of or are a part of an awesome college startup, feel free to contact us through email, LinkedIn, or Instagram! And if you would like to stay up to date on the next college startup, subscribe below.
