Have It All By Graduation

May is finally here, and with it, graduation season. Thousands and thousands of young people will be leaving the comfort of college and university campuses across the country and will be grabbing onto the first rung of the career ladder as newly minted professionals. In some ways, things are much different for new graduates now than they were just a few years ago – the rise of AI and automation over the past couple of years have changed both job requirements and the skill sets of new workers. The job market has also been in flux since the pandemic, with the hiring spree of 2021 and 2022 followed by gradual downsizing at some of the largest companies. With the unpredictability of the job market, my advice to students was to start a business while in school, even if it’s just a side hustle.

There are plenty of reasons to start a business while in school. Most students still have a safety net while in school – depending on the living situation, the average student has dependable housing, a meal plan or grocery money, health insurance through their parents, and cheap or free transportation between home and campus. Students usually don’t have to worry about a mortgage or daycare for children – the responsibilities are minimal for most. This gives students an opportunity to focus on the task at hand in a way that they may not have in the future when the responsibilities and bills come due.

Access to a college campus means access to many resources that aren’t available to the general public. While some state university library resources are available to those who choose to use them, students also have access to special pricing for technology, free or inexpensive licenses for software suites, campus maker spaces, and mentorship from faculty and staff. While I ran the Undergraduate Incubator Program at The University of Iowa, one of our biggest selling points was the network of mentors connected to the university and to our program. We had connections to experts in engineering, computer science, and the hard sciences, as well as alumni willing to give back to the program. While the students had to put in the work building the business, they had the backstop of resources at their disposal.

Depending on the type of business being built, a university campus can function as a perfect test market. Thousands of students going through the same experience tend to have the same problems that go unsolved. Many of those students have access to disposable income, either their own or that of their parents. This built-in audience allows student entrepreneurs to test early prototypes and gather feedback without spending much money on travel or perks. You may have to spend a little bit of money on coffee shop gift cards, but you’ll be getting your money’s worth in the long run.

Another door unlocked during the college experience is access to student-specific pitch and business competitions. Most large institutions run internal competitions for their own students, and some universities have external-facing competitions. The Undergraduate Incubator Program would even hold pitch competitions at the end of each semester for the top students in the class, where we would give out a couple thousand dollars in prizes to continue fueling student business success. (This was another main selling point for joining my program – if you put in the work, you would be rewarded.)

Most of all, college is the one time in a person’s life where certain mistakes are tolerated and celebrated as learning experiences. The entire purpose of the 4-year experience is to gain the skills necessary to have a successful career for the next 40 years. While one can learn some things from textbooks and mentors, the best way to learn some skills is through hands-on experience. Failure is not always the end of the line – sometimes, it’s just a roadblock that an individual needs to navigate. A better support system exists to help those in their late teens and early twenties who may stumble. Negotiation is easier in most cases, and the leadership skills learned from slips and stumbles will pay dividends in the future.

The best part about starting something during college or while you are young is knowing that you’re building financial freedom in an uncertain world. The era of working forty years for the same large corporation or institution is long gone. External streams of income are transient, but a side hustle or small business rewards you as much or more than the time you invest building the enterprise. To this day, I thoroughly enjoy meeting young people and hearing about the different ways they are working to set themselves up for long-term success. I wish that I had been as ambitious two decades ago, when I was that age.

If you are young and just starting off in life, or if you know someone who is, one of the best things you can do to help them is to encourage that young person to start something. Think of a problem in your life or theirs and why that problem is not being solved. There is a good chance that, with a bit of ingenuity and a few late nights, a solution is within reach. With publicly available tools and the resources available on campus, there are few solutions out of the reach of today’s young people. Software can be coded in hours and prototypes can be fabricated in days, rather than the weeks required just a decade ago.

Graduating with both a degree and the key to a business is the best combination of credentials a young person will need to live a great life and to have an amazing career. We’re counting on the next generation to solve a lot of problems, so it’s up to the adults in their lives to make sure they start on the right foot.