While Tufts Student Resources' new initiative grants up to $10,000 to student entrepreneurs to cover the initial costs of founding a business, there's a lot more than money that goes into running a startup from your dorm room. While the reward, for some, is worth it, Jumbos who take on the task themselves are forced to juggle commitments in a way that full-time business people simply do not have to.
So where do students find the time?
According to Ronald Croen (A '76), Tufts' current entrepreneur-in-residence and a visiting lecturer at the Gordon Institute's Entrepreneurial Leadership Program, the answer is simple: enthusiasm.
"It amazes me how much energy and passion students display when they have to carry the burden of a full course load along with running a business," Croen said. "When you're passionate, you throw yourself into whatever you're doing. And those are the kinds of people who are usually successful in all aspects of life."
Gregory Hering (E '10) is one of those people. Hering founded Emergent Energy Group with two classmates during his freshman year at Tufts. Their goal was to be on the front lines of alternative energy development. Hering envisioned building wind turbines and helping to shift the world toward greener energy practices. Now, five years later, Hering is working on a new energy venture, and Emergent Energy, still in the hands of two of its founding members, has developed sustainable wind and solar power sources for large corporations.
Hering recounted times as a student entrepreneur when he put in 50 or 60 hours of work per week for Emergent on top of his schoolwork. But while the job could often prove a demanding commitment, he stressed that his time spent at Emergent was worthwhile.
"Emergent set me up perfectly for what I'm doing now," he said.
Starting a student-run company, Hering said, provides undergraduates with essential real-world experience.
"If you go out and learn by doing things hands-on, no matter how small-scale, it is way better than reading about the same material in a textbook," he said. "You are learning and developing skills early on that you wouldn't otherwise have."
Columbia University student Stephanie Morrow, who transferred from Tufts and now owns and operates her own music management company in New York, found the conflicting roles of student and entrepreneur stressful.
"I'd be trying to study for a midterm and trying to book a show, and I'd want to give my full attention to both," she said. "Everyone I worked with did music as a full-time job and didn't really sympathize with the ‘homework' excuse."
Croen suggested that the recent upsurge of interest in student entrepreneurship can in part be attributed to the current economic climate.
"The once certain security of long-term employment is diminished," Croen said. "A graduate either needs the ability to get a job or the ability to create a job. Both are valuable skills, but you have a greater degree of self-sufficiency in entrepreneurship. You can be less dependent on outside factors and more dependent on your own initiative and creativity."
In some fields, a university setting can provide the ideal environment for business start-ups.
Mark Abramowicz (LA '10) and senior Cal Shapiro found an on-campus niche for their student-oriented business. Abramowicz and Shapiro's website "Jump Off Campus" aims to restructure the off-campus housing system.
"[We want to] target the inefficiencies between how students, landlords and the university interact," Abramowicz said.
The partners' position as students, Abramowicz said, gave them a distinct advantage in forming their business thanks to their established relationships and experiences on the Hill.
"We knew how the process worked because we had been through it, and we knew the demographic, so we had the best insight," he said. "As students, we are part of a community that has access to the administration, the landlords and other students who could tell us what they wanted out of the site."
College students also enjoy a relative lack of responsibility, a trait not typically shared by young professionals, Abramowicz said.
"We have the ability and the freedom to take greater risks now, unlike when we're older with a family to support and bills to pay," he said.
Morrow cited access to resources, professors and alumni at Tufts as a vital resource for student entrepreneurs.
"Having a network of people who have already been through the process and achieved success and who want to help you is a powerful resource," Morrow said.
Abramowicz, Hering and Morrow have all participated in the Gordon Institute's Entrepreneurial Leadership Program.
"To know the process that's been tried and true and constantly innovated is critical," Hering said. "That knowledge is what makes you a professional entrepreneur, not some random crazy person with an idea."
Despite the demands on her time, Morrow said that she would not trade her hectic schedule for the usual student experience.
"Every time I see my band play a show, or meet a new fan or see people really get into the performance, it's so rewarding, and it's so much fun," she said. "I can't imagine not doing it."
