What venture to start in college?

I was talking to a friend of mine who is a freshman at Babson and very entrepreneurial but has not found the right opportunity to pursue yet.  We discussed a few different ideas and ways to come up with ideas and here are some interesting things to consider if you are in college and want to start a venture:

• Time commitment- With class and other commitments odds are you will not be able to dedicate more than 30-40 hours a week on your venture (at best).  Your schedule may also be variable so you probably should not start a venture that requires you to spend 80 hours a week on it or requires you to be at a certain place Mon-Fri 9-5. 
• Cashflow requirements- When do you want to start making money?  How much?  Some ventures will require months and months of planning and groundwork before you even make $1 in revenue, if you have bills to pay while in college and no other alternative means of earning cash, you need to take that into account.
• Leverage your assets- Being in college is not a bad thing, in fact it is one of the best times to start a venture.  Leverage advice from faculty, library resources, business plan competitions, help from other students, free press, speaker events, networking events, and student discounts to get your venture off the ground.

These are just some of the things that came up, I am a big fan of starting internet ventures and broker/arbitrage ventures (where you just act as a middleman of some sort) while you are in college.  They allow you the flexibility to invest as much or as little time as you have available, require less financial resources, and can reach positive cash flow quicker than product development, retail, and other capital/time intensive ventures. 

Comments

[Ross Beyeler]

I know there are a few students on campus that focus on affiliate selling and with drop shipping models. This is great for an internet venture since you never have to touch the product! One thing I would like to see is a more concrete resource to find suppliers and manufacturers of unique products. It seems that only a few people have the right contacts to tap into those items.

[David Askaripour]

Excellent post. I started a business in college and it was truly the best place ever to start. Everyday I was able to network with other students, professors, and different organizations -- it was great. Your college years are the best years for starting something, so get to it!

Dave
FTT

[Brian Balfour]

Something else related to item number 3 is to leverage other students. Try and come up with a business that would appeal to other college students. That way you have easy and cheap access to your target market.

[Neville]

I started www.houseofrave.com when I
was in high school and got it making decent money in college.  All of my
inventory was shipped from California by a 3rd party company, allowing me to
only send orders and deal with customers.  This allowed me to live a
regular college life but still bring in good money on a very part time basis.

[Dan Marques]

That's awesome!