Welcome to the Club

Welcome to the first edition of Student 2 Startup, a guide to share the entrepreneurship lessons they don’t teach you in school.

I’m writing this newsletter because I have worked with hundreds of student founders, from undergraduates to post-docs from over 32 countries. Some of whom have raised significant $$$, awarded some great honors like Forbes 30U30, and been in Techstars, Hult Prize, YC, and the likes.

And, to be honest—I also started my journey (totally by accident by the way) into entrepreneurship as a masters student. Which boy is that a long story we will crack into one day!

And though I get to teach and work with a lot of awesome universities and accelerators, I want to share some lessons and support I wish I had building my business to student founders without geographical limits.

So, join me each week in this newsletter as we have a snappy online conversation around how to start, build, or grow your business and turn your idea from student to startup.

Each week, I try to highlight a Question of the Day, or what I like to call a QoD. Here is this week’s which I know has been bounced around many of conversations I have been having.

One kudos to knowing what you are interested in and knowing when to ask for help. So, this newsletter series will teach you some core entrepreneurship lessons with practical tasks to peel back what kind of startup you want to build and how. (Next week, we are going to discuss how to find a startup-worthy problem to solve.)

But before just diving headfirst in, I would encourage you now to stop and think about you and what your interests, passions, and curiosities are.

Why? My philosophy is that you should be building something that one, you want to build, and two, that is aligned with your goals and passions. Founders make the business, not the other way around.

So try this exercise: I call it having a “coffee date” with yourself. Sit with a cup of coffee (or preferred hot beverage) for 15 minutes or so and ask yourself the following questions and write your answers down:

• What do I like studying? Why did I pick this field/major?

• What am I curious about? Any industries, verticals, niche or not

• What do I like doing? This can be things in your schooling, activities for your clubs, hobbies, and little things in the day or outside of school/work life.

• What comes easy for me to do (that maybe doesn’t for other people)?

• What do I hate doing?

• What problems out there really bother me?

• Where are my interests outside of school or work?

By being self-aware first, you will be able to have a more aligned venture, and more alignment in your business will hopefully mean you are happier, more fulfilled, and making more of an impact.

Have a question? Submit your own QoD here to have it answered in a subsequent edition!

This section is where I highlight something, a business, product, book, podcast, whatever, that I am currently loving and share with you.

Much like every other person who gets hyped around organization and paper products, I am loving this wall calendar by Hi Communication. Having a real calendar (and this one is my whole year!) I can get a holistic picture of what’s actually happening and it brings an extra layer of accountability. This gives me a look at a high level what’s going on, and then on the day to day, I use my Google Calendar. (If I don’t get an alert for a meeting then it’s not real.)

Let me know if you use a real calendar or good ol’ fashioned planner or notebook, or have completed

Be sure to share what' you’re loving in the comments or message me on Instagram. Always looking for new things!

If this has been useful to you or if you have feedback to improve, please drop me a quick line. Or share with a friend!