Studentpreneur Podcast: Stories Of Students Who Are Entrepreneurs | Student Entrepreneur | Young Entrepreneur |

Meet this week's awesome studentpreneur: Joseph Kekulawela, 28 y.o.,  Master student in Psychiatry at Melbourne University and  his co-founder Aksha Akin from FirstStep in Melbourne, Australia. Joseph and his co-founders realised that 87% of young Australians don't own share whereas the Australian market has been returning 8% on average. They created FirstStep to allow teenagers and young adults to save their virtual loose change and invest it directly on the stock market for hopefully a return of 6/7%. Quotes: Look out for University accelerator programs, they are the greatest support We learned from the other teams at the accelerator programs Balance: you need to be very focused and conscious of what needs to be done (prioritisation) University students volunteers can be used as a free sales force. Sydney Incubate program, the greatest support: 14-week program. A total of 48 startups over 6 classes. Access to mentors. Learning from workshops: user testing days, very useful. Tools:  Slack Trello Google

 Meet this week's awesome studentpreneur: Marko Rados, 26 y.o.,  Master student in Electrical Engineering and Computing at the University of Zagreb and entrepreneur at iFlight in Croatia. Marko and his co-funder and best friend Mario created Mario created iFlight to help airline pilots manage their busy schedule. While at University Marko travelled a lot and had a passion for aviation. It helped that his cousin was a pilot. On day he had a lecture on research on fatigue and that was his trigger. He decided to build project for a subject at Uni,  academics provided health devices and Professors helped. The end of subject was a  turning point: 2 team members dropped but Mario & Markos decided to continue it for their thesis.They started entering competitions such as compApp which forced them to think in a business way. They had to pitch in front of 400 people without experience and ... it didn't work! They applied to the University Startup World Cup competition where they met teams from around the world and

Meet this week's awesome studentpreneur: Alex Sumsky, Business student at the University of Sydney and entrepreneur at Forever Network in Australia.  Alex started at 16 with a couple of friends. He had a passion for sport and liked to whoah people. He started to entertain  friends and then got into a network effect. Spending time one-on-ones was his best  market research. His venture stayed a hobby for a year and then turned into a business because of traction! It grew quick: 5,000 fans is the mark when your facebook page will start growing exponentially. At 18 he tried to monetise his 600k fans. He received  job offers straight from high school because of his business and then found. Alex got people from his job to follow them. He started in the US and then stopped and rebooted. Here are a few of his insights: 'Everyone's mistake: monetise too early but since I was a student living at home I didn't need to monetise. The longer you can postpone to monetise your fans, the stronger your relationship with them.

Meet this week's studentpreneur Loic Pedras, 32 y.o., PhD Candidate at the University of Coimbra, Portugal and co-founder at SportImpact, Switzerland. SportImpact is a social enterprise that tries to use the power of sport to develop local communities. it allows to carry messages of environment health, social skilss and peace Quotes: We also work with the Olympic Committee We started a Pilot Project in East Timor I was doing a little bit of both, I didn't want to let it go but it comes a time when the workload in both is raising. I do think you are more productive when you focus on one thing    Links: LinkedIn If you have what it takes you can apply to share your story on air. CLICK HERE  

Meet this week's studentpreneur Andre Fisher, 19 y.o., Marketing student at University of Queensland and founder at AJF Media, Brisbane Australia. Links: Facebook Website: www.AJFmedia.com.au ; contactandre.weebly.com LinkedIn If you have what it takes you can apply to share your story on air. CLICK HERE    

Meet Colin Kinner who wrote for the Chief Scientist the Boosting High Impact Entrepreneurship in Australia report - A role for Universities Colin ran incubators and worked in commercialisation at universities. He is now a consultant with deep knowledge of startup best practice and hands-on experience in its implementation. He provides strategic advice to organisations that support startups – including incubators, investors and government agencies. He recently wrote the report Boosting High-Impact Entrepreneurship in Australia that was released by the Office of the Chief Scientist in Australia. In this episode Colin shares all the best practices from the report. Full report and a two-page summary. Here are a few of his insights: We need role model like Atlassian. We downplay how successful we are in Australia. 'At University of Sydney the Technology Venture Course was delivered for a few years  by Matt Barrie, the CEO of freelancer.com and that was an awesome course.' 'Some important skills needs to

Meet this week's studentpreneur Astrid Jonelynas, 20 y.o., who went to visit the Silicon Valley with the Startup Catalyst programme. Astrid is  a Mechatronics Engineering Student at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. In the ecosystem supporting studentpreneurs, there is one element that we haven't talked about yet but is starting to become mainstream: a trip to visit startups. Of course the top of the top is to get to go to the Silicon Valley and visit some of the famous startups. That's what Astrid got a chance to do! She initially started her first venture in a hackathon. After a few months, it went sour. She then heard of the Startup Catalyst program, an annual mission to Silicon Valley for twenty young people who have the potential to be Australia’s next batch of globally successful tech entrepreneurs. She got selected and went to San Francisco. Here are a few of her insights: Australian are humble whereas Americans are very proud of their accomplishment. People are people over t

Meet the organisers of the Global Youth Entrepreneurship Conference: Angela a University of Queensland alumni, Jo 21 y.o. International Business  and Tourism & Hospitality student, and Adi, 22 y.o., Commerce and Accounting student at the University of Queensland, Brisbane. GIYC, a conference for studentpreneurs GIYC brings 100+ worldwide students from a diverse range of backgrounds to Brisbane, who share the common interest of innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. These international delegates are from a range of prestigious universities whom we have partnered with, including Oxford University, National University of Singapore, the University of Tokyo, Aalto University, Hanken School of Economics, Peking University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, National Central University of Taiwan and more. Domestic students with an IT or business background will also be present, creating invaluable global networking opportunities, both professionally and socially. Students will also enjoy t

Meet this week's awesome studentpreneur: Giorgio Doueihi, 19 y.o., psychology student at Sydney University and co-founder at Fluid Education in Australia. Wrap up: We all had got our school pushing new systems or apps on us that no one used but what did we do about? Giorgio decided at 16 to build his on app, that would meet his own requirements. He had self-taught coding at 13 by going on online forum, posting problems online.He found out that other students had the same requirements and did not like the school app. The school realised that the students were more engaged  with Giorgio app than the one they had purchased, so they decided to adopt Giorgio's app and even paid him! It's a couple of years later that Giorgio and his co-funder kickstarted the business by being part of the Sydney Incubate accelerator program. He then went on top pitch at other programs to get in, such as Fishburners and Muru-D   Book and Podcast -Book: Better habits - Podcast: 'How to start a startups' by Ycombinator.  U2U (Universit

Meet this week's awesome studentpreneur: Patrick Henry, 27 y.o., postgraduate Law student at the University of Copenhagen and co-founder at Sensohive in Denmark.   Wrap up: Patrick wasn't born knowing exactly his passion and what he wanted to do in like! Like a lot of us he discovered his passion after High School. At Uni, he  was elected to run the student association with much competition and was thrown in the deep end but he got experience to run an organisation. From that experience, he tried to start different businesses before he got onto something with Sensohive. He picked robot engineers students as co-founders and bootstrapped with a lot of failures on the way. His biggest learning was to accept that you will fail again and again but that you have to learn from the failures methodically. Patrick is always looking for constructive criticism, even though I didn't like to be criticised. That's how he picks his mentors. Finally, Patrick shares the incredible experience he had in being involved with 50 st

Meet this week's awesome studentpreneur: Matthew Childs, 22 y.o., undergraduate Business  and Civil Engineer student at the University of Technology Sydney and entrepreneur at Wine Stash in Australia. Wrap up: Matthew started on eBay in High School with books, making 700% profit margin sometimes and learning how to handle customer complaints. He leveraged all these good feedbacks and reviews when launching Wine Stash. He saw an opportunity while working in his family's bottle shop. Customers were asking for wine racks and they couldn't find any at a good price. After careful research, he took a risk and ordered a full container of wine racks! He moved on to becoming a part-time student and then put Uni on hold for a semester to try to automate his business. Matthew joined his university co-sharing space, the Hatchery. That got him introduced to Fishburners, the largest co-sharing space in Australia. A lot of people have told him that he should get a mentor, but he hasn't found one yet. If you know his ideal m

Meet this week's awesome studentpreneur: Racheal Rose-Rehardt, 21 y.o., undergraduate Business student at the University of the Sunshine Coast and running the Redcliffe hive co-sharing space in Australia. Wrap up: Racheal has a slightly different profiled than the usual studentpreneurs. After running a couple of businesses, including a restaurant, she is now running a co-sharing space and supporting entrepreneurs while studying herself. She is also the winner of the 2015 SC Startup Weekend and shares her experience on there, basically that  when you are there you end up doing things that you thought  you were not capable of. Great inspiration! Check out when the next hackathon, weekend comp, startup weekend is on around you! U2U (Uni to support you): - 'Give us [academic and admin staff] a little of support when we need it, like an extension or liste ning to us'. How do you learn?: - 'I learn by doing, just go for it.' Quotes: - 'My entrepreneurship lecturer turned into an ideal mentor for me within  30 minut

Meet this week's awesome studentpreneur: Sam McDonnell, 21 y.o., Industrial Design undergraduate at University of Technology Sydney and co-founder at Construction Cloud in Australia. His co-founders Hartley Pike and Jan L. Schroeder  Wrap up: What happens when engineering students get together with industrial design students? Construction Cloud, the Instagram for construction companies. Sam is the creative of the team and shows that you need a diverse team to tackle a problem. Nothing fell in his lap, instead he jumped at every opportunity, and engaged in plenty of creative competitions. For him there are a lot similarities between being an industrial design student and being an entrepreneur. Also universities offer a lot of opportunities for students but you have to be hungry: he joined the pre-incubator program of his university, the Hatchery, participated in multiple business plan competitions including startup weekend (Project Pitch) and even got sponsored with his co-founders Hartley Pike and Jan L. S

Meet this week awesome studentpreneur: Nick Hampson, 21 yo, Music undergraduate at Oxford University and Entrepreneurs at Elixa and Vulture Sessions in England. He is a great example that entrepreneurs are not just engineering, IT or Business faculties but they also come from the Art faculty.   Contact Nick to set up the Vulture Session in your university: nicholas.hampson@new.ox.ac.uk  Quotes: - I have project ADD. - I do everything I can every time. - Creativity comes in many ways/shapes -“We stumbled upon something that was untouched” - I believe in the mantra that “if you want something done, ask someone who is busy.” - I will leave Oxford a very different person because of my entrepreneurial experience - I have the mindset that I can do anything - You may have to pivot, but unless you give up there is no failure as an entrepreneur Balancing business and studies - In balancing both aspects of life the important thing is not to waste time. U2U (What could University do to support you) - There are no syste

Help Gideon: Try out www.monetise.com.au and send your feedback to Gideon.silverman@monetise.com.au ------------------------------------------------- In this age of job instability, disrupting technologies and the prospect that we will have a portfolio of jobs being a student entrepreneur is the best way to be prepared. Gideon is a great example; in this episode he shares how he started a shoe import business at uni then worked at a top consulting firm then back to uni and starting a new business in the silicon valley. It’s not about being an employee or an entrepreneur but running the startup of you to quote Reid Hoffman.   Check out the latest episode on StudenPreneurPodcast.com   Meet this week awesome studentpreneur: Gideon Silverman, 30 yo, Australian MBA Student a Stanford University and Entrepreneur at Monetise. He sold his first business at Uni to a charity that he was working with, and a great outcome is that that business is being used to teach some business skills yo young Australians (Check Gideon

Meet this week awesome studentpreneurs: Owen Yang, 22  years old, who just finished a Commerce degree Business and Arts at the University of New South Wales (USNW) and is currently running Activ Pass. He was listed as one of Smart Company's top 30 Under 30 Entrepreneurs for 2014. Owen's company:  Gowning Street is attempting to disrupt the University Graduation gown rental model. Rather than paying $80-$100 to rent your gown (Might as well rent a BMW at the same rate), you can own your gown for $69.   www.gowningstreet.com.au   Sets available for:  - USyd, Newcastle Uni, Southern Cross Uni, Melbourne Uni, RMIT, Victoria Uni, UTAS, Adelaide Uni, UniSA, QUT, UQ, USQ. Wrap up: Each studentpreneurs' story is different and what works for some people doesn't for others, however, I'd like to point out of few things in Owen's journey that are quite exciting:He saw an opportunity when he ran into the pain point of signing up for a special training for an entrance test, that's when he realised he could make money thro

Meet this week awesome studentpreneur: Josh Doering, 20 years old, Student in Business at Morningside College and entrepreneur at Seed Slide in Iowa. For more info StudentPreneurPodcast.com Wrap:Each studentpreneur's story is different and what works for some people doesn't for others, however I'd like to point out of few things in Josh 's journey that are similar to the studentpreneurs I have interviewed: Josh saw an opportunity through his dad’s business and he leveraged his dad’s connections. He paired up with an experienced partner, which can be a good thing. Josh understands the power of his student card and leverages it to the maximum for not just discount but reaching out to experienced entrepreneurs. He is another great example that Startup Weekend like competitions are a great trigger, so apply to one! Finally he maximizes his passion: he is a student athlete, student entrepreneur and VP of the entrepreneurship club. Are you still complaining because you are a busy student? Tips: - Learn to network,

Meet this week awesome studentpreneurs: Kelly Sturek 22 yo Business Student and Julianne Kopf 20 yo, Food Science Student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, co-founders of Bugeater Foods in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States.   For more go to StudentPreneurPodcast.com   Wrap Up: Each studentpreneur's story is different and what works for some people doesn't for others, however I'd like to point out of few things in Julianne and Kelly's journey that are similar to the studentpreneurs I have interviewed:   Kelly and Julianne got started in very different ways, for Julianne it was her passion and experience in working in the food product development lab. For Kelly, it was more the passion to get a startup business, his parents being business owners probably influenced himself but he tried a lot of ideas, competitions to finally find a niche and team, so never give up. Like him, reach out to other clubs or societies to find the co founder you need. He is so motivated that he declined the internship offer at Mic

Lachlan shares with us how he sold his sport clinic business in high school and moved to an innovation centre to start a new business. Sounds pretty good.   Wrap up:   Lochie  started quite early, motivated by his passion for sport and the need for cash. He was lucky enough to have his former PA instructor as a mentor and quickly understood the need to remove his liability for looking after kids. He reached out to his dad’s friend who was a lawyer to draft the contract to sell his business before moving interstates keeping an option to open a similar one. The idea for his new venture came from talking to his dad! He recognised pain points that he experienced himself and decided to buy the domain name. At only 18 he realised the value in having a desk in an innovation centre: mentors, entrepreneur in residence and a framework. Lochie has learned a lot at only 18, now it’s your time to get started.   Tips: -Enrol early at uni so you can have the best timetable that leave you free days to work.   -Learn by tria

In this episode Mary Liu tells us all about her job at the Student Entrepreneur Development unit of the University of NSW, Sydney. That's right, a team at university dedicated to helping Studentpreneurs!   Wrap up:  Mary explains how the Student Entrepreneur Development team helps student entrepreneur by offering mentorship, access to lawyers, and connection to potential investors, all for free! They reach out to aspiring Studentpreneurs through presentations at lectures, organising events such as hackathon, and social media. Some of their success stories include Forcite helmet system and baby cups from Viriya Chittasy   Discover the whole team here: http://www.innovations.unsw.edu.au/   Check out: Forcite helmet system http://forcite.com.au/ and http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/wearables/australian-smart-ski-helmet-attracts-global-interest-20150302-13snly.html   If you have what it takes you can apply to share your story on air: http://studentpreneur.com.au/pages/contact-form-guest/