Starting your own venture comes with a bunch of unknowns. Where will this lead me to? What is the roadmap for the next one year? Will I be able to hire senior professionals as a student founder? And so on. You learn things along the way, some instantly and some the hard way. CampusTycoons spoke to student founders to find out some of the things they wish they’d learned sooner.

Jonathan Mui – Co-founder, Agriolabs

          You can talk all you want about hard work vs smart work. But you need to put in the work. I work smart and hard. I  automate as much as I can, and design systems to achieve results I want, but it’s still hard work.

I get incredibly dumb when I’m overworked and burnt out. When I get to that point, I have to recognize that I’d be more                   productive after I play some video games and have a good nap. 

           Believe in yourself. I still have trouble with this sometimes, but my way of seeing it is, when everyone else believes in you, why wouldn’t you believe in yourself? The first step to doing anything great is believing you can. Sounds cliché, I know.

Kevin Mpunga– Co-founder, Elev

Now is the time to start. In the past, I had been reluctant to start a long-term business, fearing that I was not yet able to, or lacked the necessary knowledge to start. In hindsight, this is the opposite from the truth; as the famous saying goes, the best time to plant a tree is 25 years ago or today. The key, in my opinion, with entrepreneurship, is to believe you are capable, and that you know everything you need to know at the moment and to understand that the things you will need to know tomorrow will come from experience and active, relentless pursuit for improvement.  

Kshama Girish – Founder, Panda Packaging Designs & Co

I wish I knew more about the amazing resources that exist at my University and how to take advantage of them. I also wish I recognized that the main person standing in my way was myself. 

Allisa Song – Co-founder, Nanodropper

Reflecting back, I remember being advised many times over that it would be impossible to build a business while in medical school. I had so many moments of self-doubt, and it was disheartening not being able to find someone who was going through the same journey.

 

Running a startup can be a tiresome journey, but can also be great fun. The easiest way to go about it is learning from others’ mistakes along the way, instead of making our own. Find your Tribe!