10 reasons why NOW is the best time to start a business in college

10 reasons why NOW is the best time to start a business in college

+ 3 actionable steps you can take tomorrow

(Did a lot of research and got some pretty cool stats in this one for you guys 😉)

1. Reducing risk of starting up and failure

20 years ago you needed investment of some kind for a physical location, inventory or other high costs like legality and registration.

Most college students can't realistically expect to have savings for such expenses.

Now all you need is a couple of hours a week and a Shopify store with very little upfront cost and high potential.

Consider the print-on-demand model with a Shopify store – no inventory or physical store needed. Costs are restricted to hosting and order fulfillment.

Similarly, creating software involves minimal risks; once developed, maintenance expenses are low.

In the case of failure, you can just start again.

A worst-case scenario of 0 is much better than -ve.

2. The generation before us started the least businesses ever

All these mofos just became employees as the corporations grew

According to a WSJ analysis of Fed data, the share of people under 30 who own a business has fallen by 65% since the 1980s and is now at a quarter-century low

only about 2% of millennials are self-employed as of 2014, compared to 7.6% of Generation Xers and 8.3% of Baby Boomers

During COVID: the overall unemployment rate for young workers aged 16–24 jumped from 8.4% to 24.4% from spring 2019 to spring 2020, while unemployment for ages 25+ rose from 2.8% to 11.3%.

Covid has accelerated our generation's acceptance of self-employment and the gig economy

The opportunity is there and I think Gen Z is ready to take it

3. Record number of new businesses

A record-breaking 5,481,437 new businesses were started in 2023, the highest year on record, a 56.7% increase from 2019.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce also reported a record-breaking 5.5 million new business applications filed in 2023.

It has never been easier to start a business and people are recognizing the opportunity

4. lowered barriers to entry- technology, capital, globalization

Tools like no code, Shopify, Wix have reduced any tech barriers to starting up on the internet

Anyone can set up a shop/ basic SaaS in a week

You no longer need upfront investment to startup. Preorder waitlists and platforms like Kickstarter have changed how you can approach starting

You can hire from and sell to anyone, anywhere in the world

5. Productivity x AI

The productivity of one person has increased 10x with the introduction of AI

We are currently using one of the worst versions of AI

Tools like AI agents will change how people approach businesses

6. democratisation of knowledge

You can learn pretty much anything you need to from Youtube

There are countless hours of lectures and teaching material on every subject made by extremely knowledgeable people

You no longer require the systems and processes of institutions to give you an education

Companies like Khan Academy, Buildspace will provide options (hopefully socially acceptable) for students to gain an education at a much lower cost than before

7. The declining value of a college degree

colleges are extremely out of touch with the general day-to-day of the higher-value workforce

It's generally common for you to learn on the job and not use much of what you learned in college after 3 years of working

There is a lot of value it provides in terms of being a base for learning and other social aspects

But in absolute terms of its value for employers

and more importantly to prepare its degree holders for the workforce

There has been a sharp decline in value and quality, especially as the development of technology outpaced how quickly it could update its curriculum

8. the debt is just too damn high

Idk what the US can do on a 10-20 year time frame. I think that they are gonna try to grow their way out of the debt

This means that they will grow the GDP as much as they can to reduce the debt: GDP ratio they have right now

it will be extremely hard for wage growth to keep up

this will only hasten the erosion of the middle class in America

the best way to avoid it will be to capitalise on the growth with ownership

9. Fewer businesses = more opportunity

The number of startups that have shut down has drastically increased

VC funding has dried up as the public markets rally

60% of businesses that closed during COVID never reopened

There is a lot of market share up for grabs in different industries

10. silver tsunami- aging business owners looking to sell their business

Between 2000 and 2020, the number of business owners at full retirement age increased by 87%

Lots of business owners are looking to retire and sell and there are not enough people willing to take over these businesses

Actionable steps:

1. Start building an audience

Post things you find interesting. Expect to post into the void and that your first 100 posts will be shit.

Go from there

2. Start a business with as low effort as possible

Try to start with a small problem for a niche target audience. Try an agency, Shopify store, no code SaaS.

just make your first $1 online

3. Seek failure

instead of avoiding failure, figure out how you can fail quickly and reframe failure from negative to a positive learning experience. Presume you currently know nothing and be hungry to learn.

My DMs are open for anyone starting up and needing help :)