Photo via [Flickr]

A while ago, a friend of mine sent me the link below asking for my perceptive on the whole issue. We ended up discussing it through emails and since then I’ve had more people ask me my opinions regarding the whole issue and I just wanted to share a bit of what we talked about in the emails.

10/12/11 10:40 AM

Interesting – @youngenterprise poll find schools give young people wrong skills for work. Do you agree? http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/blog/can-entrepreneurship-be-taught

This is my 2 pence.

First of all – I think students are being taught throughout their time in education how to be excellent workers or employees. Students come out of education without no clue on how to link academia to real life work.

I know there’s been a lot of talk about introducing some courses about entrepreneurship to schools, I guess it makes sense with the low availability of jobs.

You could say companies understand that it’s either they get top employees, those that are creative, innovative and passionate about the company(You see Start-ups do this a lot when hiring – Looking for start-up enthusiasts) or they end up losing sight of their industry, their competitors which can only result to one thing, going out of business.

I guess going back to if entrepreneurship can be taught – I don’t think so, I think an entrepreneur thrives on uncertainty (the thrill), freedom of thought, the ability of make gut-feeling decision, their ability to ignore the structured way of doing things.

The structured and business way of doing things will be what these courses will give, nothing special from what they could have gotten from studying business studies or go one level up – Isn’t this what MBA holders are for – Great managers, Great CEOS which I have no problem with.

Maybe through introducing entrepreneurship in schools, we can have more equipped and capable workers – I don’t think they can build entrepreneurs, I think that through this; they will build excellent, smarter, efficient and capable workers who will become great CEOs and managers.

Also, the only way I can see any form of entrepreneurship been awakened through education is by starting the process at the grassroot, rather than waiting for when students are in secondary schools/university to begin the process.

Instead of a degree being the only solution and option, entrepreneurship should be considered as another option just as valuable and prestigious as getting a degree from a respected university.

What are your thoughts?

Tom Ellis, UK entrepreneur - Leroux-Mineau champagne

Recent graduate and young entrepreneur Tom Ellis started his business aged just 16 selling tennis balls from his room at school.

However it soon became apparent that the tennis balls were an extremely seasonal product and something new was required to build the business.

On arrival at Exeter University as an undergraduate to read Geography, Tom had just negotiated an exclusive UK import arrangement to distribute Leroux-Mineau Grand Cru Champagne.

Whilst at Exeter, Tom developed the story through the media including BBC radio 2, ITV’s Alan Titchmarsh show and articles in the major papers which generated interest and drove traffic to his website www.LMChampagne.co.uk. The business that Tom started aged just 16 was now growing day by day during his 3 years at Exeter.

On graduating, Tom decided to take the leap and run the business full time and what a success that has proved to be.

Tom now sells the total production volume from the Leroux-Mineau vineyard in the UK and as a result went looking for a new Champagne to bring to the UK market. He has recently won the rights to import the prestigious Champagne brand Chassenay d’Arce and this house produces in excess of 1 million bottles a year and has proved itself in France, Europe, America and now launching for the first time in the UK, facilitated by Tom and his business First Class Products.

Therefore Tom believes this could be the most exciting development to his business since its initial launch. “Chassenay d’Arce has been well recognised in the industry receiving medals in the International Wine Challenge and has been classed as one of the top 10 sparkling wines of the world. Chassenay d’Arce is a truly exceptional Champagne with huge potential”.

Erwan Thill, sales manager at Chassenay d’Arce says “the dedication of Tom and his remarkable knowledge of both Champagne and the UK drinks markets makes me feel happy and full of confidence for the future of our partnership”.

Tom now imports and distributes both Champagne brands in the UK which can be seen at www.firstclassproducts.biz. The business continues to grow everyday with such a simple idea as selling tennis balls turned into an import and distribution business.

With student debt loads haunting college grads and jobless joining street protests, President Obama yesterday announced plans to ease student loan burdens by capping payments at 10 percent of what borrowers earn. On top of helping young people in lower wage jobs, the White House hopes the program will aid aspiring entrepreneurs whose student debts might otherwise discourage them from starting businesses.

The White House is building on the existing income-based repayment program that limits loan payments for low-earners to 15 percent of their income, and forgives all debts after 25 years. Starting next year, the cap will be lowered to 10 percent of income (a change that was already slated to happen in 2014). The payment timeline will also be shortened to 20 years, after which remaining debts will be forgiven. The White House estimates the change will lower payments for 1.6 million borrowers.

Coordinated with Obama’s announcement, the Young Entrepreneur Council (a nonprofit membership group) is unveiling a $10 million “Gen Y Fund” that will invest up to $250,000 in startups and cover founders’ federal student loan payments for up to three years. The group is also pushing for legislation that would expand loan deferments and forgiveness specifically for entrepreneurs.

The theory that student debt holds back young entrepreneurs has gained enough traction that venture capitalist Peter Thiel is actually paying would-be founders to drop out of college. I haven’t found any hard data on how educational debt actually affects people’s decisions on whether or not to start a business. But college tuition is rising twice as fast as inflation, and by some estimates Americans now have more student debt than credit card debt. There’s a lot of teeth-gnashing over how many top graduates (especially in math and science) go to Wall Street. These efforts to lower loan payments may make some of them more likely to start companies instead.

This was post originally appeared on BusinessWeek and was written by John Tozzi.

Mok Oh founded EveryScape back in 2002. The company creates visual replicas of your business premise which are fully explorable, it is essentially the Google street view but for inside your bar, restaurant, hotel, shop and so on. This allow for these businesses to give customers to give a feel of the premises and the atmosphere of their business. Visuals impact hugely, positively and negatively, on our perception of a place and ultimately help us make decisions.

The young entrepreneur started the data visualization company, EveryScape, straight after graduation from MIT with a Ph.D in computer graphics design and computation. He used his knowledge and skills in that area help make one of his many ideas come alive.

The company has since raised $17million to date from various VC’s including Dace Ventures, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Draper Fisher New England, Draper Atlantic and LaunchPad Venture Group, and strategic investor SK Telecom. The company generates revenue streams across a multitude of various markets such as travel, local search and mobile.

Mok left the company earlier this year citing “I consider myself a fairly creative person. The company has come to the point where it’s fairly mature in terms of the team and the market. We really need to push forward – and we’re so close to it as well,” adding Oh said. “I’ve been there eight years and eight months. Considering myself an entrepreneurial, startup kind of guy, sitting around that long with a company does not make any sense.”

The entrepreneur wanted to start up another company, but soon after leaving EveryScape joined a startup called Where, after offering him an offer he couldn’t refuse. By April where had been bought out by eBay for a staggering $135million. Where sits under eBay’s PayPal business unit. At the time, a PayPal executive said that eBay had chosen to acquire Where “because of the people.” Including Mr Oh who’s current job title is Chief Scientist for Paypal, no less. Although I wonder for how long the entrepreneurial spirit can only be locked a way for so long and with the expertise and ideas that Mok has no doubt we will see him with a second startup in the near future.

–
Follow @rishi_chowdhury

If you haven’t heard of TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) yet, where have you been?! It is a great site full of brilliant and insightful talks by remarkable people in many different areas, such as entrepreneurship, technology, the arts, marketing, politics etc… Below are 20 Essential TED Talks for Entrepreneurial Students by the guys at Bachelors Degree Online.

Although a strong education is by no means a requirement for business acumen or success, many still saunter off to college and further hone what they’ve already got. Those walking on or logging onto campus with visions of profits and genius dancing in their heads shouldn’t relegate their learning within those boundaries exclusively. They should drink up any potentially valuable insight they can, and the venerable TED offers up one such conduit. One of the world’s most beloved and stimulating repositories for human knowledge available, it certainly explodes with amazing business, marketing and inventing advice. Try a few of these for starters!

1. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on aid versus trade

As Nigeria’s former finance minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala understands how trade, aid, private investment and government support all impact an economy differently. She wraps up TEDGlobal 2007 opining on what they all mean for business-minded Africans and what still needs doing to stimulate their minds.

2. Alexis Ohanian: How to make a splash in social media

Just because a video lasts less than five minutes, that doesn’t mean it has little to offer budding entrepreneurs. Considering effective social media use often translates to much better business and promotion, any advice on improving Facebooks, Twitters and blogs is extremely valuable (maybe even game-changing for some).

3. Anil Gupta: India’s hidden hotbeds of invention

The Honey Bee Network provides opportunities for some of the world’s most marginalized peoples to channel their creative, inventorial and entrepreneurial inclinations. In doing so, it nurtures both humanity and economy and ultimately might very well create a more prosperous and equitable planet.

4. Cameron Herold: Let’s raise kids to be entrepreneurs

Cameron Herold notices a correlation between many undesirable educational and behavioral traits, such as poor grades and spastic attention spans, and entrepreneurial potential. He argues for teachers and parents alike to recognize such characteristics and nurture rather than squelch or control them.

5. Dean Kamen on inventing and giving

Entrepreneurship might conjure up images of current and future capitalist fat cats, but such drives undoubtedly carry considerable philanthropic applications as well! Segway inventor Dean Kamen shares some innovations meant to give developing nations a necessary boost: an undoubtedly inspiring lecture for charitable.

6. Joseph Pine on what consumers want

The most sustainably successful entrepreneurs know how to market their goods and services to the intended (or, sometimes, unintended) audience, maybe even filling a niche nobody even knew existed. So making an effort to understand how consumers choose might very well mean the difference between a failing or triumphant business initiative.

7. Majora Carter: 3 stories of local eco-entrepreneurship

Students with entrepreneurial inclinations should find inspiration in Majora Carter’s fascinating tales of some impressively enterprising individuals from Chicago, Los Angeles and Whitesville, West Virginia. With the green movement swelling in popularity, many opt to keep their ideas local and sustainable, and the incoming results proved absolutely spectacular.

8. Tim Harford: Trial, error and the God complex

This economist actively encourages innovators, inventors and creatives to fail and genuinely embrace the results! His inquiries into how wildly successful ventures pop into existence reveal that the entrepreneurial individuals behind them often enjoyed a steady stream of not-so-greatness before achieving their goals.

9. John Gerzema: The post-crisis consumer

When the world’s economy collapsed, it completely overhauled the ways consumers approached purchasing goods and services, which John Gerzema dubs “The Great Unwind.” Faced with new challenges, they now take a more active role in budgeting and planning — and future inventors and business owners must consider this mindset before marketing anything.

10. Nigel Marsh on how to make work-life balance work

No matter how brilliant one’s ideas might be, he or she must not cave to the pressures of workaholism, even though society actively encourages such potentially dangerous addictions. Ponder some of the tips offered here and strive towards striking a better balance between the financial and the filial.

11. Euvin Naidoo on investing in Africa

Desiring “to separate the rhetoric from the reality” when it comes to the African continent, the South African Chamber of Commerce’s president weighs in on investment and entrepreneurial opportunities. Euvin Naidoo’s TED Talk revolves around encouraging businesses to consider what these oft-misunderstood nations have to offer, since it might very well prove mutually beneficial.

12. Itay Talgam: Lead like the great conductors

Even the entrepreneurial with absolutely squat for musical ability or knowledge may still glean excellent leadership advice from six amazing conductors. As a conductor and businessman, Itay Talgam intimately understands how the two disciplines overlap, and he shares his observations and lessons here.

13. Caroline Casey: Looking past limits

All her life, this speaker and activist yearned for an action-filled adulthood, only to spend her 17th birthday finding out she’s legally blind. Her parents, who knew, never provided her with any special assistance, which she considered absolutely refreshing. Current and future business owners might find her philosophy towards roadblocks a great inspiration.

14. Saul Griffith on everyday inventions

An idea doesn’t have to change the world or completely shift paradigms to be considered awesome and profitable. Sometimes a simple concept making daily chores and phenomena easier, such as the smart rope, is all an entrepreneur really needs.

15. Robert Neuwirth on our “shadow cities”

Marginalized peoples, like the billion currently occupying squatter, might very well possess some of the most spontaneous, innovative and inventive minds on the planet. They just need more resources to phase their concepts into reality, which some entrepreneurs might want to invest in. Though, of course, they must avoid exploitation and other inhumane acts.

16. Dan Cobley: What physics taught me about marketing

Viewers who love science and business as much as Dan Cobley will undoubtedly appreciate his observations about the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, Newton’s Second Law and plenty more. All of these, he argues, hold some surprising marketing and business methods for those knowing where to look.

17. Steven Johnson: Where good ideas come from

Like the complex “trial and error” patterns mentioned earlier, innovation and inspiration typically involves a slower process than most people assume. Sometimes, ideas that simmer instead of flash fry end up extremely profitable — and occasionally even game-changing.

18. Frank Gehry asks “Then what?”

This lauded architect talks career and professional philosophy with Richard Saul Wurman here, emphasizing how failure eventually molded him into the man he is today. Among other valuable lessons, of course, but entrepreneurial individuals should probably pay close attention to that particular nugget.

19. Jessica Jackley: Poverty, money — and love

Kiva.org partners philanthropists and lenders with impoverished and marginalized innovators to create some amazing, sustainable business opportunities. Here, one co-founder shares her experiences, philosophies and mindset shifts, hopefully encouraging entrepreneurial students towards social and economic justice.

20. Alex Steffen sees a sustainable future

Whether economic, environmental or a combination thereof, sustainability exists as more than just another empty buzzword — it’s a business philosophy aimed at creating a healthier, equitable society. The more innovators and inventors apply sustainable initiatives and ideas to their practices, the more consumers will concern themselves with ethics and eco-friendliness in kind.

So finally a few days after Startup Weekend London 2011 I have had the chance to reflect on what was a great weekend!

For those of you that don’t know Startup Weekend, it is an event held from Friday evening to Sunday night where a bunch of ambitious and determined entrepreneurs come and pitch an idea, build a startup and present to the judges  over the 54 hour period.

Here is a video to explain a little more:

So I gave a little update ‘27 hours in‘ but this is a more comprehensive review of events.

Startup Weekend Day 1

So Friday evening roles up and so do over 200 entrepreneurs, all ready to network, pitch, build, eat, drink and generally have a good time. Stocked up on pizza and beer over 60 participants took to the floor to pitch there ideas. With only 60 seconds per pitch and 64 pitches it was a frantic hour and a bit. Ideas where then voted on and over 20 where then picked.

This is where it got even more frantic as those chosen now had to form a team, how, by shouting over everyone else to attract people over to you. With half an hour to find attract people with the right skills the room felt like a busy trading floor. It was evident that developers were in high demand, as always.

I joined a team called Social Stadiums, pitched by Sam, the idea was a social network for sports stadiums where fans could comment, share pics/vids, vote on polls and even purchase merchandise and food and drink from the app.

Due to such a large number of participants the venue was moved to Ravensbourne college right in front of The O2, fo rmally the Millennium Dome. A beautiful venue as this was, it did not have the capacity to accommodate people overnight, which the previous venue did.

This meant after the pitches it was virtually closing time and so with little chance to meet the team so far we decided to hit the bar and get to know each other over a couple beers.

Startup Weekend Day 2

Saturday morning and with half the teams based in Ravensbourne college and half the teams based in Club Workspaces in Clerkenwell (the original location) everyone got underway.

We had a large team, a very large team, 11 to be exact! There goes the lean startup model, but at least we had a lot of skills available to us. Having such a large team brought about in benefits as apart from a large skill set we got to work intensely with a diverse amount of people that we have all got to know each other well. The downside was that it took a little longer in making decisions and sometimes peoples roles were undefined. But everyone wanted to get stuck in and took it upon themselves to get involved, contribute and be proactive. 10 guys and 1 girl, 3 designers, 1 designer and the rest in business and marketing roles, it certainly was an interesting team, if what a little unnecessarily big. But we all got on well, which always help.

After spending most of the day figuring out what we are going to work on and talking to mentors, which where useful although after about the fourth one a little annoying. Slowed us down a little having to explain what we were doing 6+ times. They did give us some great pointers and take apart aspects of our strategy which put us on the right track.

The day was long but enjoyable and after dinner everyone retired to the bar in The O2 for a night organised by one of the other startups in attendance, PartyWithALocal. They do exactly as the name suggests, find locals for you to party with when travelling.

Startup Weekend Day 3

The last day of the weekend begins with a few looking a little worse for wear afterthe previous night, but with the pit ches only now hours away, heads were down working hard. As the afternoon rolled on teams began practicing their pitches. After lunch we grabbed a couple mentors showed them our pitch. They shot it down, changes needed to be made. Again, new pitch, more mentors to hand us even more advice and therefore changes. It was all fantastic advice and come 4 ‘o’ clock we felt we had a great pitch, but the multiple revisions gave us little time to practice the pitch. We did however take on all the questions mentors asked us and create the perfect responses. This proved useful as you will see later.

As the clock hit 4.30 the presentations began. 4 minutes to pitch and 4 minutes of Q/A from the judges. In a room of well over 200, it got a little toastie to say the least. There were plenty of beers and crisps to last the four hours or so of pitches.

Our pitch for Social Stadiums, came just after the midway break, so people were a little more fresh and alert at least. Our presentation started fantastically, Sam did a good job, but unfortunately as we came to our slide where we embedded a video, of some market research we carried out, the volume didn’t work. In trying to rectify this the tech guy switched screens and in the end we were glad that we added subtitles on. Anyway despite the disruption the pitch went well although we were unable to finish due to the time lost during the video incident, aagghhh technology!

So the Q/A next and thankfully we fully covered every potential angle they could come at us beforehand. Sam answered every question with aplomb and impressed the judges with the answers.

The Results

Did we win?! No

The prizes were as follows:

The main prize, most innovative, went to Portal Entertainment an independent cross-platform production company (who were already a little more established before they turned up at the weekend)

The most likely to get funding were Trendset.me who delved into crowdsourced market research.

The finally prize was most likely to make a million which went to Invizua a digital marketing accountability company. (Again a bit disappointing since they were already more established before the weekend)

Oh yeah and since there were a couple of fun apps that would definitely go viral, they made up a category, funniest app which went too ImClockingYou, who I thought had a fantastic app and funny, well done pitch. Basically you can set time limits, say if you are going shopping with your girlfriend and the time limit is exceeded she forfeits and you gain a reward from your girlfriend. It can be anything that you determine from cooking dinner to ‘special time’ as they put it in there pitch. It works both ways and for any situation you wish. It’s a pretty funny idea, and that’s why they won funniest app I guess!

And all though these were the winners there where no losers over the weekend, I think everyone learned something and was part of a fantastic experience one which many will want again and one which many entrepreneurs encounter across the world at other Startup Weekends.

So what are my takeaways, well here are a few Startup Weekend Tips:

Remember your building a company, not just a product!

This was the first thing we did, build a strategy and make sure we knew what we wanted to say on the Sunday night pitch. This helped us prioritise the app we built. This is what will help us take the company forward in the future as well. With the number of Bus/Marketing guys in the team, it’s no surprise we took this route.

Find a way to be different

There are a lot of people, ideas and pitches, and with only 60 seconds to pitch you need to make sure you stand out, whether it is how you present or what you wear it doesn’t matter just make an impact or your cool idea might get lots and forgotten about amongst tens of other cool ideas

Make the most of the mentors

They’re there for a reason. You may think you have the greatest idea in the world but don’t be afraid to share it with others, that’s the only way people can pick holes in your idea. They are there to help push you in the right direction and offer advice on your pitches, ideas etc…

And one last thing, enjoy it! It is a great experience and make the most of it, just have fun.

I can’t wait till next years!

Follow @rishi_chowdhury
Follow @socialstadiums

17 year old Aussie entrepreneur Lachy Groom is on his 4th startup, that’s right his 4th.

His startup is called  iPad Case Finder, and it does exactly what is says on the tin, help you find the perfect iPad case. The site stocks a number of cases from multiple manufacturers to ensure that you get the best choice.

“Basically, I had an iPad and my friend smashed the screen (accidentally). And that weekend my dad told me I should start making some passive income. So I set it up in a few hours on a Sunday afternoon. From that I’ve been promoting it and adding features like crazy,” says Lachy.

So he just set up a site in a few hours one afternoon, great if you can do that isn’t it?

He says he has been promoting like crazy and it seems to have been working, as after only a few weeks the site going live, Lachy saw the site receive over 400,000 hits.

Lachy wants to be more than just a provider of a product and wants to be able to offer all the details such as texture, colour, material and features to ensure that you find the perfect iPad case online. The in depth level of detail provided helps consumers know exactly what they are buying before hand and makes sure that there are no unwelcome surprises when your new iPad case is delivered to the door.

Lachy’s other startup is Cardnap, a secondary market for gift cards. According to the Australian Consumers’ Association 1 in 3 gift cards in Australia where expiring before they were being used so Lachy set up Cardnap to ensure that people across Australia were not losing out.

“We initially launched this as a Cardpool like company for Australia, but it failed due to lack of profitability and how intense it was. So we looked at our options, and looked at the pains of these sorts of sites. We found it was impossible to find the best discount, or all the available cards easily. So we fixed that problem,” says the young entrepreneur.

At the age of 16 he saw that his company was in a market where there was a lot of competition and it was not profitable, but instead of giving up he instead looked at opportunities abroad. Remarkable! Yes at 16 he took his company international, at 15 he was already travelling the world on business trips. In fact on his 15th birthday he sold his first startup, an online design company, to a US firm.

So what is Lachy Groom’s advice to other teen entrepreneurs?

“Network! I think the word teenage is irrelevant, and that advice is the same for any entrepreneur. I like the saying, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” I think that’s really true. But if I was to give advice straight to teens, it would be to have a good work/life balance. Make sure you enjoy yourself, that’s all that matters.”

Follow @rishi_chowdhury

New Zealander Derek Handley’s mobile marketing company, The Hyperfactory, was acquired last year by Meredith Corporation for an undisclosed amount.

Last month, he gave a speech at Kea, New Zealand’s global network, about his life as an entrepreneur and explained what he did with the money from the acquisition.

Handley wanted to buy three things, and they weren’t a mansion or a yacht:

1. A trip to Africa

2. A ticket to space

3. A letter Napoleon wrote to his generals

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-the-best-way-an-entrepreneur-has-ever-spent-his-fu-money-2011-5#ixzz1WExm1tpD

See the full speech below it’s really interesting :

Derek Handley – WCNZ Presentation day from Kea New Zealand on Vimeo.

This is my interview with Blair Brandt. For those of you still scratching your head, wondering who he is. Blair is the founder of one of America’s most exciting start-ups, The Next Step Realty – The company helps 20-something recent college graduates find rentals in their first-job markets, pairing them with young real estate agents with similar interests and backgrounds, and a specialization in their rental needs.

Or how Blair puts it “When the transition of ending college and entering the new world is upon students, the last item on the agenda is the obligation to find housing, especially in a city that is unfamiliar and new. This is where The Next Step Realty comes in. Not only do we enable you to skip the step of finding an apartment on your own, we put you directly in touch with a young, accomplished real estate broker who specializes in your leasing needs and will take care of the entire transaction for you.”

Here is the full interview.

Blair Brandt (left), Belton Baker (Right)

Hi Blair, thanks for joining us on YHP, how are you doing?

Well, I’m amongst the living. Between earthquakes and hurricanes, its been an interesting week.

Can you quickly give us some background information about yourself before we move on?

Born in Manhattan. Grew up in Palm Beach, FL. I went to boarding school in New England at a great spot called Deerfield Academy. I went to college at the University of Richmond in Virginia and graduated in 2010. I’m thankful to have had incredible parents, teachers, and mentors. I’m 23 and currently live in New York City.

When did you know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

I started a laundry business for students my freshman year of college and loved the independence of being my own boss. After that, I never decided to be an entrepreneur, I just kept exploring new opportunities and learning as much as I could about each industry I worked in.

Good entrepreneurs never sit down and decide to be entrepreneurs. They hit the pavement hard and keep their ear to the pulse of the streets. When they see an unfulfilled demand, they properly investigate the opportunity and execute efficiently. I’m proud to say we are of this category.

We never decided to be entrepreneurs, we were already doing this on a person to person basis long before it was a brand.

Tell us about The Next Step Realty and how the idea came about?

When I started working in real estate, I took the hands-on approach and, over time, happened to stumble upon a point of frustration I had with the market. Being a 22 year old sales associate, I didn’t have the respect of the clients I wanted to work with, but when I started working with young professionals relocating to the Palm Beach area – I saw that I was instantly building my client base, making more money, and learning a lot about my job.

My partner Belton Baker also believed that our friend’s who were seniors on college campuses were suffering from an inability to seamlessly find housing after graduation. A few of my friends, knowing I was immersed in my real estate job, had even reached out to me to be connected with the right broker in other cities. So, we decided to systematically connect and strategically match-make these two groups through an exclusive network. This would solve the slow pace of business that young brokers were initially experiencing, while also assisting the graduates in their relocation.

Why the name The Next Step Realty?

We sent out an e-mail before we launched the website to test the viability of our idea. We chose a few fraternities and sororites at UNC Chapel Hill and the University of Richmond, our alma-maters, as our sample group, and the title of the e-mail was “Here’s to The Next Step: Post-Collegiate Housing”. We sent it to seniors in the spring of 2010. When the feedback from the e-mails was overwhelmingly positive, we used that e-mail subject line to name the company.

Tell us how the process works?

Go to www.thenextsteprealty.com. Choose the city you are moving to. Tell us about yourself, how to contact you, and what type of apartment you are looking for.

Within minutes, your hand-picked Next Step certified broker will call you to confirm an appointment, review your parameters, answer your questions, and begin to e-mail you listings of apartments.

The broker who contacts you will be not only be pre-qualified to work with recent graduates based on our rigorous selection process, but they will also be available to assist you at times you have listed as convenient and be a specialist in the type of apartment you requested.

Our brokers in most cities are free to use, with the exception of London and Manhattan, where we have pre-negotiated discounted rates on behalf of our clients in advance. Everywhere else, landlords compensate brokers for bringing tenants to the property.

Typically our clients spend a day or two out with a broker weighing all the options, sign a lease, and move on with their lives! It’s that easy, and it’s free to use Next Step, so there’s nothing to loose.

What would you say was probably the most difficult part of starting the business?

The biggest obstacle is overcoming the inertia of your audience – making them aware that there is a different way to do things, and that your route is the most favorable.

What’s the toughest feedback you’ve ever received and how did you learn from it?

The toughest feedback we ever received was that our service wasn’t necessary because people could find brokers on their own.

We learned from it by improving our system so that our network of brokers is so well-qualified and well-researched by us, it is almost a crime not to go to us for a recommendation on which broker in your new city is the best fit for you. We created a certain quality guarantee, which has created great word of mouth and enabled people to trust our brand.

It is a safer bet to rely on that type of standardization then the one-off referral of a friend or family member who got lucky using a mediocre broker a year ago. Also, our match-making system ensures you work with a specialist. Finally, the pre-negotiated discounts are important because they save our users money, and those types of savings can’t be procured by going it alone. Our network creates these benefits, and makes being a part of it worthwhile.

Negative feedback is always just an opportuntiy to improve and make your product better, and I think our efforts to make our website indispensable to graduates are starting to pay off.

Tell us some of the key lessons you’ve learnt so far on your journey as an entrepreneur?

Persistence is crucial. You have to keep driving your product every day. Making it better, spreading the word.

Marketing is important. Of course you have to perfect your offer first, but the press is your friend and any opportunity for one single person to learn more about your company is a worthwhile use of time.

Brand control is also key. Being able to determine how it appears to others rather than it becoming something you don’t want it to be.

What would you say has been your most memorable moment so far?

That’s a great question. I was very excited when we signed our first lease. But, ultimately, it’s a toss-up between being invited to the White House and getting off the set of my first live interview on Bloomberg TV.

I was 22, had graduated from college only a month before, and we had been working at break-neck speed for 3 months. We’ve made incredible strides since then, but something about how quickly it happened and the shift that it represented in our lives made it very memorable. It was nice afterwards to go to the rooftop of our friends apartment, enjoy a beer, and reflect on an insane 3 months.

How do you stay grounded with your recent success in business?

Knowing that we haven’t succeeded yet.

Where do you see yourself and your business in 5 years?

We’ll have a strong market share in the U.S. and abroad of recent graduates and young professionals relocating from campuses to cities or between different cities, and we’ll definitely be changing the real estate market’s usual norms and conventions. Less money will be spent recruiting wealthy clients through expensive, out-dated advertisements, and more money will be pumped into developing the relationships we are initiating with young renters early on.

What can we be expecting from you in the future?

Beyond expansion within our core real estate services, The Next Step brand is currently exploring different business opportunities that consistently revolve around our niche audience of undergrads, recent grads, and young professionals.

We currently have projects underway in fashion, television, and vacation rentals. We also are becoming a desirable avenue for other brands who want to reach the twenty-something, high end demographic that we cater too. We are becoming a platform for companies to promote their products to our targeted demographic, and a consultant to companies who need assistance engaging members of our website.

What advice can you give to entrepreneurs out there looking to get involved in this industry?

Pursue industries and jobs that you love, and be infinitely curious about how it works. If you think it can be done better, then do it.

Thanks for your time Blair