Why New and Future College Graduates Should Consider Entrepreneurship
By: Andrew Kirima
Tags: Innovation, Graduation, Startup, Entrepreneurship, Business

Why New and Future College Graduates Should Consider Entrepreneurship

We need more people making stuff. Tips for getting started on your entrepreneurial endeavor.

photo credit: MD Duran

While on my way back to school to finish my undergraduate degree at the University of Arizona, the Covid-19 pandemic was making its mark. The pandemic was on every single headline. Life as I and all my peers had known it was about to change.

The unforeseen effect of forced lockdown led many businesses to shut down, snowballing into debt, bankruptcy, and employee layoffs. Heaps of post-grad opportunities I once thought were promising fell through my grasp as companies started to close or rescind their offers.

All of my post-graduate plans tore in shambles upon me like an avalanche.

I was trapped and my sights upon my next big move became dark, but I had to prevail. I could not wallow-up in pity as there was no time to be spared dwelling on what I could not control.

In May, the month of my graduation, it dawned on me to take a leap of faith and endeavor into the perplexing world of entrepreneurship. Instead of taking the cautious path to seek a stable full-time job, I decided to embark on the more daunting decision to help with the launch of a startup company, Facade Technologies Inc. One evening after a long day’s work with my senior design team, I was reflecting upon my life’s choice to be in such a position, a thought came into my mind, it was the great Elon Musk’s statement,

“We need more people making stuff.”

It’s a rather simple concept, yet we have moved away from creative risk-taking for expensive and niche degrees that rarely reap the rewards of our hard-fought schoolwork.

Why not take the risk before automatically moving from undergraduate education to a career path you’re not too sure of?

Lack of entrepreneurship has stagnated growth in the US

As the candescent entrepreneur and engineer Elon Musk said on The Joe Rogan Podcast,

“too many smart people go into finance and law [without considering entrepreneurship]”.

Finance, law, and the liberal arts are admirable pursuits that are imperative to the economy’s foundation, but our country needs more disbursement of intellect in the field of entrepreneurship. America’s chance to regain tremendous economic stability and affirm a new era of prowess by ambitious, creative, young people in the entrepreneurship field. Sadly, it seems that we have strayed from this path.

We are so often told in college that we can change the world, yet we often ignore the hardest of solutions. We need entrepreneurial spirits, innovative solutions, and creative thinking now more than ever before as technology progresses.

Today, talented people should consider entrepreneurial endeavors. Economist, Wim Naude, stated, “The share of entrepreneurs with higher education in the US declined from 12.2% in 1985 to 5.3% in 2014.” Another economist, Nicholas Kozeniauskas, holds that, “the decline of entrepreneurship is concentrated among the smart.”

There is a contagious fallacy spreading of the acceleration of technology in part is due to the hypergrowth of entrepreneurship, but that isn’t the case.

Rather entrepreneurship has declined, and even worse, it’s declined amongst our brightest.

Instead of providing services to companies that are already established, use your knowledge to manifest new enterprises that could benefit the entire economy.

Bureau of Labor Statics (BLS) suggests that the entrepreneurship rate has fallen by almost half for workers with a bachelor’s degree.

Embrace entrepreneurship

Consider providing growth in an industry of interest, not just for a momentary benefit, but for the commonwealth of the American people. Executive Vice President for Policy at the Financial Services Forum, John Dearie, says that

“New businesses are disproportionately responsible for the innovation that drives productivity and economic growth, and they account for virtually all net new job creation.”

We are a country that has thrived from entrepreneurship on a scale never seen before, now is the most important time to regain that mantle. The free market excites competition that is essential to the creation of better products. Thomas McConnell, of New Enterprise Associates, remarks that

“Venture capital investment is a national phenomenon that helps set the U.S. economy apart from others in the world.”

Entrepreneurship is not just our bread and butter but it’s what helped us to get where we are today as a country. The process may be daunting at first but it’s really like anything you just have to take the first step.

Where to begin

I hope that I have piqued your interest in entrepreneurship, but how can we get you from speculation to start? Technology’s acceleration granted accessibility to a vast collection of information at your disposal all on the internet.

You don’t have to wait to acquire all the necessary ingredients of your team. Start learning today and figure out the steps to launch your entrepreneurial endeavor. Here, a few tips to get started.

5 concepts to constantly think about in Entrepreneurship.

1. Collaborate

If you’re not sure where to start, consider collaborating with like-minded communities that provoke innovative thinking on platforms such as LinkedIn, Product Hunt, and Remote Students. Get the creative juices flowing.

2. Brainstorm

Not sure whether your business model is the solution to an existing problem? Brainstorm and conduct research while asking yourself the following questions until you reach the epiphany:

Does the product solve customer pain?

Can you develop a sales model that can be replicated?

Can you create and drive end-user demand?

What is the vision of your product and can you use that to articulate the department’s goals and mission statements?

3. Build a website

Want to build a company website with a desirable interface w/o a strong technical background? Consider using Webflow or bubble.

4. Develop the product

Need to learn a technical skill to develop a robust product that can attend to consumers’ needs? Start with online courses that are offered by a multitude of educational institutes such as Coursera, edX, etc.

5. Find support

Looking for support and/or funding to launch your startup or just a push in the right direction? Find an incubator or accelerator that is willing to help with your growth such as Open Water Accelerator, University of Arizona Center of Innovation (UACI), etc.

There is an abundance of resources that you can find any time through the vast network of the internet to curate your business ideas.

Final thoughts

Entrepreneurship may not be for everyone. Of course, society still needs those in finance, law, medicine, and first response services. Although we often neglect the great rewards that entrepreneurship can bring us in the long run. Challenge yourself to have a larger impact on humanity’s progress and learn an intangible skill that is highly coveted while you’re at it. You may not receive a piece of paper with the word, “Master”, rather, you may be considered, “The Master” of a solution that you came up with. And better yet, you’ll get paid.

The ball is in your court. Do not underestimate yourself.

You have been groomed with potential and have the intellect to change the world. Just remember, with great power comes great responsibility and knowledge is power.