Richard Martell is a 21 year old from the UK who recently made headlines earlier this year with his website TheFitFinder. We recently managed to grab a quick interview with him to discuss the site, the reaction to it all and the future for the site.

1. First up Rich, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m a 3rd year computer scientist at UCL and probably best well known for creating FitFinder.

2. What is ‘The Fit Finder’?

FitFinder is a location based micro blogging site officially, but it is essentially a website that allows you to post when you see someone attractive in the area that you are in and also let others know about it.

3. How did you come up with the idea for it?

I started FitFinder in my final year at university. It came about when I was revising in the library. My friends and I always text each other around before finding somewhere to sit so we could find where the hot girls were working in the library. One night I was a bit bored of revision so decided to build this website that my friends could post on, thats what FitFinder was meant to be. When it was launched at 9am on a Friday morning I told one person about it. I came back later that day to find 18 out of 20 of the people on computers on the floor I was working in the library were on FitFinder. I checked the statistics later that day and saw over 2000 people had been on the site. Other universities got in touch in the coming weeks that wanted FitFinder and I did my best to get them up. Continue Reading

Ryan Higa is an internet sensation. For those of you who do not know who he is, Ryan is a comedian from Hawaii who is well known for his comedy videos on YouTube. As of August 20th 2009, Ryan’s YouTube channel NigaHiga is the most subscribed channel of all time.

First of all Ryan, welcome to Student On Campus – It’s great to have you here!

Thanks for having me!

Let’s get straight into it…Since starting NigaHiga in 2006 , you have gone on to capture audiences from around the world with your YouTube videos and now you occupy the top spot for the most subscribed channel.Can you summarize for us what the last three years have been like?

I never imagined this would happen…the fans and the attention is just unbelievable! We started making videos because we were bored and we enjoyed making people laugh. It’s been great traveling and meeting the fans and other youtubers.

“When I do a video, I’m always trying to make it better or funnier”

Let’s go back to the beginning – What made you want to start NigaHiga?

We used an old VHS camcorder…you had to have a cassette to put the tape in to play and then take it to our friends’ homes to play in their VCRs…having the videos on the internet, our friends could see it whenever.
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Jessica started her first internet company at the age of 13, finished high school at the age of 15, and is now studying computer science at U.C. Berkeley. Through speaking engagements and side projects, shes been teaching young people how to get a jump-start in entrepreneurship and their future careers. In November of 2008, Jessica launched internshipIN as a way to help fellow students in finding internships, and has since helped thousands of students explore their passions through real life experience. She’s now working on Indinero.com, a company that creates software that help organizations manage their finances.

Hey Jessica! First of all, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Sure!  I’m Jessica Mah, a senior at U.C. Berkeley studying computer science, and I’ve been programming since elementary school.  I started a site called internshipIN.com in the fall as a way to help students find internships, and I recently started Indinero.com to help small businesses manage their finances through intuitive software.

What made you want  to start InternshipIN and Indinero?

internshipIN was started as a cool project to help our peers in college.  There wasn’t a profit incentive when we first started it, and we’ve since learned so much about the software development process.  Indinero was started to help a problem we had with managing our own company:  taking care of finances.  And seeing that it was one of the biggest things that stressed us out, we thought that it would be cool to create a product that solved that problem.

How do you manage to balance college life and your online endeavours?

I think it’s important to keep a good work/life balance.  I take Friday night and Saturday off, I meet regularly with my college friends, and it’s been working out quite well!

How does it feel to have been profiled in such websites/magazines such as TechCrunch and Inc?

It isn’t too big of a deal.  Getting profiled on top blogs and magazines definitely helps business, but it can also be a distraction from innovation.  When the press rolls in, don’t lose sight of building a good product!

What tips do you have to other students who want to follow in your footsteps and start an online business?

Pick an idea that’s quick and easy to get started with.  This means an idea that requires very very little upfront capital, and can be launched in no more than a few months.  A lot of first-time entrepreneurs try to start with a “big idea”, but it’s important to realize that the biggest companies were started with modest goals.  For example, Microsoft was nothing more than a software consultancy for its first year of existence.  If they had the goal of being the software empire it is now, they’d never have gotten there.

What is the best advice you were ever given?

Be relentlessly resourceful.  Take advantage of your connections, read a lot, and do everything in your power to make your business successful.

Asides from your companies, what else do you enjoy doing?

Hanging out with my friends, going swimming, reading, among everything else that college-aged students enjoy doing.

What do you plan on doing after Berkeley?

Just build Indinero : )

Future projects?

Nope, just Indinero.  Commitment is key to building a great company.

I’d like to thank Jessica for being part of the 1st interview @Student On Campus.  I’m sure you have just inspired other students to follow in your footsteps. Good luck for the future!