Adam, can you give us a little bit of background on yourself?

Born in Northern Ireland and despite the businesses generally now operating elsewhere I’m still living in NI, but with a good excuse to travel!

What made you want to take the entrepreneurial route?

From selling in the primary school playground, to asking the bank for £90,000 when I was 19 in my case there was no other route.

How did you come up with the idea for SendMyBag?

I was helping my girlfriend move home from university in England and we got stung by high excess baggage charges. I thought there must be a solution, when I got home I looked online and there wasn’t, so I setup the UKs first domestic excess baggage service. Usually when I have an idea and I check it out you find that it does exist but is just not advertised well but on this occasion the idea simply had not been done. Consequently when we launched within a couple of weeks we’d helped 100’s of people move luggage around the UK.

What lessons has running SendMyBag taught you in terms if running your own business?

Keep it simple. I get asked to talk to start up groups and often I see people developing websites that are so over complicated that unless you were involved in the design you won’t be able to navigate the site to maximum value. Sendmybag.com didn’t require a fancy website so it didn’t get one, recently we’ve re-arranged bits but it’s still the same straight forward process.

What is Karacha.com?

Karacha Music is one of the UKs leading musical instrument retailers, if you go to buy a traditional “school” instrument like a violin, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet you will definitely come in contact with us. We also offer a whole host of services and hundreds of accessory products.

How do you manage to stay on top of both websites?

I’m lucky both karacha.com and sendmybag.com have very capable people running the day to day business on my behalf, without these guys it would be impossible, I’m very fortunate to have employed some excellent people over the last 5 years. Karacha.com is the bigger of the businesses and fulfils thousands of orders every month, so again we are fortunate in having a team of dedicated pickers meaning that despite the high volume, if you buy a violin on Monday morning it will normally be with you Tuesday!

What tips do you have for other student entrepreneurs out there?

Plan ahead, but not too much. I see a lot of people dive in head first without any planning and fail, equally I meet a lot of people who are so obsessed with planning they don’t give themselves the chance to really succeed. I think you need to strike the balance.

What are your future goals? Any new ideas in the pipeline?

Sendmybag.com this year launched a student essentials pack, over the next year I can see a lot more products coming online. The goal with Karacha is to become not just one of the leading but the top UK music store, a lot of work ahead but all very achievable!

Thanks to Adam for the interview – Be sure to check out SendMyBag and Karacha

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.

4. You received a lot of attention from various media outlets around the world – What was your reaction to the huge response to the site?

The media response took me by surprise to be honest. I thought that it might appear in some student magazines but when the Guardian called and said they wanted to do an interview for their website I knew this was getting quite serious. I found myself having to step out of the library whilst ‘revising’ to chat on the phone to journalists, advertisers and potential investors. It then spiralled and peaked when The Times featured it 3 days running and then being invited to talk about it on Sky News one evening.

5. Your university (UCL) threatened to prevent you from graduating because of the site – How did this all come about and what happened in the end?

The dean at UCL called me into her office to discuss the site a week or so after it started. They wanted assurances about the content and I explained the methods I had been using to keep some sort of regulation on the site. They asked me to take the site down and I refused to do so as it was not hosted on UCL servers and they had no jurisdiction over it. When the press started reporting it however, the university started to feel more pressured into doing something as I was linked to UCL and they believed I was bringing the university into disrepute. They then slapped the largest fine they can on a student (£300) and threatened disciplinary action (which could have lead to expulsion). I decided to take the site down as I only had a few more weeks until my exams were done and I didn’t want them to take my degree away at the last hurdle.

6. What’s next for ‘The Fit Finder’? Future goals for the site?

As I have said I am wanting to bring FitFinder back for the new academic year and develop the site properly once I have graduated. We hope to make the new site more accessible and also introduce some new features which all look very cool in the initial stages. I can’t go into too much detail but all will be revealed soon when we launch!

7. What tips would you give to other student entrepreneurs?

I would recommend any budding entrepreneurs out their to find a good mentor. I was fortunate to meet some great people as a result of FitFinder including the creator of Bebo, a Dragon from ‘Dragons Den’ and a Secret Millionaire. The advice you can get from these sort of people is excellent. I would also say that once you have a good idea you should work hard to turn it into a reality. There were several weeks of 3 hours sleep a night when FitFinder kicked off and being an entrepreneur is about having the drive to get something off the ground with pure enthusiasm and often without a large budget.

Thanks to Richard for the interview. Be sure to check out TheFitFinder when it relaunches.

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.

At what point did you realise that NigaHiga was on its way to becoming the web phenomenon that it is now?

When we started posting the “How to Be” videos, we couldn’t believe the number of views. But even at that, I never imagined we’d have all the subscribers.

If you could pick 1 video of yours that stands out the most, which one would it be and why?

I’m always asked that question, but it’s so hard to answer. When I do a video, I’m always trying to make it better or funnier.

You currently attend university in Las Vegas – How do you find juggling classes and making YouTube videos?

I go to school part-time so that I’m able to continue making my videos.

“If you enjoy it, go for it”

Your YouTube popularity led to “Ryan and Sean’s Not So Excellent Adventure” which grabbed the iTunes No. 1 spot for independent films. How did that opportunity come about?

The producers saw our videos and contacted me by email, so at first we didn’t take it too seriously. Then they talked with our parents and we all decided it was a great opportunity to experience making a “real” movie.

Is Hollywood calling?

No, not yet…but hopefully…

What advice can you give to students who want to follow in your footsteps?

If you enjoy it, go for it….you never know who’s watching and what opportunities will follow.

What’s next for Ryan Higa?

I want to eventually get a BA in Film but for now, I enjoy making my videos and people laugh.

The whole Student On Campus team would like to thank Ryan for taking the time out to do this interview. Good luck for the future!

Go check out his channel on YouTube now!

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!