Cashing In On the Summer Daze

So it's the end of April and those 100 day-blocks after May 9th in your planner are looking very blank. You roommate is going gaga over six weeks of IT-consulting in Berlin, and "where-will-you-be-for-the-summer" is becoming the standard salutation. What do you envision for your summer?

1. Eight weeks of quality time with the Xerox-machine at your unpaid internship in DC for Congresswoman What's-her-face (whom you get to meet exactly twice).
2. Serve coffee at Dunkin' Donuts wearing those fashion-crime, neon-orange polyester uniforms.
3. Scramble over want-ads for an opportunity to apply your expertise in modern Chinese history, Roman architecture, and 5:00 a.m. paper-crunchin'.
4. Be the CEO of your own e-startup.

With your EE101-approved html skills and some business sense (and a lot of free time) option 4 could be an ambitious but realistic answer. Cyber-savvy college students from around the nation are riding high on the wave of the e-revolution.

As early as 1995, five Yalies—Steward Uglow, TC '97, David Sklar, BK '97, Eric Ng, TD '97, Donnan Steele, TC '97, and Bret Martin, BR '97—founded sister companies Student.Com and TVGrid.com. Of the thirteen finalists in this year's Y50k competition, three proposals—EdSite, Bluewave Solutions, and WiredMD Group—are based on Internet or wireless IT techology. E-businesses are also making buzz at the MIT $50K Entrepreneurship Competition. Proposals to establish e-tailers, which use 3-D imaging to enhance the online shopping experience, and high speed, handheld, wireless Internet devices are among the top contenders.

Admittedly, 99% of the Internet is completely useless. But why not buck the trend with a bit of creativity and ingenuity? To give your entrepreneurial spirit a jumpstart, the Yale Herald has taken a look at some of the Internet businesses that were started by students and made for students. These web sites were reviewed based on their content, product quality, and potential to give you some insights as to what it takes for an e-business expand out of the dorm room and into the real world.

Student.Com

Student.Com, started by five Elis and a Columbia student, is an online magazine and community that provides college students with everything from spicy sex tips—"Feels Like the First Time"—to the how-to-guide on keeping your dorm room smelling zesty clean.

Adapted to college students' short attention span and the 'Net's obsession with change, this dynamic site went through a major facelift back in Sept., 2000. Among it's new contents, the most innovative feature is its localized guide to campus events and organizations. Campus events and organizations, posting advertisements on OnCampus, get free buzz through having their upcoming events forwarded to registered student.

Student.Com is far from a fad and is becoming the ultimate online destination for America's college students. Its potential has been recognized by the MediaOne Group and ULLICO (The Union Labor Life Insurance Compnay), from whom Student.Com received a hefty $7.5 million financial package.

Student.Com is bringing in the cash through advertising, e-commerce, and content syndication. But the new partnership with enfoTrust Networks, an Atlanta-based technology company specializing in Information Passes, brings promises of expansion beyond being merely an online community and into the interactive business. In the near future, students will be able to forego the headache of paper-filing and manage their credits and loans—and even purchase auto, retail and travel products—through the web site.

"In 17 focus groups around the country, time and time again, students stated they are inconvenienced by having to fill out numerous forms and applications. With this added feature, Student.Com will continue on our path offering services and products to America's college students," Rick Berenson, CEO of Student.Com explained.

With a powerful financial backing, a staff of recent graduates from Yale, Columbia, and Harvard, and a partnership with enfoTrust networks company, Student.Com will most likely not only survive but also prevail in the ferocious competition of the Dot.com Darwinism.

IvyBound

There is one thing that all Yalies have in common—we all beat out the gruesome college application process and came out on top. Why not turn experience—the hassle of perfecting essays down to the very last comma and the anxiety over campus interviews—into cash? A group of undergrads from the Big Name schools, including Yale, Harvard, Columbia, and Stanford, have teamed up in 1999 and created IvyBound.com.

IvyBound.com serves as the cyber-know-it-all guide to the college application process. It offers individualized plans designed to help Ivy-hopefuls distinguish themselves through resume-buffing, stellar SAT scores, and unique college essays. IvyBound markets itself on the fact all of its counselors are current college students and its services are interactive and personal. A high school student can get everything from an essay-review ($99) and a Q-and-A session ($60 an hour) to the Ultimate-Success Package ($1299). Counselors give students individualized advice for headaches over what extracurriculars to join and what classes—Advance Placement or Honors—to pick. The counseling team also offers a free speakers' series for high schools hoping to boost its admission records.

IvyBound.com's pricing is lower than those of more established, college consulting groups such as Kaplan and Princeton Review, which offer individual consulting for as much as $150 per hour. To an average student, however, $1299 per package is still a heavy price to fork-up for advice that's offered for free at the counselors' office of his or her high school. Unlike Kaplan and Princeton Review, IvyBound.com doesn't have the bragging rights of an impressive client file or even sample customer responses.

The descriptions of their packages, helping a student find enjoyable activities that will also impress admission officers, etc., seem to be the copy n' paste version of the standard advice found in any college guide book. It still remains uncertain whether IvyBound.com, through the merit of its services alone, will survive in the competition against the Big Name corporations in the college-application business. It does benefit from, however, the undying myth surrounding the Ivies—there will always be over-achieving Ivy-hopefuls and anxious parents willing to take the very last step for the acceptance letter.

Though the tale of the teen CEO has turned into reality for a few, such as Ashley Power, the CEO of Goosehead.Com, for most it is still just a tale—especially considering the recent digital-downward plunge in the stock market. An e-business carries the same financial burdens and risks as any other company. The Student.Com, HigherOne, and IvyBound are just rare examples whose futures remain as unpredictable as the market itself.

With plenty of free time on your hands in the summer, why not consider creating your own e-startup? Josh Newman, MC '01, who found Sharkbyte (an Internet strategy and consulting site that was acquired by Quantram International), said that "all a start-up takes is a good idea and good networking." Though you may not be the next Jerry Yang, but at least you could rebuff the parental evil-eye with "but Mom, I'm not just web-surfing, I'm executive managing my Dot.Com!"
 

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