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Student-run businesses find success on campus
Thanks to the Internet, student entrepreneurs have found fortune nationwide, a UO professor says
by Eric Florip | News Editor
In the case of both current businesses, the founders felt they had fulfilled a service for a legitimate demand. Alford-Jones said he felt this was a large reason for their success, along with the relative ease and easy access of the Internet.
And starting a business through the Web is not a new phenomenon, giving rise to such corporate giants as Google and Facebook.
"There's such low overhead (cost). You can create something of immense value that you couldn't before," Alford-Jones said. "Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in a week on his computer, and it's worth something like $2 billion today."
Fruchter and Parkin said any student entrepreneur should plan far ahead if they try to tackle such a venture.
As the climate improves, current businesses on campus could potentially lead to others in the future, Parkin said.
"Maybe that's our biggest impact on campus, is just the fact that we exist here, because we didn't have any kind of model ... We definitely had our doubts about whether or not it could succeed," Parkin said. "Hopefully we can inspire future student businesses just by the fact that we have succeeded."
Contact the business, science and technology reporter at eflorip@dailyemerald.com
And starting a business through the Web is not a new phenomenon, giving rise to such corporate giants as Google and Facebook.
"There's such low overhead (cost). You can create something of immense value that you couldn't before," Alford-Jones said. "Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook in a week on his computer, and it's worth something like $2 billion today."
Fruchter and Parkin said any student entrepreneur should plan far ahead if they try to tackle such a venture.
As the climate improves, current businesses on campus could potentially lead to others in the future, Parkin said.
"Maybe that's our biggest impact on campus, is just the fact that we exist here, because we didn't have any kind of model ... We definitely had our doubts about whether or not it could succeed," Parkin said. "Hopefully we can inspire future student businesses just by the fact that we have succeeded."
Contact the business, science and technology reporter at eflorip@dailyemerald.com
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