Millennials, thinking of starting a company in college? Read this first

DURHAM – Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg did it. So did Microsoft’s Bill Gates. They started their businesses in their college dorm rooms at roughly 19 years old, dropped out of school, and became mega-billionaires.

But as most observers would note, they’re the exception, not the rule.

“Statistically, most startups fail,” said Haley Huie, director of NC State University’s Entrepreneurship Clinic. To be exact, 90% of startups don’t make it, and 10% fail within the first year.

Huie was speaking as part a panel lineup during Raleigh-Durham Startup Week. It included some of the region’s top entrepreneurs who also work teaching and facilitating entrepreneurship at North Carolina Central University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University and North Carolina State University. The region’s universities play an important, and growing, role, WRAL TechWire reported last year.

The panelists honed in on the transition from college life to startup life.

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‘Healthy reality check’

During the panel conversation, Huie offered what she called a “healthy reality check” for those considering taking the entrepreneurial plunge while still in college. She also dispelled some myths: “Students I work with believe that if they’re not ready to build a unicorn, or just exit successfully at 22, it’s never going to happen for them. That is false.”

But while the odds are against them, she said she struggled to the see the downsides.

“There are just so many resources and people who are beating down the doors trying to help you. Just do it, but remind yourself that this is a learning experience. Maybe it’s the second third, fourth, fifth thing that actually ends up being wildly successful.”

UNC-Chapel Hill’s Bernard Bell and NC State’s Haley Huie speaking on a panel during Raleigh-Durham Startup Week in April 2022.

‘On the fence’

Another panelist, Bernard Bell, executive director of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship, had a different take.

“I’m kind of sitting on the fence about doing that,” he said, cautiously.

From his years working with students, he observed that they often get overly focused on the “startup vertical,” putting all their time and energy into something that most likely won’t succeed. Sadly, they miss out on college life, he said.

“They don’t get it over the finish line, and then they have regret and depression looking back,” he said. Instead, he thinks those years are more wisely spent building an “entrepreneurial mindset.”

“I love the idea that they should fail and fail and fail while the stakes are low,” he said.

The data is also on his side, he said. “Our research shows that 84% of our students go work for companies when they graduate. [They] start their businesses about eight years out of underground.” In fact, one study on startup founder age found that 60-year-old entrepreneurs are three times more likely to build a successful startup than 30-year-old founders.

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‘Go for it’

Still, Sophia Retchin won’t be dissuaded: “If you’re passionate about something, go for it, 100%,” she said.

The 21-year-old was among a handful of college students sitting in the audience. She’s co-founder of the Chapel Hill Alternative Protein Project, a student initiative supported by The Good Food Institute that aims to build sustainable protein research. She’s also getting ready to graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School in three weeks. She started her first company, Holy Smokes Food, a sustainable foodtech startup, just a few months ago.

“Spending my last semester in college taking extremely difficult classes while founding a startup has been extremely stressful, obviously, but I knew that going into it.”

Retchin is developing multiple plant-based deli meats at the NC Food Innovation Lab, which is funded by NC State. She’s already landed some funds from a local venture capitalist, Sustainable Food Ventures, and won’t be dissuaded from her mission.

“We really believe the Triangle is the future of all protein and food tech, and so I’ll be based in Durham.”

“This is my startup,” she added. “And ultimately, it’s up to me and my intuition of what sorts of decisions I need to be making.”