Where do student entrepreneurs get money?
And how much do they typically receive?
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It's very difficult for students with no track record to raise money through the channels that more experienced people pursue. Here are some to look into and a link to an article with some more detail on these ideas and others.
Bootstrap the initiative yourself.
Friends and Family.
There are some incubator-type early stage venture players like LaunchBox in D.C. or Y Combinator that focus on really early stage efforts. Check out their websites.
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The 3 F's. Friends, Family and Fools
Many universities have entrepreneurship programs and VC connections. See if yours has something
Most universities run incubator programs. You'll get free office space, legal services, financial, and similar stuff.
That said, if you're doing it, you're going to need a complete prototype, or a well developed product. Nobody is going to take you seriously otherwise, or believe you have the capacity to run a scalable business unless you prove it with the product.
You're simply going to be laughed at otherwise, unless it really is the coolest idea ever. In which case they'll still tell you to come back later once you've built part of it. With less honest VCs, they might just take parts of your idea and let someone else do it. Ideas aren't worth much.
But you can receive a lot with a product. While it may be harder to get initial terms, VCs will provide just enough capital to usually justify costs/get you to the next milestone, upon which they can decide to reinvest in a new round of financing or get out if you're not on track and aren't likely to get back. Age doesn't come into it then, if they've committed to the idea.
Sam Altman at Loopt got a $5m series A. Out of freshman year at Stanford. He came out of Y-Combinator originally, which does help though, in terms of credibility.
Other thing you can do is contact entrepreneurs. If you've got a business started and you're young, a lot of them are more than happy to meet. You can work it as an informational interview. They'll also be able to refer you to who funded them or who they met with. Everyone that's gotten funding has guaranteed met with tons of VCs while pitching. Their referrals will also get you in the door to venture capital firms, regardless of age.
Your own professors will know some people as well, depending on your university.
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