Usually one of the main obstacles that face startups after finding the right project they will work on is their need for talents with entrepreneurial skills and willing to thrive while connecting with others.

Startups look for highly active members especially in the launching period. This gives rise to the importance of connecting startups to university students.

Activeness and Connection

It's imperative for startups to work with university students in launching their product/service since students can directly connect startups with potential customers. Students with entrepreneurial values have the capacity to promote the product and to associate the product with educational and career progress. Moreover, young entrepreneurs can help startups promote their culture and values. For instance, in Lebanon the corporate culture is completely missing especially among old generations. Young entrepreneurs, through workshops, small communities and clubs in their universities, social media influence and on-campus collaborations and events can help startups spread these values and grow their reach. Nowadays, especially in a country where launching a startup is too risky, young entrepreneurs are needed the most. Young people, being free from obligations, can generate way more than others in a risky business environment. 

On the other side, startups can't reach their targeted audience without a team diversified in terms of discipline and talents. There is no better place than universities to find high-achieving individuals with different backgrounds. And beside this diversity and the risk-taking character, university students can also be flexible in terms of the time and location of work. And the rise of the remote culture will help small businesses grow more rapidly than ever among fresh grads and university students since the latter are more reliable when it comes to the internet.

Students for the early stage

In the early stage, beyond the fact that students are risk tolerant as we mentioned, working with university students is a low to zero cost thing and therefore startups can have a cost advantage. Startups in this way can benefit from the skills of the students with low cost in terms of salary or short-term stipends. That's a way for a small business in its early stage with low access to capital and resources to grow and increase its market influence. Additionally, students can market your product/service in the most creative and non-standard way. University students, being surrounded by multiple communities with various backgrounds, can connect startups to customers directly with low marketing costs. 

To sum up, in the early stage of a startup when access to traditional financing method is difficult and the risk almost outweighs the potential return, university students can help grow the business and increase its market reach with low costs and high-achieving methods. Startups should definitely connect with university students in order to benefit from their entrepreneurial skills and talents.

By Sari Zeineddine