Discuss: What are the pros and cons of being a student entrepreneur?

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Discuss features short but strong and insightful opinions on interesting startup, entrepreneurship, and tech topics. Got a topic or question to suggest? Drop us an email.

Student entrepreneurship has long been a thing even before Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard to start Facebook. Many have joined his footsteps: both the CEO and CTO of Carousell, for one, were also student entrepreneurs. But a question begs to be asked: Were these entrepreneurs successful because they were students or despite the fact?

We’ve asked a few entrepreneurs to share their insights.

Editor’s note: Answers have been edited for clarity.

David Ongchoco, founder of YouthHack

I think students make good entrepreneurs because they come in without any notion of what’s impossible. Their naivety allows them to think out of the box and to approach problems from new and innovative ways.

Being a student, you’re also surrounded by other students who you can collaborate with for your startup, which is a huge advantage. Being in university gives you so much access—to professors, advice from guest speakers, and an ID to get you into events that may cost a fortune.

But student entrepreneurs face various challenges: lack of industry experience, small network, and lack of general business skills. Often, student entrepreneurs end up creating a startup to solve a problem they understand, which is limited to social and consumer-related applications. At the same time, most student entrepreneurs have a hard time building credibility. However, a lot of these can be overcome by students who are willing to grind and learn on the fly.

I also don’t think there’s enough being done on the school level to foster entrepreneurship in Southeast Asia yet. I think there should be a bigger emphasis on:

1. Action-based curriculums that will require students to work together
2. Technical skills that students can use to turn their ideas into reality
3. Collaboration with tech companies, startups, and entrepreneurs

Let’s discuss