Over the past few years, the McDonough School of Business has seen a surge in student entrepreneurship initiatives, ranging from technology start-ups to bloggers and potential magazine CEOs. Some companies, like Sweetgreen and LivingSocial, have seen success after their founders graduated from Georgetown, but several current undergraduate entrepreneurs have found a way to mix business success with academic responsibilities.
Carly Heitlinger (MSB ’12) started blogging as a joke during Christmas break of her freshman year. Her blog, The College Prepster, has since grown into an internet brand with its own Tumblr, Twitter page, and website domain. Heitlinger publishes articles with style and fashion advice on “preppy” clothing. Heitlinger said the site garners an average of 38,000 hits a week.
In addition her daily blog, Heitlinger has published a book, a newsletter, and is collaborating with two other girls to launch a web magazine, Sweet Lemon, in early October. She has been invited to write for the USA Today blog and MSNBC’s website.
Carlos Cheung (MSB ’13), another undergraduate entrepreneur, is balancing his own technology start-up, called Mindful, with his role as the “Campus CEO” of another company called Zaarly.
Still in its “alpha” phase, Mindful is designed to help people build better relationships.
“Usually when you pass by people, you just say, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ But this applet basically… facilitates better relationships with people they know and builds relationships with people they don’t know,” Cheung said. He said that the company will be operational next year at the earliest.
To gain some guidance with his own start-up, Cheung began an unpaid internship with Zaarly, which allows users to post how much they would be willing to pay for everything from books to help with errands. Other users can complete the tasks or sell the items directly to the poster.
Cheung runs the expansion of Zaarly on the Georgetown campus and makes sure that the website accommodates what students actually want.
“We’re trying to bring about an entrepreneurial start-up feeling to Georgetown,” he said. “It’s like a give back kind of thing.”
Studying at the MSB gives students the opportunity to network and puts them in the mindset of starting their own companies, Heitlinger said.
Both Cheung and Heitlinger have hectic schedules balancing their companies and their classes.
“I have this eye twitch, I lie in bed and things start rolling in my head,” Heitlinger said. “I have these emails I have to send, I have to call this person tomorrow, someone needs this by Wednesday. … Sometimes I would sit for nine hours straight and not move, and literally forget to eat.”
Cheung agreed that being an entrepreneur definitely creates a hectic schedule.
“I follow my calendar like it’s my Bible,” Cheung said. “I usually set days where I’m doing Zaarly, and when I’m [working on my own company], and when I’m doing homework.”
Both Cheung and Heitlinger encouraged students interested in starting companies to reach out to them, or to other MSB students who have had start-ups.
“People are going to tell you that you’re crazy,” Heitlinger said. “If they tell you that your idea is dumb, it’s probably really telling you that you’re doing something right. Learn to take criticism and read into it. When people start talking about it, whether or not it’s positive, it’s a good thing.”
matt funk
