So, you have an idea that you believe can make you money, but you don't know how to implement this idea. First off, is this idea a need or a want? Would your friends try this idea, and, most importantly, does it apply to certain age groups or all ages?
These are just a sample of questions that you have to ask yourself before you become committed to your startup. To make things simpler, a startup is any product or service that you create which can expand very rapidly.
Next, meet my good friend, Daniel Gaeta, who at the time was a sophomore at the University of Illinois and had a couple friends who were interested in a startup. In this article, I will explain that like Daniel, you can also just as easily set up a startup without the fear of failure and maybe make a buck or two.
Fitsby -- does it ring a bell for you? Odds would say that you have never heard of Fitsby at all, but I’m here to explain how Daniel and a couple of his friends received over $20k on their genius investment and are currently in the process of raising even more funding.
Fitsby is currently available for Android (soon to be for iOS next month) and is an app that challenges you against your friends to hit the gym and win through check-ins. You check-in through your GPS on your phone, and you must stay for at least 30 minutes to receive credit for your check-in.
Do you need motivation to hit the gym? What is more motivation than competition against your friends and losing money to your friends? Let me answer that in a two-word response: absolutely nothing.
So now you are thinking, but how can I begin a startup? Don’t do it alone. Get a solid group of friends together, pitch the idea of your startup, and make it a reality to your friends.
Second, as I introduced before, there is a major difference between a want and a necessity. Ask yourself, your friends, and your families if your idea not only works but also can become a need to them.
Why waste multiple hours of not only your time, but also their time? Make sure that this idea can become something that you are not 100 percent interested in, but also something you can benefit from because it is a need.
Next, among the many questions that you are thinking while reading this article in the first place, is that your major isn’t what you think it should be to create a startup in the first place.
What if you aren’t like the majority of University of Illinois students and aren’t a business or engineering major? Let me tell you this -- even if you are anything from a psychology major to a communications major, you can still pitch a successful idea.
Being next to and working with creative minds on this campus as consistently as Daniel did (who began college as a business finance major and then converted to computer science) can easily help you build a successful startup.
Finally, don’t try to create the next million-dollar idea, because that is not what I’m stressing here. Create and challenge yourself to build an idea of necessity instead of want, and think about this final line from Daniel, “Worry about who your first 50 users will be, not who the first 50 thousand will be.”
