At the end of their first year at Penn, when other freshmen were just trying to figure out how they were going to pack up all their belongings, Peter Handy and his business partner, Joseph Leary, were coming up with a new entrepreneurial concept that would help make the entire moving process a lot easier for their fellow students.
By fall 2005, Handy, then a Wharton junior, became Chief Managing Officer of a storage and shipping company that some around campus may know as Boxmydorm.com.
Handy was one of the four student entrepreneurs that spoke at the Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity's Entrepreneurial Panel held at Huntsman Hall yesterday evening.
Other panelists included Wharton juniors Nat Turner and Rachit Shukla, as well as Wharton senior Cameron Smalls, all of whom are brothers of AKPsi.
During the panel, each participant gave a speech about their background and their business ventures. All of the panelists had unique stories about how they started their businesses and what inspired them to do so.
For Smalls, it was a semester abroad in Barcelona, where nightlife sparked his idea to form Eleven Productions, an entertainment production company that helps bars and clubs get crowds during the weekdays through social networking, Facebook.com and word of mouth.
"I did something that I liked, and not for the money," Smalls said about starting his company. "So if you have something you like to do for fun, try to find value in it. Try to sell it."
After having started the highly successful food-ordering Web site Eatnow.com, Turner is now developing AdShop, an ad placement firm that would help companies make money by inserting their ads into viral videos, thereby targeting specific viewers.
While many Whartonites are looking for internships in consulting, Shukla is already starting his own consulting company, Regenus Consulting, which will enable people to get their entrepreneurial ideas to companies that can help develop them.
After the event, Handy spoke passionately about how starting a business while in school has enriched his experience at Penn.
"It added a lot of relevance to a lot of my course work. . I have the opportunity to take what I am learning and apply it," Handy said. "I have learned more doing this venture than in any of my classes."
According to Handy, there are some things that are essential to being a successful entrepreneur, even if you're just a student.
"You need momentum, and you need people who want to see you succeed," he said. "You need to focus on having a sincere and authentic product. . Nobody made a huge amount of money wanting to make a lot of money; . they did it because they were passionate about that product and what it could do for people."
