"We interviewed a college entrepreneur with refreshing priorities. UPenn junior Dan Shipper thinks staying in school is worth while even though he's been approached by numerous startups. He also thinks it's worthwhile to build a startup that makes money from the get go, because you can start a business like that in any investment environment."
Shipper: I think in the environment right now, it's relatively easy to raise money. I don't think the environment is going to be that way in two years. So my interest is in building businesses the way they've traditionally been built: they make money. You can build that kind of a business in any investment climate, and I think the beauty of software is that it allows you to build businesses where the only cost is your time.
Shipper: In high school I started developing Blackberry apps right before the iPhone came out in 2006. No one really knew what an app was so I started doing BlackBerry software development. The first app I made was called FindIt. I kept losing my BlackBerry in my house, and it would be on silent so I couldn't call it. FindIt made it so, if I lost my BlackBerry in my house, I could just email it and it would ring even if it was on silent.
Shipper: When I first got to college I stopped doing mobile app stuff and started doing web development. And I guess the first successful website I did was with two friends called WhereMyFriendsBe. It took all of your Facebook friends and plotted them on a map. That has about 40,000 sign-ups right now. I took freshman year as a way to learn how to take an idea and get it out on the web as quickly as possible. And I did probably 10-15 apps during freshman year. Over last summer I built a website, DomainPolish, and sold it in February.
Startups Are Flinging Job Offers At Dan Shipper, But The 20-Year-Old Philosophy Major Would Rather Stay At UPenn
Shipper: I think in the environment right now, it's relatively easy to raise money. I don't think the environment is going to be that way in two years. So my interest is in building businesses the way they've traditionally been built: they make money. You can build that kind of a business in any investment climate, and I think the beauty of software is that it allows you to build businesses where the only cost is your time.
Shipper: In high school I started developing Blackberry apps right before the iPhone came out in 2006. No one really knew what an app was so I started doing BlackBerry software development. The first app I made was called FindIt. I kept losing my BlackBerry in my house, and it would be on silent so I couldn't call it. FindIt made it so, if I lost my BlackBerry in my house, I could just email it and it would ring even if it was on silent.
Shipper: When I first got to college I stopped doing mobile app stuff and started doing web development. And I guess the first successful website I did was with two friends called WhereMyFriendsBe. It took all of your Facebook friends and plotted them on a map. That has about 40,000 sign-ups right now. I took freshman year as a way to learn how to take an idea and get it out on the web as quickly as possible. And I did probably 10-15 apps during freshman year. Over last summer I built a website, DomainPolish, and sold it in February.
Startups Are Flinging Job Offers At Dan Shipper, But The 20-Year-Old Philosophy Major Would Rather Stay At UPenn
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