These tech savvy students turn a simple hobby into big business: A blog about startup trends and how to succeed in them.
Imagine you’re a college student who wants to make some money, and you decide to go into the nail salon business. As you do your market research, you find out that natural gel nails are all the rage right now. You could jump on that bandwagon and open up a business where customers pay $30 for manicures, pedicures, nail art, or gel nails.
Or if you don’t want to shell out the $5,000 for the requisite equipment, you could just advertise your services and work from your dorm room or apartment. But what if your business was so big that it ended up taking over your living space? That’s exactly what happened with Emma Husar and Paige Schaffer, two college students from Indiana who have made $10,000 from their natural gel nails business in under three months.
To start out, Husar and Schaffer were only doing nails for friends and family members at their apartments. After a few months of requests trickling in through Facebook and Instagram, they decided to make a website where people could book appointments online. The site was so successful that they had to move all their supplies out of
The students of the University of Pune have brought a revolution to the field of nail care. They have invented an entirely organic and homemade nail gel. The gel is quickly gaining popularity in the market and has now become a must-have for most women in the city.
The product is made entirely from natural materials and is devoid of any sort of chemical content. All other nail gels available in the market have a high chemical content, something that is harmful for nails. This new invention has proved to be a blessing for those who love nail art but hated damaging their nails with chemicals.
The four students who invented this product are Prachi Jain, Ayushi Jain, Shreya Jain and Pranjali Jain. They are all 2nd year students of BBA and were eager to start a business after studying the basics in their first semester.
‘We were looking for ideas when we came across a video made by an American girl on Youtube’, says Shreya, ‘We wanted to replicate what she did but make it better’.
The girls initially used simple household items like sugar, water, vinegar etc to make their first batch of gel which they used on themselves as well as family members at home. After receiving positive feedback they decided
“When I first started doing my nails, I was obsessed with gel manicures,” says Sarah Gibson Tuttle, a recent University of Southern California grad. “I used to spend over $100 on manicures every month. I thought there has to be a better way to do this.”
Gibson Tuttle decided to go for it, and together with her friend and classmate Elizabeth Monson, she created Olive & June, an at-home gel manicure kit that uses LED technology to cure the polish. The pair spent the next three years building their business while they were still in school.
“We tried everything under the sun in our dorm room,” Monson says. “We had LED lights and UV lights, we had different brands of polish and different types of bases. We tested all the top kits out there.”
In 2014, they launched their company with a Kickstarter campaign that raised more than $50,000. They also won the USC Marshall School of Business’s New Venture Seed Competition that year. Now their product is available in dozens of salons and spas around the country and online at Sephora and OliveandJune.com for $80 a pop.
The team at natural gel nails is a talented, driven and diverse group of people who are united in the mission to help students succeed. We are a company that is growing rapidly and we need people who can grow with us.
The founders of natural gel nails wanted to create a collaborative space for students to share their best ideas on how to succeed in school and in life. So, our goal is clear: We want natural gel nails to become the world’s largest online community for students.
We’re building out our teams now, so if you think you’ve got what it takes to be part of an exciting, fast-paced startup, check out our career page on AngelList.
Why do some of the world’s smartest people create startups, while others choose to work in large established companies?
As a startup, you’re pouring every resource you have into your business. You’re working day and night to get it off the ground and make your dreams a reality. We’ve all been there. Of course, the biggest problem with this approach is that most startups run out of money before they ever get the chance to succeed.
As an entrepreneur, knowing how to manage your cash flow is one of the most important aspects of running a business. And when you’re first starting out, it’s likely that you’ll need to seek outside funding in order to keep operations running smoothly.
One option for small businesses and startups is to secure loans from banks or other financial institutions, but this can be difficult since many don’t have the large amount of collateral necessary in order to be approved
There are a lot of students in the US that like to do their nails, and they always gravitate toward gel nails. It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t love them. They’re really trendy right now.
“So many young women spend so much time getting their nails done, and it can be really expensive. We saw an opportunity here to disrupt the market with a product that was cheaper, faster and easier. But we wanted to do it without sacrificing quality because we know how important it is to have healthy, beautiful nails.”
They decided to go in on this together because they both had family members with cancer and knew how difficult it could be for someone going through chemotherapy or radiation. That’s why they decided to make their product free for these people, which has been tremendously rewarding for the girls.
“The best part of this has been hearing from our customers about why gel nails are so important to them. Some people use these because they don’t want to use harsh chemicals on their hands or because they are sensitive to certain ingredients, but others use them because it makes them feel good about themselves when they have pretty nails.
We know how important it is for everyone to feel confident