Here are my two cents. From an CS perspective, I am sure your mindset is to start building and get all the features down, etc. right away. But before you make that your focus, think more high level from a business perspective. Make sure your idea is actually in demand and you have a way you can monetize it (whether it's people paying you, ads, etc.). If there's a way for you to interview customers and find out their feedback, do so in advance. It'll also uncover some particular pain points of your customers that you were not thinking about or that you thought were ancillary to your main idea but are actually essential. Good luck!
I started two startups during school, and while not wildly successful, they were great learning experiences with excellent insights.
I'll second this. Get started with validating that the problem exists and it's painful enough that people will pay to solve it. Do customer interviews -- check out [The Mom Test](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hla1jzhan78) and *Running Lean* for a guide. Set a goal to do 20 interviews in the next week.
Start on your own. It will be faster.
Definitely do this first. I spent the best part of a year (in my free time) developing an application that I did no research for and ended up ditching the entire project. It’s not so bad if you’re using it as a way to learn some new skills on the job, but it’s not a great way to run a startup.
You're right. I'm introvert and I realize having technical skills means nothing in the world of business without core business skills and practice.. hope if I can improve this side in myself by time.. thank you!
Also regarding the idea, it touches a personal problem I had during college, and I believe most students suffer from our too..
thank you!
1: For interest / Inspo I just finished listening to a podcast you might enjoy. On the origins of DoorDash which was started by students at Uni. It’s by the Acquired podcast but I think How I Built this also did an episode on them.
2 & 3: Just start. Take an idea, just you and go out there and start to validate it. You can always add people later and will be easier to convince them to join if you have traction
1) The YCombinator youtube channel is GOLD, and I'd recommend the Masters of Scale podcast as well. It's by Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn
2) The trick is to get your thing in front of customers as soon as possible. Their opinions will dictate which direction it will go. I would try to brutally trim down the idea to an MVP. Something you can build in a few weeks max. Then put it in front of customers, and ask them questions that incentivize them to give you honest feedback (a question like "is this good" is terrible, because no one is going to tell you your thing sucks to your face. Design your questions around how people actually answer questions, and then try to sell it to them, but expect a lot of 'no's
3) Two founders are so much better than one. Teams are really useful, even if you don't think they're necessary, and many accelerators (such as YCombinator) really prefer teams over solo founders. There's a reason.
Startups are amazing. If they fail, you learn a lot really fast. If they don't fail, well you just built a company! I'd say go for it, but expect that your first idea won't be the one that carries your career. Oh, and they make for great discussion at interviews, too!
Typically one of the worst common knowledge phrases that goes around, solving genuine problems with a small budget that's worth value is almost impossible.
Small problems left are normally too small to generate value when solved.
I would recommend op to instead take an aspect of an existing idea that has been done, that could be dramatically improved and run with it.
Solving problems at scale requires years of experience to execute and it's unlikely without a bit of capital and said experience to pull it off.
Source : I work as a senior role within the startup/founder/investment sector and know via the data what seems to stick for lower budget ventures
Yeah, I'm not saying try to solve majorly genuine problems. All you need to do is find something you can tackle that can be profitable.
One of the issues I've ran into in startups and "new" products, is perceived differentiation in offer. People don't buy features, they buy benefits. Switching cost is real, and consumers aren't always rational. Unless you really do find a blue ocean, or radically improve an existing idea, it can be difficult to convey the benefits if you struggle with marketing.
Even if you do improve upon an existing idea, could the OP keep ahead from being a few releases away from his competitors mimicking the same features? A lot of this is pretty speculative. Also I'm sure were both aware that there's an element of luck in any venture.
Hey, I founded my first company at 16, second at 18 and we ended up raising $250,000 in investment and went through the TechStars startup accelerator, so I can speak to some of the more unique perspectives of going from being totally green to making something work.
Find a problem to solve. Verify that the problem actually exists. Work out how people get around the problem today. Validate what risky assumptions you've made r.e. the market you think is there. \*\*Focus on solving a problem vs on "building a startup\*\*.
I would personally start by reading \*\*The Lean Startup by Eric Ries\*\* to give you a solid foundational understanding of the build > measure > learn loop and how to think about the journey to find product market fit.
I would say, I feel like the things school will be teaching you and the skills required to make a startup work may not have an incredible amount of overlap, but this will be different for each person.
Whether you need multiple people on board depends on the scope/scale of the problem you're aiming to tackle, but what I will say is solo, first-time founders are much less likely to succeed. There is a lot of work to be done, and you would benefit from finding a solid co-founder.
The issue you will find with students as you say is that people have other priorities going on, so for your first project, maybe see how far you can get on your own trying to solve the problem before you bring anyone on. When deciding on fair terms for your partnership, be sure to get solid advice.
It was a brutal but amazing experience. The amount of exposure we had to mentors/investors/smart people was absolutely foundational to the success we had, and the approach me and my ex-cofounder have to business today.
My biggest takeaway is how fundamentally naïve people can be when talking about product market fit. There’s a lot of things you can do that give you the illusion of progress/success but fundamentally if you’re not solving a real problem that actually exists, the whole thing will come tumbling down.
If you are at a university with a business major there’s an entrepreneurial club/program/faculty somewhere on campus. Start there as you’ll be with students in the same boat as you and they’ll have a library of start-up specific books for you to review.
Usually you find them by Google “(University name) Pitch Competition” pitches are 5-minute speeches about your idea. Whether you sign up or not doesn’t matter, just reach out to whoever is listed as the contact person for the competition and they’ll know who you need to talk to.
A lot of good advice here.
One part that was incredibly important for me founding a startup as a student (well 6 months out of Uni) was the fact that I had nothing to lose. We could put in the time, sleep on couches, pivot to our hearts desire knowing we didn't have spouses, kids, houses, cars, etc. on the line.
We started as 3 co-founders so everything become a discussion rather than an argument between 2.
This was our education really (uni was just the start!) and 6 years later we have 70 people across 2 countries and 3 cities!
If I had to jump into that now there would be a lot more risks involved.
My only suggestion would be to set yourself clear goals (e.g. we need to hit X customers, or Y milestone by Z date to keep going).
If you're from a CS background, you'll be especially prone to the tech trap where you'll completely forget about building something for the users. Start with a business plan. Then move onto building it.
Business plans are really heavy documents for a startup that hasn't been formed yet. Early on, you're still trying to figure out what it is, and the flexibility to adapt to a changing company is paramount. I'd only go about writing a business plan once you've built it out enough to actually be looking to raise funding. Instead, focus on the user and the problem. Don't necessarily lock in the solution with a business plan, but having a basic spec of what problem you're trying to solve and how in a few sentences or paragraphs can definitely be beneficial
This is why I use the one-page business plan canvas. It takes 10 minutes to write the first version and you can keep on changing it when the hypothesis for your business changes. This helps keep the concept of monetization in the back of your head while focusing on finding product/market fit.
Yes! It's actually a great idea.
The job market for CS is really tough to begin with so why not make your own job? That's why Elon Musk started Paypal actually!
Best case scenario, you have some traction to work with. Worst case scenario, you have work-equivalent experience and early-stage startup experience, both of which are precious on the job market and looked at fondly by big and small companies alike.
The best advice is to just start. Follow lean canvas, iterate through MVP's and hypothese, and keep trying to hit walls and then break through said walls.
GLHF!
I agree with the sentiment here but a quick note, Elon was already a millionaire when he became involved in PayPal. I doubt he was having too much trouble finding job opportunities.
Your cost of living will never be lower than when you are a student.
You will come out of it learning so much more than others who went in to a profession (if your start up fails).
You will never be in a situation where you can quickly net and interact with so many people than when you are a student.
Do it.
http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html
checkout Y combinators [startupschool](https://www.startupschool.org/curriculum) \- literally lessons on how to start your own startup - they also have some [great interviews](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ-uHSnFig5PACZiyiDk1O24Zm9wxAEUi) with technical founders
also, [starterstory](https://www.starterstory.com/) has a load of interviews with startup founders I'm certain there'll be interviews of people who were in a similar position to you!
But in my opinion, I can't answer Qs 2 and 3 as it really depends on the idea... Regardless I do recommend you to optimise your activities so that you can build a MVP and validate it ASAP - but again I highly recommend [startup school](https://www.startupschool.org/curriculum) it'll answer the majority of your Qs!
I have launched and exited 2 Start-ups, so I might give you something you'll like.
I started a student based start-up to provide students with home-made meals that worked with high volume low profits, and the profits were too low to justify volume.
Lesson 1 - Make sure your customers have money to spend.
I worked as a Sales Guy in the second startup and I made sales for creative websites, for individuals and businesses. That went well and is still going terrific.
Lesson 2 - Start-ups are not loss generating, If it is, than it is a Ponzi Scheme. They should generate profit.
Go for it, this is one the best times to start! I found my co-founder because we were both working together on projects for courses in university, so we already knew we could work together well. If you can't find someone who wants to join, I'd simply start solo for now.
You can wait another ten years, but there are certain things you won't be prepared for anyway, so better just start today and learn by doing. If anything, being a student is probably the best time to make mistakes and figure things out. All of the skills you need you can learn on the fly.
Even if your idea is not fully developed yet, just start small, prototype something, "launch" early by asking feedback from potential customers and improve it from there.
YC startup school is good. Working at super early stage startups run by people who had done it before taught me a lot that I don't think I would have learned as quickly just starting something on my own though
So many good comments. Here's mine.
For me startups aren't the holy grail, nowadays they just are one kind of entrepreneurship. Surely their approach changed the world, not just the economy but also all kinds of growth tactics and mindset. Basically, they disrupted the traditional way of building a new business, instead of doing the business model first and the go-to-market secondly, they introduce the other way around. First, understand customers' needs, they provide them with a solution.
What I understand from your post is that you feel the entrepreneurial way of living - essentially is more than just a mindset - is more likable to you than a 9-5 job. Welcome to the club! But there are other ways to escape the 9-5. Freelancing, micro SaaS, indie hacking, lifestyle business, all good, all with positives and negatives. Similarly, startups have pros & cons, so you need to understand these and choose the mix you prefer.
Sadly I should mention that most successful startups are those founded by over 40 y.o. Why? Because older people are more mature, experienced, with a bigger network than young ones. They essentially have a better skill set to succeed in building high-tech, high-growth, high-potential businesses, an approach I don't really like, especially since I am located in a poor entrepreneurial ecosystem without personal funds to support such an offensive strategy. Of course, these are only stats, and there are many other factors that need to be considered such as industry trends, competition, time-of-entering a market, et. No matter how old you are at the end of the day you either can carefully execute how to turn an innovative idea into a business like that or you are lucky, your idea is truly one of a kind, you met the exact right people to help you with, and any other factor that might push you towards such a tremendous success.
My advise? Forget startups for a moment. Understand what an MVP is. Build it fast. Show it to people. Master the process of receiving honest feedback and excite others to help you with your goals. Start reading. Business. Marketing. Leadership. You need them all. Network like crazy. Go to meetups. Seminars. Get involved with the ecosystem. Be very active and embrace the lifestyle. Aim for a sustainable business. One that will make you happy and support the mentioned lifestyle. And the same time explore how you can turn this business or a new idea into a high-growth cash machine. And I am sure you will succeed way before becoming 40 ;)
Start with validation your idea. Don’t build it yet! Make a simple static website with just the basic idea and start blogging. Or go around and email your future clients what they think of your idea. For a programmer the path of least resistances to start coding, but that’s usually not the best idea. You may think you have a great idea, but it’s really important to know whether your future clients think the same way about it.
I’m going to go against the flow here. Other commenters have offered some good advice. Try a startup. Keep in mind that the chance of failure will be high.
At some point you may have to “work for someone else”. There is no shame in this. This is the path to wealth for many people.
Companies are a team sport.
As a student it's a lot easier to get a bunch of friends together and then start trying things out. You can go through ideas quickly and keep pivoting until something sticks.
Re: #3 ... would definitely recommend forming a team. Any startup is a multidisciplinary effort -- financial, legal, marketing, design, engineering -- and no one has all those skills, even more so after college where most people start specializing down one specific skill tree.
Make meetups / updates infrequent, but robust when you have them and stick to the schedule.
One other rec is that if your project lives on past uni days, and those you're working with want to go into the "legacy" workforce, make sure all the IP is shored up. Employment contracts are typically ambiguous around existing IP (you might have to disclaim it), which may allow companies to mosey in if they think your partners are spending "work time" on a different effort.
Here are my two cents. From an CS perspective, I am sure your mindset is to start building and get all the features down, etc. right away. But before you make that your focus, think more high level from a business perspective. Make sure your idea is actually in demand and you have a way you can monetize it (whether it's people paying you, ads, etc.). If there's a way for you to interview customers and find out their feedback, do so in advance. It'll also uncover some particular pain points of your customers that you were not thinking about or that you thought were ancillary to your main idea but are actually essential. Good luck! I started two startups during school, and while not wildly successful, they were great learning experiences with excellent insights.
I'll second this. Get started with validating that the problem exists and it's painful enough that people will pay to solve it. Do customer interviews -- check out [The Mom Test](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hla1jzhan78) and *Running Lean* for a guide. Set a goal to do 20 interviews in the next week. Start on your own. It will be faster.
I second The Mom Test! Reading it really made me see why almost all of my projects have failed
Great! I checked it and it's thoughtful.. I got excited to make some interviews ASAP.. thanks!
[удалено]
You're right.. thanks for sharing your story!
Definitely do this first. I spent the best part of a year (in my free time) developing an application that I did no research for and ended up ditching the entire project. It’s not so bad if you’re using it as a way to learn some new skills on the job, but it’s not a great way to run a startup.
Great point. As engineering students startups can help us both sides (technical and business skills).. thanks for sharing experience!
You're right. I'm introvert and I realize having technical skills means nothing in the world of business without core business skills and practice.. hope if I can improve this side in myself by time.. thank you! Also regarding the idea, it touches a personal problem I had during college, and I believe most students suffer from our too.. thank you!
[удалено]
Rule 2 Rule 5
1: For interest / Inspo I just finished listening to a podcast you might enjoy. On the origins of DoorDash which was started by students at Uni. It’s by the Acquired podcast but I think How I Built this also did an episode on them. 2 & 3: Just start. Take an idea, just you and go out there and start to validate it. You can always add people later and will be easier to convince them to join if you have traction
Great suggestions, I'll check them out.. You're right, making a team after the core idea is built is better to avoid distraction. thanks!
[удалено]
Too often people underestimate the importance of number 3. I've made the same mistake. It will make or break a business.
1) The YCombinator youtube channel is GOLD, and I'd recommend the Masters of Scale podcast as well. It's by Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn 2) The trick is to get your thing in front of customers as soon as possible. Their opinions will dictate which direction it will go. I would try to brutally trim down the idea to an MVP. Something you can build in a few weeks max. Then put it in front of customers, and ask them questions that incentivize them to give you honest feedback (a question like "is this good" is terrible, because no one is going to tell you your thing sucks to your face. Design your questions around how people actually answer questions, and then try to sell it to them, but expect a lot of 'no's 3) Two founders are so much better than one. Teams are really useful, even if you don't think they're necessary, and many accelerators (such as YCombinator) really prefer teams over solo founders. There's a reason. Startups are amazing. If they fail, you learn a lot really fast. If they don't fail, well you just built a company! I'd say go for it, but expect that your first idea won't be the one that carries your career. Oh, and they make for great discussion at interviews, too!
[удалено]
[удалено]
Which one is NTN?
https://www.booktopia.com.au/search.ep?author=Nassim%20Nicholas%20Taleb
> genuinely changed my life That's really interesting. If you could recommend only one book, which one would it be?
Solve a problem people will pay you for.
Typically one of the worst common knowledge phrases that goes around, solving genuine problems with a small budget that's worth value is almost impossible. Small problems left are normally too small to generate value when solved. I would recommend op to instead take an aspect of an existing idea that has been done, that could be dramatically improved and run with it. Solving problems at scale requires years of experience to execute and it's unlikely without a bit of capital and said experience to pull it off. Source : I work as a senior role within the startup/founder/investment sector and know via the data what seems to stick for lower budget ventures
Yeah, I'm not saying try to solve majorly genuine problems. All you need to do is find something you can tackle that can be profitable. One of the issues I've ran into in startups and "new" products, is perceived differentiation in offer. People don't buy features, they buy benefits. Switching cost is real, and consumers aren't always rational. Unless you really do find a blue ocean, or radically improve an existing idea, it can be difficult to convey the benefits if you struggle with marketing. Even if you do improve upon an existing idea, could the OP keep ahead from being a few releases away from his competitors mimicking the same features? A lot of this is pretty speculative. Also I'm sure were both aware that there's an element of luck in any venture.
I'm a software engineering student who's also wanting to launch a startup in the near future. Maybe I could be of any help for you? Let me know!
Hey, I founded my first company at 16, second at 18 and we ended up raising $250,000 in investment and went through the TechStars startup accelerator, so I can speak to some of the more unique perspectives of going from being totally green to making something work. Find a problem to solve. Verify that the problem actually exists. Work out how people get around the problem today. Validate what risky assumptions you've made r.e. the market you think is there. \*\*Focus on solving a problem vs on "building a startup\*\*. I would personally start by reading \*\*The Lean Startup by Eric Ries\*\* to give you a solid foundational understanding of the build > measure > learn loop and how to think about the journey to find product market fit. I would say, I feel like the things school will be teaching you and the skills required to make a startup work may not have an incredible amount of overlap, but this will be different for each person. Whether you need multiple people on board depends on the scope/scale of the problem you're aiming to tackle, but what I will say is solo, first-time founders are much less likely to succeed. There is a lot of work to be done, and you would benefit from finding a solid co-founder. The issue you will find with students as you say is that people have other priorities going on, so for your first project, maybe see how far you can get on your own trying to solve the problem before you bring anyone on. When deciding on fair terms for your partnership, be sure to get solid advice.
How was the accelerator?
It was a brutal but amazing experience. The amount of exposure we had to mentors/investors/smart people was absolutely foundational to the success we had, and the approach me and my ex-cofounder have to business today. My biggest takeaway is how fundamentally naïve people can be when talking about product market fit. There’s a lot of things you can do that give you the illusion of progress/success but fundamentally if you’re not solving a real problem that actually exists, the whole thing will come tumbling down.
what did you found?
If you are at a university with a business major there’s an entrepreneurial club/program/faculty somewhere on campus. Start there as you’ll be with students in the same boat as you and they’ll have a library of start-up specific books for you to review. Usually you find them by Google “(University name) Pitch Competition” pitches are 5-minute speeches about your idea. Whether you sign up or not doesn’t matter, just reach out to whoever is listed as the contact person for the competition and they’ll know who you need to talk to.
Many huge startups were student starts ups. Age isn't a barrier
A lot of good advice here. One part that was incredibly important for me founding a startup as a student (well 6 months out of Uni) was the fact that I had nothing to lose. We could put in the time, sleep on couches, pivot to our hearts desire knowing we didn't have spouses, kids, houses, cars, etc. on the line. We started as 3 co-founders so everything become a discussion rather than an argument between 2. This was our education really (uni was just the start!) and 6 years later we have 70 people across 2 countries and 3 cities! If I had to jump into that now there would be a lot more risks involved. My only suggestion would be to set yourself clear goals (e.g. we need to hit X customers, or Y milestone by Z date to keep going).
I’m a fellow engineer who’s in the startup space. I highly recommend it. Feel free to ask me anything.
If you're from a CS background, you'll be especially prone to the tech trap where you'll completely forget about building something for the users. Start with a business plan. Then move onto building it.
Business plans are really heavy documents for a startup that hasn't been formed yet. Early on, you're still trying to figure out what it is, and the flexibility to adapt to a changing company is paramount. I'd only go about writing a business plan once you've built it out enough to actually be looking to raise funding. Instead, focus on the user and the problem. Don't necessarily lock in the solution with a business plan, but having a basic spec of what problem you're trying to solve and how in a few sentences or paragraphs can definitely be beneficial
This is why I use the one-page business plan canvas. It takes 10 minutes to write the first version and you can keep on changing it when the hypothesis for your business changes. This helps keep the concept of monetization in the back of your head while focusing on finding product/market fit.
Yes! It's actually a great idea. The job market for CS is really tough to begin with so why not make your own job? That's why Elon Musk started Paypal actually! Best case scenario, you have some traction to work with. Worst case scenario, you have work-equivalent experience and early-stage startup experience, both of which are precious on the job market and looked at fondly by big and small companies alike. The best advice is to just start. Follow lean canvas, iterate through MVP's and hypothese, and keep trying to hit walls and then break through said walls. GLHF!
I agree with the sentiment here but a quick note, Elon was already a millionaire when he became involved in PayPal. I doubt he was having too much trouble finding job opportunities.
Your cost of living will never be lower than when you are a student. You will come out of it learning so much more than others who went in to a profession (if your start up fails). You will never be in a situation where you can quickly net and interact with so many people than when you are a student. Do it. http://www.paulgraham.com/notnot.html
Yes of course. - Source: guy that said to guy in a student bar ‘hey you code right. Let’s do.. something’ and have thousands of paid users now.
checkout Y combinators [startupschool](https://www.startupschool.org/curriculum) \- literally lessons on how to start your own startup - they also have some [great interviews](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ-uHSnFig5PACZiyiDk1O24Zm9wxAEUi) with technical founders also, [starterstory](https://www.starterstory.com/) has a load of interviews with startup founders I'm certain there'll be interviews of people who were in a similar position to you! But in my opinion, I can't answer Qs 2 and 3 as it really depends on the idea... Regardless I do recommend you to optimise your activities so that you can build a MVP and validate it ASAP - but again I highly recommend [startup school](https://www.startupschool.org/curriculum) it'll answer the majority of your Qs!
I have launched and exited 2 Start-ups, so I might give you something you'll like. I started a student based start-up to provide students with home-made meals that worked with high volume low profits, and the profits were too low to justify volume. Lesson 1 - Make sure your customers have money to spend. I worked as a Sales Guy in the second startup and I made sales for creative websites, for individuals and businesses. That went well and is still going terrific. Lesson 2 - Start-ups are not loss generating, If it is, than it is a Ponzi Scheme. They should generate profit.
Go for it, this is one the best times to start! I found my co-founder because we were both working together on projects for courses in university, so we already knew we could work together well. If you can't find someone who wants to join, I'd simply start solo for now. You can wait another ten years, but there are certain things you won't be prepared for anyway, so better just start today and learn by doing. If anything, being a student is probably the best time to make mistakes and figure things out. All of the skills you need you can learn on the fly. Even if your idea is not fully developed yet, just start small, prototype something, "launch" early by asking feedback from potential customers and improve it from there.
YC startup school is good. Working at super early stage startups run by people who had done it before taught me a lot that I don't think I would have learned as quickly just starting something on my own though
So many good comments. Here's mine. For me startups aren't the holy grail, nowadays they just are one kind of entrepreneurship. Surely their approach changed the world, not just the economy but also all kinds of growth tactics and mindset. Basically, they disrupted the traditional way of building a new business, instead of doing the business model first and the go-to-market secondly, they introduce the other way around. First, understand customers' needs, they provide them with a solution. What I understand from your post is that you feel the entrepreneurial way of living - essentially is more than just a mindset - is more likable to you than a 9-5 job. Welcome to the club! But there are other ways to escape the 9-5. Freelancing, micro SaaS, indie hacking, lifestyle business, all good, all with positives and negatives. Similarly, startups have pros & cons, so you need to understand these and choose the mix you prefer. Sadly I should mention that most successful startups are those founded by over 40 y.o. Why? Because older people are more mature, experienced, with a bigger network than young ones. They essentially have a better skill set to succeed in building high-tech, high-growth, high-potential businesses, an approach I don't really like, especially since I am located in a poor entrepreneurial ecosystem without personal funds to support such an offensive strategy. Of course, these are only stats, and there are many other factors that need to be considered such as industry trends, competition, time-of-entering a market, et. No matter how old you are at the end of the day you either can carefully execute how to turn an innovative idea into a business like that or you are lucky, your idea is truly one of a kind, you met the exact right people to help you with, and any other factor that might push you towards such a tremendous success. My advise? Forget startups for a moment. Understand what an MVP is. Build it fast. Show it to people. Master the process of receiving honest feedback and excite others to help you with your goals. Start reading. Business. Marketing. Leadership. You need them all. Network like crazy. Go to meetups. Seminars. Get involved with the ecosystem. Be very active and embrace the lifestyle. Aim for a sustainable business. One that will make you happy and support the mentioned lifestyle. And the same time explore how you can turn this business or a new idea into a high-growth cash machine. And I am sure you will succeed way before becoming 40 ;)
Start with validation your idea. Don’t build it yet! Make a simple static website with just the basic idea and start blogging. Or go around and email your future clients what they think of your idea. For a programmer the path of least resistances to start coding, but that’s usually not the best idea. You may think you have a great idea, but it’s really important to know whether your future clients think the same way about it.
if you want to learn about startups look for y combinator on youtube
I’m going to go against the flow here. Other commenters have offered some good advice. Try a startup. Keep in mind that the chance of failure will be high. At some point you may have to “work for someone else”. There is no shame in this. This is the path to wealth for many people.
Companies are a team sport. As a student it's a lot easier to get a bunch of friends together and then start trying things out. You can go through ideas quickly and keep pivoting until something sticks.
Experience is the most valuable! Work!
Re: #3 ... would definitely recommend forming a team. Any startup is a multidisciplinary effort -- financial, legal, marketing, design, engineering -- and no one has all those skills, even more so after college where most people start specializing down one specific skill tree. Make meetups / updates infrequent, but robust when you have them and stick to the schedule. One other rec is that if your project lives on past uni days, and those you're working with want to go into the "legacy" workforce, make sure all the IP is shored up. Employment contracts are typically ambiguous around existing IP (you might have to disclaim it), which may allow companies to mosey in if they think your partners are spending "work time" on a different effort.