From the most visited website of all time, to the world’s largest transportation company, BBP University found there are many well-known businesses that were established at university. Some of which are so renowned, they may surprise you…
Google was born off the back of a research project conducted by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students studying computer science at Stanford University, California. It is now the most visited site in the world, having reached an average of 5,922,000,000 visits per day in 2013.
Andy Barke, Head of Northern Agencies at Google, said: “Having the opportunity to set up a business at a young age is invaluable. You’re at a brilliant stage in your life to assume such a mighty challenge; so set the bar high, put your mind to it, and seize your business prospect – just like Larry and Sergey.”
Launched in a dorm room by Mark Zuckerberg and his friends Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes, social media site Facebook (originally called thefacebook.com), was initially limited to fellow Harvard University scholars.
Just over two and half years later, anyone over the age of 13 was able to join and the students’ brain-child rapidly became one of the biggest websites in the world.
Microsoft
Bill Gates was studying at university when the prospect of starting up a computer technology corporation arose. He co-founded Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975, and it is now a multi-national operating system.
FedEx
While studying at Yale University, Fred Smith generated the concept for an economics assignment that would later evolve into the world’s largest transportation company, Federal Express.
The student’s brain-child currently makes more than 3.6 million shipments on an average working day, meaning it is unarguably the industry’s global leader.
Dell
At the age of 19, Michael Dell created the self-named computer technology company, Dell, whilst he was a student at the University of Texas at Austin. Born on campus in 1984, the technological corporation is now one of the biggest in the world with its founder appearing in the Forbes list of billionaires.
Yahoo
In 1994, Jerry Yang and David Filo created a website called ‘Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web’ whilst studying engineering at Stanford University. Renamed ‘Yahoo’ just a few months later, it is now a multi-national internet corporation with several entities, including: Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News and Yahoo Answers.
WordPress
WordPress was founded by University of Houston student, Matt Mullenweg, and Mike Little in 2003. The self-hosted blogging tool has grown to be the largest of its kind, appearing on millions of websites across the world.
Tim Stewart, Dean of BPP Business School at BPP University, said:
“If you’re thinking about starting a business, doing it while studying at university is an optimum time. You’re exposed to a wealth of knowledge – from advice from staff to take advantage of, to library resources and the opportunity to gain industry experience.
“If your business start-up doesn’t go to plan, you’ve still gained invaluable experience that you can use on your next venture – plus you’ve got time on your side.”
