Nine leading businesses that started in college

With a new university semester underway, it’s likely that most students will be focusing upon their studies, along with, of course, certain extracurricular activities.

But for some students, going back to university means the chance to work on a new start-up. And with business plan competitions and start-up networks active in most of Australia’s major campuses, there are no shortage of incentives to go it alone.

However, these budding entrepreneurs have a long way to go to match some of the world’s best businesses that were started in college.

From Def Jam Records to Facebook, via Time magazine, university has proved a hotbed of innovative businesses that went on to make bags of cash. Here are the top nine.

Do you have a habit of saying things like “Work smarter, not harder” or “There is no ‘i’ in team”? If so, you are in danger of sliding into a morass of awful business clichés that do nothing for your image as an entrepreneur nor, more importantly, your start-up.

If you think you could be a culprit, check out this list of 10 top clichés you need to avoid.

Another word that has entered common business vernacular in recent years is “mumpreneur”. It hasn’t been universally welcomed by female entrepreneurs, however.

So is the term demeaning or “cutesy”? Definitely not, according to this well-argued piece.

In case you hadn’t noticed, there is an Olympic Games currently taking place in London. The Games throw up copious lessons for entrepreneurs.

For starters, here are the 10 success secrets of the world’s greatest Olympians, while it’s also worth checking out the top three social media lessons you should take from the Games.

Meanwhile, in the US, a very different type of competition is set to get underway – the far less athletic but no less worthy Financial Modelling World Championships. Go on, get involved – you don’t even need to break a sweat.