This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Srikar Srinivasan, a 21-year-old Babson College student and cofounder of Arcangel, an AI-driven intellectual-property platform. He's currently living in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
I've wanted to be an entrepreneur since I was in the fourth grade. During my summers in elementary and middle school, I attended coding camps, hackathons, and innovation programs throughout New Jersey.
When I was 14, I got my first business idea after being in charge of walking my dogs and cleaning their paws. It was an automatic pet paw washer, and I filed for a patent for it. That same year, I sold the company, Comzys, for a six-figure sum to ARCOMM Tech Solutions.
When I was 16, I used some of that capital to start a STEM learning company called Stricx. When my friends and I left for college, we passed the company down to our younger siblings and friends. Today, it continues to generate five-figure quarterly revenue.
Now, at 21, I'm building a third company in the intellectual property space while attending Babson College. Here's my top advice for young entrepreneurs who don't know how to get started.
Talk to 100 potential customers before you build your business
When I started my third company, Arcangel, one of my mentors was a fellow college student. During one of our first meetings, she told me that before I ask her for advice, I need to talk to 100 potential customers. She advised me to ask them if they needed the solution I was building, how much they'd pay, and how much time my product would save them.
When you're first building a business, you might think the problem you're solving is obvious, but it's very important to find out if customers actually need your solution. If not, you need to pivot.
Pivoting your company doesn't mean it's a failure
When I first started building companies, I thought the initial backbone of the idea would never change, but that's not always true. When you start building something, even with potential customer interest, you might see gaps along the way. It's important not to ignore those moments.
My company has gone through seven pivots. We started as a fintech company, but ran into compliance and regulatory issues. We've pivoted and had money and customers coming in, but realized it just wasn't the right business. We ultimately landed on an AI platform designed to help founders and companies protect intellectual property.
Sometimes the problem isn't your team, it's the product. Don't be afraid to change what you're building.
If you're looking for a business idea, search for problems you notice in your own life
For every company I've started, there was always some sort of domain expertise. With Comzys, I had a dog, so I experienced that problem myself. With Stricx, we noticed there wasn't enough STEM education in our community. We were students ourselves, so we understood exactly what was missing because we had gone through those schools and those curricula.
The idea for my new company came about because I got a patent when I was 14. I worked with patent attorneys. I knew the pain points because I'd experienced them and wanted to create a product that made the process easier and more accessible.
The best ideas for entrepreneurs come from problems you personally face, your friends face, and that you know other people probably face, too. Before you build anything, think about your own life and ask yourself what's tedious, what annoys you, or what's taking up too much of your time.
You have to notice something that doesn't have a good solution and decide to build one. Then, while you're building it, if other people keep telling you they would actually use it, that's a really good sign you should keep going.
You don't always need to raise venture capital to start a company
My parents aren't entrepreneurs; they work in the healthcare industry, but they've always been supportive of my big ideas. For my first company, my parents gave me a $15,000 loan to start it and pay for the patent attorney. I used the proceeds from that sale to fund my second and third companies.
There are countless sources of non-dilutive funding. Apply for grants, participate in accelerator programs, and compete in pitch competitions. Last year, we won a pitch competition during New York Tech Week, allowing us to continue building without giving up additional equity.
Once you've demonstrated demand, consider raising a small friends-and-family round to accelerate growth. That's exactly what we did at Arcangel. We raised $50,000 from friends and family at a $7 million valuation. There are always funding opportunities if you're willing to look for them.
AI is making entrepreneurship more accessible
The biggest advantage young entrepreneurs have right now is the power of AI. They can accomplish in weeks what once took entire teams and thousands of dollars in capital.
The best ways to lean into AI are for tasks you would usually outsource, such as software development, customer service, market research, and product design.
However, you can't let AI be the entire heartbeat of your company. Having domain expertise, whether in specific skills or as a person who has experienced the problem you're trying to solve, will make your company stand out and succeed.
My biggest goal in life is to create something meaningful and be remembered for it. I plan to continue building and selling companies that can help drive global change. The idea that one company can solve a massive problem for so many people has always been fascinating, and it's what keeps me in the entrepreneurial game.
