Getting funded in College is a sad goal to have, in my opinion. Your primary concern in College should be learning how to break out of the sad shell that you cultivated, by accident, in high school. Learn how to court the opposite sex, smoke your first blunt, gain 15 pounds, flunk 2nd semester calculus, or get a tattoo or disease that you’ll one day regret. Any of these options will do more to make you a successful entrepreneur, in the long run, than learning how to get funded…in College!
I know a few guys who got funded in College. One of them was the smartest guy in our CS program. He got some mobile app contracts from ABC, the New Yorker, and some other well known media companies, back when the first iPhone first came out. He made a lot of money those few years. His longtime and very sweet girlfriend dumped him, he lost most of his friends, and he gained about 75 pounds. He did have a Mercedes though. Back there and back then I never thought I would live up to the technical talent that I witnessed from him in our College years, but playing with one of his recent apps I see how much more talented than him I’ve become (I’m probably still not as smart though). Plus, he’s making mobile apps for a living now. Yuck! This is what happens to most of the people who are Wunderkinds.
There are a glimmering 0.01% who can truly do it. The Mark Zuckerbergs of the world. The fact that you’re asking how to get funded in College indicates, to me, that you are not a member of this elite 0.01% or even the constituent 1% from which it draws.
I have a few ideas and I (think) I have the skills to build initial prototypes but I'm really confused about how to "just start." Should I be looking for potential co-founders in college? Should I learn more programming? What do I do after I build a good product to attract investors? Anyhow, sorry for all that rambling.
don't build a product to attract investors. that's the _absolute_ worst way to approach products. Investors don't know shit. By the time you try and finish a product, they've already moved on. They want the new hotness -- not follow-ons. Very rarely have "me too" companies done well.
Build something you would use. Dog food it. Build your narrative. Founder/product fit, product/market fit. Find them. Test. Focus your product. Build community.
I know a few guys who got funded in College. One of them was the smartest guy in our CS program. He got some mobile app contracts from ABC, the New Yorker, and some other well known media companies, back when the first iPhone first came out. He made a lot of money those few years. His longtime and very sweet girlfriend dumped him, he lost most of his friends, and he gained about 75 pounds. He did have a Mercedes though. Back there and back then I never thought I would live up to the technical talent that I witnessed from him in our College years, but playing with one of his recent apps I see how much more talented than him I’ve become (I’m probably still not as smart though). Plus, he’s making mobile apps for a living now. Yuck! This is what happens to most of the people who are Wunderkinds.
There are a glimmering 0.01% who can truly do it. The Mark Zuckerbergs of the world. The fact that you’re asking how to get funded in College indicates, to me, that you are not a member of this elite 0.01% or even the constituent 1% from which it draws.