I’m glad I’m not the only one who comes up with ideas of new inventions in their rooms but are too afraid to share because of how left the idea might be. When I think about how most of my ideas have entered my mind, it all starts the same: The innovation addresses a problem that I directly have.

Startup expert Paul Graham agrees that addressing a problem for an audience is one of the first steps of a startup. The second step, which I believe is the hardest, is making sure the audience wants what you have to solve their problem.

Coming up with an idea is hard when you’re really thinking about one. When I was thinking about my media idea pitch for this class, I was honestly stumped. I hadn’t come across problem in my journalism life that couldn’t be fixed.

I was happy with all the plugins and apps that are available to my career thus far, so I was stuck. It wasn’t until I was sitting in my friend’s car listening to some Nicki Minaj leaks from her past projects that I came up with my idea. I was still skeptic about it because my idea didn’t necessarily serve me (or the common consumer audience). It was for the artist, so that their music would stop being leaked to the public because their iCloud got hacked or their computers got stolen. All their music files would be uploaded and encrypted on this app. The artist will be able to share music with selected users, and they won’t be able to screen record or download the song without permission from the admin (artist).

Listening to the startup ideas that the class came up with just showed me that we have some talented minds in here. When I heard some of the ideas, I thought to myself, “wow that’s a good one; I actually need something like this.” It just goes to show that everyone can come up with a good idea, because everyone experiences life differently. I just loved how even though, each idea was different I could see a space for each one in the media market.  

In order to bring that idea to life I would have no idea where to start. Last week I found out that The Hatch is the perfect place for MSU students to bring their ideas to life.

Before class, I had no idea the Hatch existed. All the resources that they provide for MSU students to pursue their start up and dreams is like a hidden gem on this campus! Right after my class, I called up my friend who has an idea for a GPS instilled debit card and told her to apply and get her idea started if she was really serious about it.

The success stories, flying students out to competitions to earn more funding, reaching out to investors, helping get students’ products into retail and so much more. So many students can benefit from this, and I guarantee if the whole campus new about this, MSU would be a hub for entrepreneurship.