Kulveer Taggar
Kulveer is a joint founder of www.boso.com, the first online student marketplace in Britain. It has members from over 100 universities, has recently received Angel funding and was the subject of a Channel 4 documentary.
What gave you the idea for boso.com?
I was annoyed at having to buy an iron brand new, knowing I would only use it once or twice at University.
There was nowhere to buy one second hand, eBay sucked and was too painful to use, and I was sure there were other students who may have had one to sell.
I looked around and found there were no sites dedicated to helping students trade, so I decided to set up www.boso.com
What was the first thing you did to make it happen?
I looked into what web skills were needed to build the website and started to look for programmers to build the site.
What obstacles have you encountered and how did you overcome them?
Time was the biggest constraint at University, as I had prior commitments as the President of the Oxford Entrepreneurs and Finals.
However, through OE, I built a very strong team to take the idea forward, and worked closely with Harj on managing the development of the business.
What advice would you give to aspiring young entrepreneurs?
You just need to get things going, and not necessarily have it all right and perfect when you start.
What’s it like being your own boss?
Challenging. It's harder than working for someone, but more rewarding.
What qualities do you need to be a budding entrepreneur?
You need to be confident, persuasive and persistent.
Do you think it's important for young people to grow up in a culture that makes it easier for them to make their ideas happen?
Yes. But more important than making it 'easier' to make things happen, is to reduce the severity of the consequences if you fail.
People are far too risk averse in this country, we need to encourage people to take risks, and emphasise that even if you fail the first time, that is valuable experience to put into your next venture. The attitudes to failure need to change.
What's the best advice you could give someone who's about to make their ideas happen?
Get started, always test your assumptions, and never stop being curious about things.
What's your next step?
Improve our product, and bring this to more students across the country.
What do hope to have achieved by the time you are 40?
I want to build a hospital and school in India.