This article, updated in March 2026, was originally published in 2016.
We support some of the nation’s most promising early-stage innovators and entrepreneurs—students dedicating long hours to inventing something new and bringing it to market, in service of a public good. These emerging entrepreneurs are some of the most creative, resilient innovators out there. They’re balancing coursework, limited resources, and the steep learning curve of bringing new solutions to life. The path for first-time entrepreneurs is rarely easy, but navigating these challenges provides insight, perspective, experiential wisdom, and hard-fought perseverance that will carry forward long after the first venture.
To better understand the journey, we asked innovators in our network to share the obstacles they’ve faced while developing their ideas and launching their ventures—and what those challenges taught them along the way.
1. Intellectual Property
Understanding your school’s intellectual property (IP) policy is critical. Unlike faculty and graduate researchers, whose rights and obligations are usually defined by formal employment contracts, student-generated IP often exists in a gray area. Questions about ownership can emerge unexpectedly, and navigating them early can prevent unnecessary complications.
Our advice: Learn your school’s IP policy now. Policies differ widely across institutions, and there’s little consensus on how undergraduate-created IP should be handled. Knowing the rules up front helps you avoid disputes later. Need a starting point? Our blog “Five Essential (and Mostly Free!) IP Resources Every Innovator Should Know About” shares practical guidance.
2. Perfecting the Product
Developing complex innovations often requires access to specialized equipment and resources. For HydroPhos Solutions—a circular-economy venture working to stop nutrient pollution in lakes and rivers—securing expensive, niche hardware was a major hurdle. While university partnerships helped unlock access to critical equipment, that was only part of the challenge.
Matthew Oriente, E-Team Program alum and field sustainability lead at HydroPhos, shared: “We hit a major research & development roadblock and reached out through our stakeholder newsletter. Several people responded, and one connection in particular unlocked a key development in our go-to-market strategy.”
Our advice: Don’t hesitate to tap into every available network; principal investigators, university partners, program cohort peers, and mentors can help you navigate technical challenges and uncover solutions you might not find alone.
3. Customer Discovery
Early-stage founders often feel pressure to perfect their vision before putting it into the world. But the most successful teams understand that ongoing customer discovery is essential—even when it leads to unexpected pivots.
For E-Team Program alumnus CareAlert, talking with potential users clarified the problem it needed to solve. Asking simple but powerful questions like talking with potential users clarified the problem they needed to solve. Asking simple but powerful questions like “What problem are we solving?” and “Is our solution actually helping?” allowed the team to refine both their approach and their understanding of the market. Staying grounded in your venture’s purpose and surrounding yourself with solution-oriented teammates and trusted advisors is especially valuable during this stage.
Our advice: Approach customer discovery as a continuous dialogue. As Sean Kolk, VentureWell Ocean Enterprise Accelerator alum and co-founder of Astraeus Ocean Systems, puts it: “Spend as much time with the people you’re trying to serve as possible—you should know them so well that you genuinely want to spend more time with them.”
4. Balancing School With Venture
Launching a venture as a student means juggling coursework, campus commitments, and the demands of building something new. Balancing the responsibilities that come with being both a student and a founder can feel overwhelming and, at times, isolating.
This is where early-stage support programs can make a significant difference. They connect students with a community of peers who can help troubleshoot roadblocks, share systems that work, and offer perspective when challenges arise. Mayela Fernandez Cantu, E-Team Program and VentureWell Ocean Enterprise Accelerator alumna and founder of Ecoplasticity, found that connecting with other student entrepreneurs helped normalize the ups and downs of startup life and reminded her she wasn’t navigating it alone.
Our advice: Prioritizing is key. Distinguish between what is urgent and what can wait, so you can focus your energy where it matters most. Remember, thousands of student teams have faced the same challenges and found a way to make it work. And don’t overlook the importance of well-being as you build. Our blog on startup culture and mental health offers practical strategies for maintaining balance amid the demands of launching a venture.
5. Identifying the Goals that Matter Most
Many student teams struggle to pinpoint what will truly drive market success, and, for student entrepreneurs, limited time makes focus essential. Using an objectives and key results (OKR) framework can help teams clarify their vision and define success through measurable outcomes.
For MarineSitu, a VentureWell Ocean Enterprise Accelerator alumnus, gaining that clarity meant prioritizing business development. Founder James Joslin reflected, “Pursuing funding specifically for business development enabled us to put time and effort where it was needed.” With mentor guidance, the team adopted new systems, like customer relationship management (CRM) software to track and strengthen customer relationships; this dramatically improved their strategic execution.
Our advice: Center goals on desired outcomes first. From there, identify the activities most likely to drive those results. Clear objects create alignment, strengthen communication, and ensure accountability across the team.
6. Finding the Right Partners
No venture succeeds in isolation. Whether you need manufacturers, suppliers, or technology collaborators, building strong partnerships takes time, clarity, and alignment.
Kathy Green, founder of CargoCheck and VentureWell Ocean Enterprise Accelerator alum, emphasized the importance of creating mutually beneficial partnerships. She shared: “The biggest early-stage challenge is aligning stakeholders whose participation depends on one another. Each has different incentives and risk tolerance, and progress slows when no one wants to move first. Momentum comes from making roles, value, and early commitments clear enough that small steps feel safe.”
Our advice: Conduct extensive due diligence to ensure partnerships have genuine potential for mutual benefit. Accelerator programs and networking events can open doors to aligned collaborators. And when you’re ready to build strategic relationships, tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator—recommended by teams like Ecoplasticity—can help you connect directly with decision-makers, rather than relying on general inquiry forms.
7. Securing Funding
It’s no surprise that funding is one of the biggest hurdles founders face. Early-stage ventures often face two key challenges: securing enough pre-seed capital to build and test a prototype, and bridging the gap to attract meaningful angel or venture capital (VC) investment.
Navigating these funding decisions forces teams to consider which type of capital aligns best with their goals. Eyedea Medical, a VentureWell-supported medtech company that completed our accelerator programming, chose to prioritize grants. “Our team decided to weigh the pros and cons,” explained Co-Founder and CEO Katie Solley, who is now a program officer at VentureWell. “We knew we wanted the freedom to make choices aligned with our mission—especially ensuring this technology could be used outside the U.S., where the need is often greatest.”
Our advice: As you move beyond grants, make sure your milestones align with funder expectations. Pursue angel investment or early-stage VC when there’s a clear value proposition, evidence of product-market fit, and a vetted initial business model. For teams leaning on grants, Solley’s interview on the VentureWell Voices podcast offers useful insights. Aspire Climatetech mentor Brian Kerns shares practical guidance in the blog “Creative Funding Sources for Early-Stage Entrepreneurs.”
Every challenge student entrepreneurs face is also an opportunity to learn, adapt, and grow. The path is rarely straightforward, but each obstacle—whether navigating IP, refining a product, or securing funding—shapes not only the venture, but the founders themselves. For those willing to engage deeply, seek guidance, and persist, the experience builds valuable skills that extend far beyond any single project.
Looking for more founder perspectives? The VentureWell Voices podcast features entrepreneurs from our network sharing candid stories about the risks, pivots, and people behind their ventures. Listen and subscribe.