Between classes, part-time jobs and everything else college demands, a growing number of students are quietly building something on the side. According to Google, a side hustle is an extra income generating activity, usually outside of your main job. You use your skills, hobbies and spare time to build something that helps you make some extra money.
This used to be the original definition of side hustles for anyone, but over time, it has changed and evolved into something different. If you ask a college student what a side hustle means to them, the answer often goes beyond just income. It is about experimenting with ideas, building something of their own and turning creativity or passion into something tangible.
Why College Is a Unique Place to Build
From the perspective of someone who works closely with many student entrepreneurs, it becomes clear that college creates a unique environment for side hustles to grow. The stakes are relatively low, while the potential to learn is high. Building within this community allows students to create, test and repeat. They get the chance to understand what users actually want, what works, and what does not. In the real world, getting feedback quickly is not always easy. In college, students don’t have the pressure to have everything figured out from the start. Instead, they have the opportunity to constantly adapt and improve.
College is also a time to try different things before stepping into the real world with higher responsibilities and risks. Exploring side projects now allows students to better understand what they are passionate about and what they want to pursue long term. Failure at this stage is more manageable and often becomes a valuable learning experience.
Another advantage of building in college is access to people. Campuses offer one of the largest and most accessible networks students will have. Networking is not just about gaining contacts, but about learning from others, finding mentors and discovering opportunities that may not be immediately visible. Many successful businesses began as small college projects and were later scaled beyond campus once the foundation was built.
Learning From Student Founders
Many student ventures that continue beyond college start as small projects built in environments that encourage experimentation. One example is GitHired, which began as a hackathon project when Raghav Bansal noticed a gap in how startups evaluate and hire developers. What started as a focused side project grew through constant testing, iteration and feedback. Over time, GitHired evolved beyond the hackathon, turning into a startup Raghav continues to actively build.
A different but equally valuable path can be seen through Zetox, founded by Krishna Oza. Zetox began as an independent venture where Krishna explored building and validating an idea from the ground up. While the project itself followed a different trajectory, the experience played a critical role in shaping how he approached future ventures. Working on Zetox helped develop the skills, judgment, and perspective that later informed his decision to fully commit to building GitHired.
In conversations with Raghav Bansal, it was clear that GitHired did not start as some big startup idea. It began as a small hackathon project that focused on one specific problem: filtering out fake commits from GitHub contribution charts. As he kept working on it, the scope slowly grew. What started as a simple extension eventually turned into a larger idea around building a hiring platform that focused on proof of work rather than surface level signals.
Something that really stood out in Raghav’s experience was how much his earlier ventures shaped the way he approached GitHired. Instead of spending months building something in isolation, he focused on shipping early and learning as he went. Launching an MVP quickly and getting feedback from real users helped him move away from assumptions and toward what people actually needed.
Fully committing to the project did not happen right away. That decision came after putting something out there and talking directly to potential users, through his network and cold outreach directly. Those conversations helped him decide whether the project was worth continuing. For him, building GitHired reinforced an important lesson that applies to a lot of student side hustles: you learn the most by starting, testing and adjusting along the way, not by waiting for everything to feel perfect.
Krishna’s experience building Zetox followed a different path. When Krishna Oza first started working on Zetox, it was simply an idea and a pitch deck focused on a direct to consumer health app. What motivated him to keep building was the excitement of creating something that could genuinely impact people’s lives. Over time, that early idea grew, and Zetox is now close to launching as an app, with continued updates in progress.
Building Zetox alongside college came with challenges, especially around time management and balance. Krishna spoke about learning to switch between focusing fully on academics and fully on building, often sacrificing sleep to keep both going. Being part of entrepreneurship communities and talking to users early helped shape how he approached the project. Even though Zetox followed its own journey, the experience played a key role in helping him understand what it takes to build something meaningful and when an idea is worth committing to long term.
While Raghav and Krishna started with different ideas and followed different paths, a similar pattern emerges from both experiences. Their projects began small and evolved as they gained clarity around what was worth pursuing and what was not. Neither journey was perfectly planned from the start, but both were shaped by paying attention to what worked and being willing to adapt. That clarity rarely comes all at once, it builds through the process itself.
Some questions to think about:
- Who is this project really for, and what problem does it solve?
- Am I building based on real feedback or just my own assumptions?
- Can I realistically balance this with classes and other commitments?
- If I kept working on this for the next few months, what would progress look like?
Side hustles in college are less about having everything figured out and more about learning how to make intentional decisions.
College side hustles do not need to start as fully formed businesses. They start as experiments. The campus environment offers a rare opportunity to test ideas, learn from failure and build confidence without the pressure of immediate success. With the right mindset, support and willingness to keep learning, a small side project can become something meaningful long after graduation.
For students interested in exploring or growing a side hustle, having access to the right resources can make a big difference. At ASU, the J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute offers mentorship, workshops and guidance for students at different stages of building, from early ideas to scaling ventures.
Campus Resources That Support Student Builders
Platforms like Student-Made at Arizona State University® give student creators and small ventures the opportunity to test products, reach real customers and learn what it takes to sell beyond their immediate network. For students looking to take their ideas further, programs such as Venture Devils provide structured support, funding opportunities and pitching experience, while Changemaker Central supports students building impact driven projects.
These resources exist to help students experiment, learn and build with support while still in college.
