CampusBuddy founder Mike Moradian creates UCLA Startup Network for students to talk to entrepreneurs

Mike Moradian already had strong aspirations to become an entrepreneur when he was a business economics student at UCLA.

As an undergraduate, Moradian worked to create CampusBuddy, a service funded through private investments that allows students to connect with their classmates and see the official grade distributions for various professors, said Carolyn Asuncion, marketing director of CampusBuddy.

However, Moradian said in retrospect he could have used a program that taught the fundamentals of running a business, and decided that he would work to create such a resource.

This year, Moradian founded the UCLA Startup Network to provide students the opportunity to connect with recent college graduates who have successfully built their own businesses on new and innovative ideas.

The program, which will tentatively have its first meeting on Nov. 18, will allow students of any major to learn from newly launched businesses while they are still undergraduates, Moradian said.
Shervin Natan, a UCLA alumnus and co-founder of the network, said that while he is now working in business marketing, he wishes he had the resources during his undergraduate study that allowed him to network with other students oriented toward business.

“We know that when young entrepreneurs are just starting out, they don’t have much of a salary,” Natan said.

“We want people to learn and maybe one day, when they have started their own businesses, give back to the start-up community.”

Moradian said he hopes Los Angeles may eventually rival top start-up communities like Boston and Silicon Valley.

Membership to the network is free, and students will be able to attend demonstration events where they can share their product designs and ideas with investors and other businesses who are primarily local to Los Angeles, Natan said.

“We’re hoping to keep (the program) as self-sustaining as possible and are seeking sponsorships to keep the costs away from students,” Moradian said.

Recently, Moradian was chosen by Bloomberg BusinessWeek as one of the top 25 entrepreneurs under age 25 in America for his creation of CampusBuddy.

According to BusinessWeek, Moradian launched the service in February of 2008, about a year after graduation.

Moradian initially considered enrolling in the MBA program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management after he graduated but ultimately decided to focus on working at CampusBuddy, he said.

Moradian remained in contact with the people he met at various MBA events, though, and was able to create the UCLA Startup Network with their help and involvement.

“As a business economics student, you learn that in the business world sometimes it is who you know, not what you know, that will make you successful,” said Steve Wu, second-year business economics student.

While there are many groups on campus that hold business networking nights, allowing students to display their own products may give the new network an upper hand, Wu said.

Right now those who hold leadership positions in the program are primarily UCLA alumni and current MBA students, Moradian said.

However, he said he hopes students will run for board positions in the future.

“Being undergraduates, I want them to get involved because they have so much (entrepreneurial) potential and need to show their abilities,” he said.