Hunter Stone: a student entrepreneur in secondary edtech

Hunter Stone, a junior at IU studying Informatics, is already a serial entrepreneur. Sitting down with Hunter, we asked him about his journey through entrepreneurship so far — and here is what he shared with us.

Give us your “Twitter bio” or elevator pitch.

I’m both a student and an entrepreneur, and having that student perspective is actually crucial to what I do as an entrepreneur.

What entrepreneurial or innovative business or project are you currently working on?

I am currently working at The STARTedUP Foundation, which is about helping to empower students with mentorship, funding, and direction.

How’d you get into entrepreneurship and innovation? What were some of your entrepreneurial and innovative highlights since then?

I’ve always been interested in entrepreneurship. When I was younger, my brother and I sold paper airplanes. I also always loved technology, I would take my family’s computer apart and back together again. Technology inspired me. Building my first app taught me about failing, and helped me to find passion in something I was creating.

A few entrepreneurial highlights of mine are first, teaming up with a developer friend to consult local businesses in digital technology, and second, working with a group developing a coding curriculum out of Carmel (Codelicious) as a Product Manager.

The Storybook Factory, which I started with a group of close friends awhile back(essentially Netflix for kids books), is also a highlight although the business didn’t work out. We got seed funding and went through building that business, which was an invaluable learning experience in starting up a business.

What has been the most useful entrepreneurial resource or experience at the University?

Definitely peers in my community willing to connect me with everyone else, which is why I find StartupIU so valuable.

What has been the most useful entrepreneurial resource or experience outside of the University?

In an abstract sense, my network has been the most valuable resource to me. I’ve learned to bring value first to my connections/network before asking anything from them. An attitude of service is key. Following that, the most crucial resources to my growth are the teams I’ve built — working with people on a team, and learning from others is so key.

What is your favorite failure or learning experience?

My favorite failure is definitely The Storybook Factory because of the importance of maintaining a culture, respect, and hierarchy even among friends. Understanding the difference between criticizing an idea and not a person is important, and your people have to understand that. Team, focus, feedback.

What’s the best advice you’ve received as an entrepreneur?

A couple years ago, the guy who founded Quest Nutrition said to me: “You are way too fucking vague to ever be successful.” I had to take a step back and reconsider what I was doing. You have to be refined, you have to be focused, and for me personally that comment came at a time in my life where I really needed to do that.

Some other great advice I’ve gotten from a former Google exec is, “You do have everything you need to keep pushing, you just need to keep going.”

What advice would you give to other entrepreneurial students?

I’ll refer to my favorite Gary Vaynerchuk quote for this: “Doing is binary. You either are or aren’t.”

Also, customer experience is key, building a community and keeping that is key. People will only interact with you if you’re a conduit of value.

Where can people find you in-person? Online?

@hunterstone1446 on Twitter. Video series on LinkedIn. Email hunter@startedupinnovation.com.