Her Campus (HC): Let’s start with the basics!
Josh Hagler (JH): My name is Josh Hagler and I’m a senior majoring in Sociology – Double Minor: Entrepreneurship and Business Management
HC: Did you grow up in an entrepreneurial environment?
JH: I did not grow up in the typical Entrepreneurial environment, although it is not hard to see how the entrepreneurial spirit is rooted in my DNA. My father comes from a small town in Alabama called Clayton where he graduated with 12 kids in his senior class. My dad was so poor, he would have be thrilled to get something as simple as an orange for Christmas. However, he is now the Vice President of a huge company after working extremely hard to obtain this position.
HC: Describe RoomScapeU. What does this website seek to bring to college students?
JH: RoomScapeU is a unique, one stop shop tailored specifically to college students. RoomScapeU is built for college students, by college students. It is the place to discover the most exciting things for your college living experience. We provide the bare essential products needed for college living while showcasing some of the world’s newest and most unique items. RoomScapeU is more than a dorm or apartment outlet; our vision is to bring college students a platform to discover awesome products, every day.
We want college students to be able to go on www.RoomScapeU.com and find extremely unique products that they otherwise wouldn’t come across. On top of all this, RoomScapeU strives to be a place that people come to every time they need to buy someone a gift. As a college student, you will be able to visit RoomScapeU and find everything you want and need at a great price, while discovering the newest tech gear and gadget items on the market.
HC: What inspired the idea of creating a business targeting the college living space?
JH: The reason RoomScapeU was built was to make college student’s lives more enjoyable. The years spent in college are most likely the most memorable and exciting years of a person’s life. We decided to feed off this magical feeling of being in college and pair it with a top-of-the-line online shop that allows students to make the best out of their living arrangement at the same time. Every student has a living space and students want their living space to be unique and awesome. The idea came from shopping in local department stores such as Walmart and Target. When college students go shopping for their dorm or apartment they hope to find a section that appeals to them specifically. Large department stores, other online stores such as Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, etc. do not center their operations around what college students want. As I shopped at Walmart and other local department stores, I became frustrated with their poster selections, which consisted of Justin Bieber, One Direction, and unicorn posters. At this point I personally longed for an online shop that I could go to and find the coolest items just for me – a college student. College students have a different taste than the rest of the world; I intend to bring the ultimate shopping source targeted directly at students.
HC: Is there any one specifically who serves as your inspiration/role model?
JH: Although controversial…Mark Zuckerberg. Talk about taking an idea and turning it into a business. Zuckerberg built Facebook because his group of friends wanted it for themselves and thought it would be pretty cool. The thing I admire about this is that it all started with a 20 year old college student that had a cool idea. What is awesome about Zuckerberg is how nobody stopped him, not google, not Microsoft, AOL, etc. The underdog kept creating something that people would love and he kept his focus on centering everything around the user. It amazes me to see what young people can accomplish so quickly.
HC: How do you balance running a company, your school course load, and a social life all at once?
JH: Balancing running my startup with school and a social life has indeed been a huge challenge. This is a challenge that nobody can be prepared for (given the amount of time needed to effectively run a startup). People warn every first-time-entrepreneur of the amount of work needed, but nothing can actually prepare one for the reality of startup life. I choose to allot my time mainly to running RoomScapeU. I’ve learned far more starting this company than I ever could taking courses or going out at night. My social life is on the back burner and I am 100% okay with this. I had my fun in college the first 3 years, managing a bar at the strip and going out way too much. All of the partying and hanging out playing video games was fun but the reality for me is that I know I am an entrepreneur and I know I was born to build great companies. With that said, I am giving my all 7 days a week to RoomScapeU. All of the time and money put into my first startup, RoomScapeU is really invested in myself as an entrepreneur.
HC: How are you planning to take RoomScapeU to the next level in the future?
JH: I am taking RoomScapeU to the next level by ensuring that every single customer gets the upmost attention and service possible. The only way RoomScapeU can take off and become a huge internet company is by becoming a wonderful customer service oriented company. The customer comes first NO MATTER WHAT. As long as our amount of customers is growing and we are taking care of them better than anyone else, there is no limit to how big RoomScapeU can be. I plan on raising a round of funding from investors within the next month. With these investments, we will make hires and redesign our website so that users have awesome new features (similar to Pinterest boards), so stay tuned!
HC: The presence of women leaders in the business world is still not as evident and strong as it should be in the 21st century. What advice could you offer as a young entrepreneur to women who want to start their own business?
JH: There has never been a better time for women to take an idea and turn it into a new business. Women naturally have fantastic style and taste when it comes to what is trendy and what the future has in store. It is a great time to be an aspiring entrepreneur and young women wanting to start companies have a perfect opportunity to begin today. The best advice I can give is to write down “I will start my own company this year” on a piece of paper, tape the paper to your mirror and look at it once a day. You will begin to realize YOU can start something epic just like anyone else. Once your idea hits, go for it with everything you have and never look back. Do not listen to naysayers telling you that it is unrealistic. Nothing is unrealistic when you are in charge and you believe in what you’ve set out to accomplish. My favorite quote in the world is, “The best ideas are just on the right side of impossible.”
I’d like to point out an example that is changing the way every online company operates and plans for the future. This example laid down by a young female innovator is the story of the product subscription service, Birchbox. This phenomenon of subscription-based commerce began with two college females with a big idea. Co-founders Hayley Barna and Katia Beauchamp met at Harvard Business School. With inspiration from Hayley’s beauty editor best friend Mollie Chen, they created Birchbox to help consumers cut through the clutter of the retail world to find products that really work for them. This idea has brought Birchbox and its founders 4,000 subscribers and around $48 million per year in revenue.