Nick Lenhart

Nick Lenhart
Junior
Major: Business Marketing
Hometown: Chino Hills, Calif.
 
If Nick Lenhart looks familiar, don’t be surprised. You may have seen his picture in the dictionary under All American; seriously, his family is even in the Fireworks business. This University of Arizona junior started his college career as part of the Wildcat Football Team before launching a new social networking site. All the while, he has found balance in conducting a social life, business, and still maintaining his religious beliefs at one of the top party schools in the nation. If you haven’t heard of the new site www.noctronic.com, I’m sure you will soon enough. Not only does Noctronic provide a forum for social events, it captures the moments for all of us at the University of Arizona. Lenhart met with us outside of the Student Union and despite his personable and professional persona there was still an undeniable twinkle in his eye as he answered our questions about his current passion, Noctronic.
 
What you wouldn’t assume about Lenhart is that the comforting phrase “sometimes good things fall apart so that better things can fall together” is all to literal in the process of his masterpiece.
 
HC: How did you start www.noctronic.com?
Lenhart: On a Wednesday night last year I had gotten done with classes and decided to drive to USC, without telling anyone. I stopped at home to have dinner with my family but the real reason I had to drive there was to break up with my girlfriend. We had been together for over two years so it wasn’t something I could do over the phone. The next day driving back to Tucson was a seven-hour drive and about two hours in all I could think about it is: what am I going to do with all of my time now? After that came a lot of prayer and reflection. In that time period I decided I wanted to do something in business. I thought to myself, what are fun things going on in the business world right now? The first thing that came to mind was the technological boom, web millionaires; I wanted to give it a shot. The next piece was deciding what void I could fill. Over the course of the next 5 hours, between driving and typing notes in my phone, I had a basic business plan.
 
HC: Starting a business takes funding, was that a struggle?
Lenhart: I had already been thinking about investing in something, maybe the stock market.  After this idea came to me, I planned it out for a long time before I made any serious pursuit of the goal. When winter break came around I had to make a decision. I could either invest the money in the stock market as I planned or I could invest in this business. I chose to invest in myself and exactly 10 months after the idea was born on my long drive back to school, the site was launched and here we are.
 
HC: Was business always your goal?
Lenhart: I’ve been blessed enough to have the opportunity to go to NYC every year because of my families’ firework business. When I was 10 or 11 years old I got the opportunity to go on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Ever since that experience I have been very interested in the high stress business environment. I work well under pressure and I love knowing that my fate is in my hands. Whatever happens, good or bad, it will be my fault.
 
HC: Did you always gravitate toward web-based business?
Lenhart: I actually never thought I would do web-based business; it just came to me and seemed like a pretty good idea. A lot of technical planning went into it, I was a “nube” when it came to technical stuff so I had a lot of research to do. It was basically like learning a new language and took me a while to speak “techy.” There’s so much to be said about web business in the future, every business in the next five years will have some sort of web base in my opinion.
 
HC: I get a Vegas vibe off of the photo aspect of the site; did you ever feel that the “partying” influence goes against your morals?
Lenhart: There are moral and ethical dilemmas that I’ve done a great job at avoiding. I pray for strength every day to continue to do that. I promote a social lifestyle not an unethical lifestyle. I really do believe that people should have a social life. I chose to be the guy to get good grades and not to go out and party. It had a lot to do with religious reasons but I wasn’t enjoying UA that much. My freshman year all I did was schoolwork and football but I didn’t have a life. I stepped down from football my sophomore year and in turn got a social life.
 
HC: How hard was giving up football?
Lenhart: It was hard but I wanted more out of college. I loved football and really wanted to play at a division 1 school. I visited a lot of different schools throughout my recruiting trips. At every school I would ask myself, could I be happy here if I weren’t playing football? There were a lot of schools that I couldn’t see myself at without football. When I left University of Arizona after my recruiting trip I thought, I could be happy here. 
 
HC: What do you feel helps you stay so motivated?
Lenhart: As far as motivation, religion is the biggest one of course but I also love proving people wrong. It keeps me awake at night but when I’m awake at night I’m working. I don’t sleep anymore, its nuts. I used to be all about getting my 8 or 9 hours of sleep a night. This year is way different, I’m happy to get 6. I’m up until 2 or 3 a.m. and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I think soon I’ll be able to focus my energy more toward where I want to focus it. I know have a staff of seven, before it was a staff of two.
 
HC: What in your opinion are the best aspects of Noctronic?
Lenhart: The two coolest things are that it’s only for University of Arizona students; we’re exclusive which is fun and has been something really supported which I didn’t expect. I thought I would be closing myself off by doing such a small market but UA drives the community of Tucson and businesses are interested in attacking this market. As for users, you have to have a catmail email account, if you don’t, sorry. Another very cool aspect is that any one can register an event. Participation is growing even more with philanthropies. War of Roses just started and they have more than 100 people attending on my site. It’s not just a Facebook invite that gets sent out to everyone, it’s more personal. I may not know you but I love when people throw events up there, that’s how it’s supposed to be.
 
HC: Any advice to your peers?
Lenhart: Get a social life within boundaries; enjoy yourself at college. It really is going to be the best time of your life. I truly believe that, however, try to do something for you career related. Don’t get stuck in the monotony or excitement of college and forget about the 75 years coming after it. I see too many of my friends where they’re life is just a big party and sadly they’re not going to be going anywhere for a while. Find whatever motivates you, for me it’s Christ and making myself a better person. Find your motivation and stick to it. 
 
At the start of the interview, I was a little shocked to hear that Nick Lenhart is only in the beginning of his junior year of college. With a young company on his hands that appears to be already well on its way to success, we’re very excited to see where this self-made businessman ends up. If one thing is for sure, he’s got God and HerCampus on his side. The next time you’re out and pose for a picture, or just bored and want to know what’s going on in your neck of the woods, sign on to www.noctronic.com. You may find the party of the year, a charity event too good to pass up, or you may spot some of the University of Arizona’s finest, yourself included.