10 Most Successful Dorm-Based Businesses of All Time

What comes to mind when you think of a college dorm? Do you think of all night study sessions, cluttered spaces that are simply too small, and dorm parties? Have you ever considered that a college dorm could be a great place to start a business?

Some of the most successful businesses of all-time were started in dorm rooms. If you’re strapped for cash in college, why not form a dorm based business? We’ve listed 10 of the most successful businesses ever formed inside dormitory walls.

Below, we have gathered the ten most successful dorm-based businesses. It’s hard to believe that such large companies got their beginnings in dorm rooms. However, this is a testament that anything is possible with hard work and dedication.

1. Facebook: One of the biggest social networking sites in existence, Facebook was founded by Harvard University Students in 2004. Together, Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Moskovitz and Chris Hughes developed the idea for the website and launched it to Harvard students initially, then expanded the company from there. Now the company is available to everyone ages 13 and up.
2. Google: Google is one of the biggest search engines in existence. It was founded in 1998 at Stanford University by two students studying to attain their Ph.D. Larry Page and Sergey Brin are the founders of the database, and have helped the business grow to exponential standards. Google is now the primary search engine used, and it is also the owner of YouTube and Gmail.
3. Microsoft: Founded by Bill Gates in 1975, Microsoft has become a global company worth over $70 billion. Gates founded Microsoft when he was in college at Harvard University. This was the program that defined the new wave of technology, and paved the way for what we have today.
4. Yahoo: Before there was Google, there was Yahoo. This search engine was founded in 1994 at Stanford University by two electrical engineering students. Jerry Yang and David Filo are the founders of the first search engine that made information readily available. Yahoo has now grown as a company, and now features topics which include, but are not limited to sports, business, and politics.
5. WordPress: Matt Mullenweg is responsible for the 2002 founding of this free blogging site. WordPress was founded at the University of Houston and has since changed communication and how ideas are spread and shared. Allowing corporate companies to create their own pages and spread information has forever changed the flow and exchange of information.
6. Inogen: Created to improve the quality of the life for a loved one, Inogen was created in 2001 by Allison Perry, Brenton Taylor and Byron Myers at the University of CA, Santa Barbara. The oxygen machine has generated over 55 million since its beginnings and offers patients who need oxygen a more mobile and accessible medical device.
7. Dell: Michael Dell was a pre-med student at the University of Texas when he decided he wanted to find a way to have his own personal computer and sell it to the public. Since the founding of the company in 1984, business has grown exponentially and has now generated over a whopping 60 billion in revenue. The story of Michael Dell and the personal computer exemplifies how working towards a dream can lead to innovation.
8. Venus: The well-known brand that is responsible for helping keep women confident in their clothes was also founded in a dorm. The founder of this brand is Daryle Scott, and he founded the company while he was attending school at Stetson University. What is interesting and notable, is that this brand began by only selling bodybuilding apparel, but grew to include women’s clothing, as well. Again, a testament that hard work and a vision for the future are key in expanding upon any idea or ambition.
9. iCracked: Have you ever broken your iPhone and wished there was a way to have it fixed without having to spend an immense amount of money at the Apple store? AJ Forsythe did, and that’s why he founded this company in 2009 at California Polytechnic State University. This company offers consumers a cheaper way to fix their expensive phones, should they break, crack, or malfunction!
10. Shoeboxed: Clutter is detrimentally annoying to those who like organization, especially for small businesses. It was Taylor Mingos’ idea to start this company in an effort to eliminate clutter by providing a paperless filing system. Founded in 2007 at Duke University, this paperless innovation has been helping organize files using technology and digital filing systems!

These businesses are examples of what can come from pursuing passions and believing that anything is possible. All these companies began as ideas in the heads of students, just like you, sitting in their dorms. It is clear to see that success is possible with hard work and dedication.