Nobody warns you that chasing your dream can feel incredibly exciting—and incredibly lonely—all at the same time. When you’re 22, still in university, and trying to build an AI startup from scratch, you quickly realize you’re not just choosing a career path, you’re trading one version of your life for another. And this is the part most people miss: the real struggle isn’t just the workload or the risk—it’s watching everyone else live the “normal” student life while you live something completely different.
I’m a final-year cybersecurity student in Malaysia, and at the same time, I’m the founder of an AI startup. Balancing both worlds has been rewarding, but it has also meant sacrificing a lot of the experiences people usually associate with university life. There are days when the cost of that trade-off feels heavier than the excitement of building something new. But here’s where it gets controversial: even knowing how hard it is, I still don’t think students should wait for the “perfect time” before starting a company.
How the startup began
While working on my bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity, I took a job in 2023 with a software company based in the UK. I was building software solutions for clients, getting real-world experience while still attending classes. When advanced AI tools became available, I started weaving them into my day-to-day work, plugging AI into the software I was writing instead of treating it like a separate add-on.
At first, it was small stuff—automating pieces of my own responsibilities to save time. But it quickly grew into something bigger. Eventually, I’d built a full AI system with multiple agents that could automate operations for several clients at once. At one point, that system was handling work for four different clients simultaneously, which made it clear this wasn’t just a productivity hack; it could be the foundation of a real business.
The potential was too strong to ignore. I felt more excited by what I was building for myself than what I was doing in my job. So I made a tough call: I left that role and went all-in on an AI-agent-focused startup. That’s how Genta AI was born in November 2024. We moved fast and expanded the team early, bringing in senior engineers with more than a decade of software development experience—people who were far more seasoned than me in many ways.
The hidden loneliness of building in school
I’ve always worked while studying, so juggling classes and a job wasn’t new. But starting a company is a completely different game. There’s no “off switch.” There’s always another decision, another call, another problem waiting. Once Genta really got going, my time on campus shrank dramatically. My days started to revolve around back-to-back meetings instead of lectures, clubs, or campus events.
People close to me kept telling me to slow down—"Just finish your degree first," "There will be time for startups later." But mentally, my priority had already shifted. Genta became the main focus, and everything else, including my studies, had to fit around it. That tension is especially strong now in my final year. The company is growing, responsibilities are multiplying, and the thought of whether I can realistically do everything sometimes leads to a scary question: should I just drop out? For now, I don’t want to, but the thought does cross my mind.
What hurts more than the workload is what you quietly give up. You miss the spontaneous late-night hangouts, the campus events, the casual conversations that turn classmates into close friends. I rarely show up to student clubs, activities, or social gatherings. Over time, that absence builds a gap—a sense that you’re physically on campus but not really part of that world.
And that’s when the loneliness creeps in. You look around and realize most people your age are living a completely different version of 22: more freedom, more fun, fewer responsibilities. Meanwhile, your mind is constantly occupied with product roadmaps, client deliverables, and payroll. That emotional distance—the feeling that no one around you fully shares your reality—is probably the hardest part of being a student founder.
A day in the life of a student founder
Most days start around 8 a.m. The first thing I do is check emails, team messages, and project updates to get a sense of what’s on fire and what can wait. Then I head to campus for classes. To be completely honest, I’m often there more for the attendance record than the lecture content. I frequently work through class, laptop open, handling tasks for the company while the lesson is going on.
I try to keep calls off my schedule during class hours, but reality doesn’t always cooperate. Sometimes an important client call or team meeting overlaps, and I end up stepping out midway through a lecture—or skipping class altogether. It’s not ideal academically, but that’s one of the trade-offs you quietly make when your startup is your main priority.
Once classes are done, I usually head to a coworking space or a café. From there, it’s a long stretch of focused work and calls until about 7 or 8 p.m. That time often goes into product development, operations, and aligning with the team. Those hours feel like the “core workday” for Genta.
But my day doesn’t end there. When I get home, the second shift starts. Because some of our clients and accounts are based in the US, I stay up late to match their working hours. It’s normal for me to be on calls or working on deliverables until 1 or 2 in the morning. Weekends aren’t exactly rest days either; they tend to be for internal strategy, planning, and refining the company from the inside.
On Sundays, I sometimes force myself to switch off for a few hours, just to stay sane. I might take a bike ride outside the city, go swimming, or spend time with friends and family. It doesn’t happen every week, but when it does, those small breaks feel like hitting a mental reset button. After nearly a year of this routine, it’s still demanding—but strangely, it has become a rhythm I’ve grown used to and even learned to appreciate.
Why age shouldn’t hold you back
A lot of people assume age is a wall you have to get over before you’re “qualified” to start a company. Personally, that idea doesn’t make sense to me. Being young isn’t what should stop you from building something. What can become a problem, though, is how other people perceive your age—especially when you’re dealing with larger, more traditional clients.
There have been potential clients Genta could’ve helped significantly, but the conversations stalled simply because I was too young in their eyes and the company was still relatively new. They didn’t say the product was bad or the idea was weak; they just couldn’t get comfortable with the age factor and the early-stage nature of the business. That’s a frustrating reality.
At the same time, technology—especially AI—is moving incredibly fast. This kind of environment rewards people who can learn quickly, adapt fast, and aren’t too attached to “how things have always been done.” That mindset often shows up more among younger founders and teams, who are used to experimenting, iterating, and pivoting without overthinking.
But here’s another uncomfortable side of being a young founder: some clients try to exploit it. They see someone in their early 20s and assume they can squeeze in extra work for free or push for big discounts because “he’s young, he doesn’t have much leverage.” That attitude is disrespectful when it’s purely based on age, not on the value delivered.
Instead of arguing about it, the only way forward is to let the work speak. By focusing on results—especially measurable returns on investment—it becomes much harder for people to dismiss you. When clients see their numbers improving, respect usually follows, and suddenly they’re not just tolerating you, they actually want to keep working with you.
Learning to lead a team
One of the most challenging, and unexpected, parts of this journey has been learning how to be a manager. It’s one thing to write code or design systems; it’s another to lead people, especially when some of them are more experienced than you and spread across different countries.
The team at Genta has grown to 16 members, distributed across borders and time zones. Managing that kind of team is still a new experience for me. My instinct is to be kind, relaxed, and approachable. I really dislike micromanaging or playing the stereotypical “bossy” founder. But at the same time, I have high expectations for what we can achieve together, and balancing those expectations with a laid-back style isn’t always straightforward.
With every new challenge—whether it’s a hiring decision, a tough conversation, or a project going off-track—it becomes clearer how much more there is to learn. Leadership isn’t something you master in a semester. It’s more like a skill you keep building by making mistakes, reflecting, and trying again.
Why students shouldn’t wait
Despite all the stress, long hours, and sacrifices, one belief has only grown stronger: students shouldn’t wait for some magical future moment before starting something of their own. Waiting until you “know enough,” “have more experience,” or “finish everything else first” often turns into waiting forever.
There’s a simple philosophy that has guided me: start now, learn as you go. You will never begin with all the answers, and you’re not supposed to. The skills, insights, and confidence come from doing, not from endlessly preparing. You figure things out in motion, not while standing still.
That doesn’t mean everyone should drop out or ignore their studies completely. It does mean that if you have an idea you care about, and you feel that pull to build, you don’t have to wait for someone to give you permission. The path will be messy, imperfect, and sometimes isolating—but it will also be incredibly educational in ways no classroom can fully replicate.
So here’s the controversial question to leave you with: Is it actually “irresponsible” for students to sacrifice the classic college experience for a startup—or is it more risky to play it safe and never test what you’re capable of? Do you think young founders are over-romanticizing the grind, or are they simply redefining what success in your early 20s looks like? Share where you stand—agree, disagree, or somewhere in between—and why.
