See how this university student is saving our economy by helping small and medium-sized businesses

In our first ever interview we meet up with Jesse David Thé, who founded the start-up ZEBU three years ago, fresh out of high school. Find out more about him and the idea for his start-up by reading through our interview.

"Rather than my life being a 180 its more like I jumped forward many years into the future. My original plan was to finish university, get some experience in the industry and then go on to start my own thing. Instead I started it even before my 1st class at university, and I am glad I did."

But first, lets get to know him better by a quick round of rapid fire questions:

Name: Jesse David Thé

Where you’re from: Waterloo

School/ field of study: Lazaridis School of Business and Economics - Student of Economics, Financial Management and Computer Science

Tech idol: Steve Jobs and Elon Musk

Are you more excited for coffee or your work each morning? My work has coffee so its pretty great.

Special talent: The sheer amount of espresso I can drink in a day

What are you most likely doing in your free time? Free time is the time I’m not working on ZEBU, and that is when I am doing university work.

Most relevant piece of knowledge you gained from University: School is important but isn’t everything. For every 1 thing I’ve learned that’s relevant to my business I have already learned 10 things by working hands on. You only truly realize the importance of real-world experience once you get it.

Zebu's website

Okay, lets move on to the more serious part of the interview:

180 degrees: WHAT is ZEBU?

Despite the huge leaps in computing and software over the past few years, many small and medium businesses still use 90s or pre-90s technology for their work. ZEBU is a secure all in one business solution aimed to equip small and medium enterprises with 21st century technology. Our easy to use yet powerful toolkit helps businesses get more done faster and keeps all their work entirely secure.

180 degrees: WHY did you create ZEBU?

I created ZEBU to help the millions who depend on small and medium enterprises for their livelihoods. Most of the innovation we get today is not from giant corporations but from small businesses and start-ups bringing new ideas and products to the market. Unfortunately, these businesses are being decimated by giant corporations especially the ones from Silicon Valley. SMEs employ more people than large corporations do and make up a huge part of the economy.

If these companies are replaced by large corporations it’ll not only stifle innovation, kill jobs, and hurt local communities but will also give immense power and control in many markets to a small number of corporate executives. If it gets bad enough this type of Oligopolistic power can lead to the kind of society, we see in dystopian books and movies. I want to help save SMEs to ensure that we have a healthy economy and society.

180 degrees: Why do you feel this is important and relevant to today’s society?

Small and Medium businesses generate most of the employment in North America. In the 1980’s Walmart smashed mom-and-pop stores all over the United States. Beginning in the 1990s Silicon Valley is sending an unrelenting series of tidal waves against these small businesses. Entire segments of these business are disappearing and many business owners and up and coming entrepreneurs are having a hard time competing.

ZEBU is a cornerstone to this important mainstay of our society. We are providing tools and in the future will give guidance and support to these businesses to catch up with and compete against these giants from Silicon Valley and elsewhere. It is our hope that we can help small and medium businesses flourish around the world and remove the consumers dependence on large corporate entities. We hope for a future that is dominated by thousands of small and medium enterprises instead of a handful of large corporations.

As we have just talked about your company, let's move on to a bit more personal level:

180 degrees: What did you want to be originally? Did you always know you wanted to be an entrepreneur?

Since I was a kid I always wanted to have my own business. When I was a kid my plan was to create my own video game development studio where I would create the best strategy games in the gaming industry. Though my exact plans have shifted from gaming to business tools, its always been my dream to do exactly what I’m doing now.

180 degrees: Five years ago, did you expect your life to be what it is today? Would you say your life did a 180 of sorts?

Rather than my life being a 180 its more like I jumped forward many years into the future. My original plan was to finish university, get some experience in the industry and then go on to start my own thing. Instead I started it even before my 1st class at university, and I am glad I did.

180 degrees: Did you find potential investors/hires/clients took you seriously as such a young entrepreneur?

I think the hardest thing being a young entrepreneur is that people do not take you seriously. They don’t believe that someone in their late teens or early 20s can have the knowledge or drive to be capable of running a company. I see where they are coming from, it’s a crazy hard thing to do and it requires a lot of sacrifice, long days and hard work. In the early days it was a lot harder to be taken seriously, I had to get support from friends and family to get started. As the ZEBU team has grown and now that we have working product people taking us seriously is much less of an issue. As with many things in life its not the responsibility of other to take you seriously its your responsibility to prove yourself and show people why they should take your seriously.

180 degrees: When is the right time to start your own business and is there even a right on?

There is no right time to start a business. One could argue that I started at the wrong time, I was fresh out of high school didn’t even start university. You need to have a viable idea that you completely believe in, its something that can happen at any time in your life. The most important thing is to make sure you believe in it enough to make the sacrifices necessary to make it happen and with the risk it might go nowhere at all. I had both which is why despite the fact I was about to start university I dove right in.

180 degrees: Have you ever thought of dropping out of school to focus entirely on growing ZEBU? This was something I considered a lot in the early days which lead me to take time off from school. I have since returned part time and the idea does cross my mind here and then. Now however, my courses are being good for me and my business. For example, my programming and finance courses, which I love, help give me clarity and ideas for my work.

180 degrees: What advice would you give a young student in his early twenties, who is considering creating their own business?

Make sure you believe in it and you really want it. It is hard work all the way, with little time for social life, drinking, traveling, video games, and parties. Be ready to work everyday of the week and for long hours, be ready for the highs and lows. Many people don’t truly appreciate how difficult it is to start a company, people tend to only look at the founders who’ve become millionaires or billionaires and think “Oh they have it so easy” when in fact those people sacrificed everything to get where they are today. That’s not even to mention those who sacrifice everything, and it doesn’t work out in the end, which is much more common than the success stories.

Thanks Jesse for your time, it was a pleasure gaining insights from you!

Let's be friends! Connect with Jesse here:

ZEBU's website: www.zebu.io

ZEBU's social media: You can follow them on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram @zebuhq or contact them directly at moo@zebu.io

Jesse’s Twitter: @jessedthe