UPDATE | On Campus

Undergrads Launch Business

When Kristen Berman was a sophomore, she recognized that students moving into a new community often need help getting their computers wired and running efficiently. Although not technologically savvy herself, she had lots of “nerdy” friends. She formed a company, netNerds, that has employed between four and 10 “nerds” on staff since it opened. Hundreds of students used her company last year, and this year Berman secured service contracts with several area apartment complexes.

The Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at the School of Business was so impressed with Berman’s entrepreneurial spirit that it awarded her the Alan C. Filley Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award.

netNerds was able to keep operating even when Berman spent a semester in Hungary, thanks to Michael Kreemer, an undergraduate business student with a techno bent and strong entrepreneurial leanings.

Although their business is profitable, its future is up in the air. Berman and Kreemer are inclined to move into other areas. Still, both agree having the chance to apply what they learn in the classroom to an actual business has been invaluable.