Every college student at some point in time has a moment where they wish they could create the next best thing and become rich. For Andrew Kortina and Iqram Magdon-Ismail that is exactly what happened. These two college roommates came up with the idea for Venmo. Venmo is an app that allows people to give and receive money. If you forgot your wallet, no problem you can ask someone to pay for you and they can Venmo you the money right then and there.
Kortina and Magdon- Ismail developed this idea at first when they were trying to help friend start yogurt shop, they noticed the lacking of traditional sales software and wished they had something new to help fix it. At a local jazz show, Kortina and Magdon-Ismail thought of the idea of being able to buy a MP3 of the show instantly with a text message. Later, the idea was reinforced when Magdon-Ismail forgot his wallet during a trip, and needed to pay back a friend. He noticed how much of an inconvenience, especially compared to the possibility of mobile phone-based transactions it was to repay his friend for the money borrowed. They then started to work on a way to send money through their cell phones. Their original prototype used text messages but then quickly turned into a mobile app that we know today as venmo.
The company is now worth eight hundred million dollars and is growing steadily. These two college student turned a bright idea into a thriving business and now are their own bosses and live their dream lives. Starting as roommates at the University of Pennsylvania to now being business partners this idea was they start of a revolutionary company and the start to a lifelong friendship.