The Side Hustle Goes to School
Today’s featured startup is bridging the gap between lecture halls and paid, practical experience.
Project Overview
Home From College is a platform that connects students with short-term freelance jobs at real companies.
Students start by creating a profile and resume on the platform, which they can also download and use outside the platform. They get access to stats on how often their profile gets viewed. To land a gig, they respond to open listings posted by companies — from social media help to product testing or even becoming a campus brand ambassador.
Job types and pay vary widely: $750/month for a brand ambassador role, $100 for event photography, $15/hour for SMM work, $15 for product feedback, $60 per post, or $500 for co-creating an ad campaign.
The service is free for students. Companies pay to post job listings — $99/month for one, $199/month for up to three, and custom plans are available for larger needs.
Payments are handled directly on the platform. Home From College takes a 20% commission from what companies pay.
So far, over 100,000 students have signed up, and clients include names like Yahoo and Beyond Meat. The startup recently raised $5.4 million from GV (Google Ventures), adding to the $1.5 million it secured in its seed round.
What’s the Gist?
The idea behind Home From College makes a lot of sense.
For students, this is a chance to earn money doing something more meaningful than waiting tables or ringing up groceries — while also building relevant career skills. For companies, it’s an opportunity to tap into fresh talent, test potential hires on real projects, and build early relationships with the most promising candidates.
It’s a compelling concept, but it’s not the first of its kind.
Back in 2020, a similar platform called Uplancer shut down. In 2021, Pangea — another student freelancing marketplace — pivoted. It now offers part-time marketers from the U.S. and 155 other countries, but no longer focuses specifically on students.
Virtual Internships, which offers remote internships tailored to students' fields of study, raised $2.5 million in 2021 and followed up with a $14.3 million round in 2022. CareerFairy, which hosts virtual job fairs where companies pitch themselves to students via live video, also raised €3.5 million in 2023.
Clearly, the student-employment space is huge and competitive. Which makes GV’s investment in Home From College especially interesting — given that similar models have struggled or pivoted.
What this tells us: a business model alone doesn't guarantee success. The same playbook in different hands can lead to very different outcomes. GV is essentially betting on the founders — on their ability to either make this specific model work, or pivot to something that will.
Key Takeaways
Let’s look at why this kind of model might not take off — and what could be done to improve it.
One issue: the offering sits in an awkward middle ground.
If a student needs steady income, they’re likely to choose a predictable job close to campus — like working at a café — over chasing sporadic gigs online.
If they’re career-driven, they might prioritize structured opportunities like remote internships (Virtual Internships) or company-run job fairs (CareerFairy).
If they’re after glory or big challenges, they’ll want something more ambitious than giving feedback on a shampoo or managing an Instagram account.
Still, these are just hypotheses. And like any hypothesis, the one behind Home From College will need testing.
What’s clear is that the student market is massive. In 2022, the U.S. had around 19 million college and university students. And all of them are looking — for income, experience, or recognition. Or some mix of the three.
This is a real audience. The only question is which business model and offer will actually resonate.
What will get students to bite? How do you pitch it? Where’s the money? How do you get colleges on board?
There’s a 20-million-person question waiting to be answered. Let’s see who gets it right.
Company Info:
Home From College
Website: homefromcollege.com
Last round: $5.4M, 04.03.2024
Total funding: $6.9M across 2 rounds