Starting an agency before university

I started Proxima IT in March 2024. I had just bought my first laptop, I was learning web development seriously, and I hadn’t started university yet.

Looking back, it was early. It was also the best decision I made that year.

Why I didn’t wait

The usual advice is to finish your degree, get some experience at a company, and then start something. That works for a lot of people. For me, waiting meant learning in theory for years before building anything people would actually use.

Small businesses around me needed websites. I could build them. So I started.

What I had to learn fast

Selling. Nobody tells you that running an agency is half sales. Every project so far has come through referrals, from people who knew me or knew someone I’d worked with. That’s a good sign of trust, but it’s not a system. Building a steady way to find clients is what I’m working on now.

Pricing. We don’t have fixed packages. Every project gets priced on what it needs. Early on, I underpriced a lot. Now I scope first and quote second.

Delivering with a team. Proxima IT today is a team of 10: a founder, a COO, a CTO and developers. Managing people on different stacks, timelines and personalities is a skill I didn’t have in 2024. I’m still learning it.

University and agency together

Studying CSE while running an agency means my days are split. Mornings are for classes and study, afternoons for client work, late nights for building. Some weeks the balance is fine. Some weeks it isn’t.

But the two help each other. University gives me the fundamentals behind what I build. The agency shows me why those fundamentals matter.

If you’re thinking about it

• Start with one service you can deliver well.
• Treat your first clients like partners. They’ll bring the next ones.
• Write everything down: scope, price, deadline. It saves friendships.

You don’t need to have everything figured out to start. I didn’t.