Creating a monster—and a career

by Maria Lironi

Knowing what you want and staying focused on it is the key to a successful entrée into the business world.
At least, that’s the case for 25-year-old business grad Dietrich Wedegaertner who started his own business—a campus intranet called Monsterpin—during his final semester of the entrepreneurship program at UVic. Wedegaertner came to UVic in 1999 and, almost immediately, caught the eye of his professors.

“Dietrich was very engaged and active in his learning,” says Dr. Brock Smith, who has instructed Wedegaertner in the principles of marketing and new venture marketing. “I think that’s because he has always known what he wants to do after he graduates. He’s a real go-getter individual and one of our top students academically.”

Wedegaertner, who came all the way from Germany to take his undergraduate degree, says his business idea came to him during his first semester.
“I met a woman who was running a Vancouver hostel and trying to get the attention of the university market. She told me there were lots of people just like her, wanting to offer their goods and services at a discount to the student market. So I thought, wouldn’t it be great if there was one Web site where all the businesses that wanted to offer a special deal to students, could offer their deals there.”

Wedegaertner says he met many interesting people on campus who had great ideas and strong opinions, but didn’t really know what to do with them.

“I thought it would be great to have a Web site that could help these people communicate with one another. That’s why I created Monsterpin—to break the communication barriers within the UVic community.”

Although the site has been up and running since last month, there’s still a way to go before it becomes an unqualified success. The site has more than 700 members, but he has yet to attract corporate advertisers. His goal is to build a self-sustaining online community so that he can focus on implementing the Monsterpin concept at other universities.

“I learned a lot from my experience at UVic,” says Wedegaertner. “I learned how to work with others, how to improve my analytical thinking and how to spot value-creating business transactions. Now I’m applying these to my personal life and my own business.”

In 2003, Wedegaertner intends to introduce Monsterpin (www.monsterpin.com) to the Lower Mainland and Western Canada. The year after that he plans to take his site to universities and colleges across the nation.

(Valerie Shore photo)