I first joined James Li (MSB ’13), the cofounder of our startup — social media tool Encore Alert — back when I was a junior in high school and he was a sophomore in business school. So as my first week at Georgetown approached, I looked forward to the opportunity to work on our venture side by side.

But once I arrived on campus, I was quickly struck with the ‘fear of missing out’ at the Student Activities Fair. I signed up for dozens of email lists, looking for clubs I could someday lead. I went out on the weekends with friends. I worked three different campus jobs — in addition to Encore Alert — in order to cover education costs. On top of that, I convinced myself I wanted to graduate early and tried to take extra classes each semester.

Even though I like to live by the motto, “Nothing is impossible,” I quickly learned that it truly is impossible to create a successful company while juggling all of these commitments. By the end of my first semester, I was spread way too thin and having a major meltdown. My parents and friends could all tell I was extremely stressed and tired — and they weren’t afraid to tell me.

Though I had to experience a breaking point first, I fortunately did have two rewarding takeaways with regard to starting a company in college.

The first lesson I learned was that focus is key to entrepreneurship. It’s easy to be tempted and distracted by the dozens of things on campus every day, but it is crucial to focus your attention on just your top two or three priorities if you want your business to succeed. I whittled down my commitments to three: Encore Alert, academics and StartupHoyas.

The difference was clear; by focusing my attention on these priorities, I found myself working with more energy and quality. By the end of my freshman year last year, my team was accepted into Acceleprise (an accelerator in D.C.), organizing our first outside funding. We completely zoned in over the four-month program, and we had enough traction to raise a $390,000 round.

The second lesson is that school is the right time to start. I know it’s hard to overcome fears like, “What if our startup fails? My friends all have crazy internships at the White House and Goldman — where will I go if this doesn’t work out?”

If nothing else, I can promise you two things: First, you will learn far more starting your own company than you would at a traditional internship (which recruiters will recognize), and second, you have nothing to lose. Worst case, you’re back in your dorm room, with friends who still support you and meals at Leo’s — yes, the horror.

There is a growing community of student entrepreneurs working together every Friday in the MSB, great mentorship provided by leaders of the Entrepreneurship Initiative: Associate Director Alyssa Lovegrove, Founding Director Jeff Reid and the Entrepreneurs-in-Residences. Encore Alert has been able to connect with many of our best customers, mentors and investors through this community. It’s hard to overcome the pressures of the “do everything” mentality that overachieving Georgetown students have. I want to encourage you; if you have even the tiniest itch to pursue an idea, just go for it and focus.

Tammy Cho (MSB ’16) is the co-founder of Encore Alert (EncoreAlert.com), a proactive social media alerts tool used by Georgetown University, WeddingWire and the Consumer Electronics Show.