In the New River Valley, two e-commerce companies have sprouted from the ideas of Virginia Tech alumni who wanted to sell licensed collegiate products online.

Roanoke-based UniversityHeadquarters.com, which sells collegiate caps, pennants and other doo-dads, is the brainchild of Jaret Mutter and Jonathan Mitchell. "We both have always had an entrepreneurial spirit," says Mitchell. "We ... were always trying to figure out how we could get involved in the New Economy."

The idea for their firm began when Mutter’s brother, a Tech alumnus living in Texas, lost his baseball cap and asked his bro to find him one at the school bookstore. It was such a hassle to find and ship the right cap that Mutter looked into an e-commerce business to do it more easily. Mutter and Mitchell met with business leaders in Roanoke Valley who were interested in investing. Funding also came from family members and individual investors. The site sells licensed Tech products, but the co-founders are working on adding schools.

UniversityHeadquarters.com is not alone in the college paraphernalia market. BuyCollegeStuff.com in Blacksburg was founded by Willie Jester. He conducts business with mom-and-pop shops — offering them a Web site through his own site for free — and unlike UniversityHeadquarters.com, holds no inventory. "Inventory is a huge capital investment," says Jester. "We don’t have the debt service on inventory."

His site offers more than 10,000 items for 375 schools. Its eclectic wares range from birdhouses, grill covers and baseball caps to baby clothes, slippers and clogs. Customers purchase items with no hassle, Jester says. "The only thing you do at ‘BuyCollegeStuff’ is buy college stuff."