MetroLeap’s Milun Tesovic is SFU Student Entrepreneur of the Year

Milun Tesovic, a 22-year-old SFU business student who runs one of the most popular internet music sites, has been named Simon Fraser University’s first Student Entrepreneur of the Year.

Tesovic was 16 years old when he hatched the idea to start a business so he could afford to buy a car. Two years later, in 2004, he co-founded MetroLeap Media Inc., which is now a leading provider of entertainment content within the music and video game Internet market. Its flagship site, www.metrolyrics.com, is the one of the most trafficked lyrics site worldwide, reaching more than 26 million unique monthly visitors. Named one of Canada's Top 50 by Redherring.Com in 2008, MetroLeap's quiet rise to its current standing can be compared to another BC internet success story, Club Penguin, which was sold to Disney last year for $350 million.

MetroLyrics was also the first dedicated lyrics site to provide its users with licensed song lyrics, ensuring artists, songwriters and music publishers are properly compensated for the use of their copyrighted lyrics. This business decision reflects the core values of the company, which is also a regular donor to local charitable organizations.

In spite of its global reach, MetroLeap remains firmly Burnaby-based. With 80% of its staff current SFU students or alumni, Tesovic is committed to building the company locally.

The SFU Student Entrepreneur of the Year winner is awarded entry to SFU Venture Connection's Incubator Program, which offers an opportunity to develop companies with the assistance of hand-picked experts and mentors. The other two competition finalists were U-Connect and Solar Inx.

The Incubator is just one of the programs at Venture Connection, SFU’s new interdisciplinary hub for entrepreneurial activity. Venture Connection's vision is to increase the number of university spin-off companies and accelerate the growth of early-stage businesses on and off campus.