MADISON, Wis. -- Two University of Wisconsin-Madison students are proving their entrepreneurial spirit by running an online business while they work on their degree.

Exchangehut.com owner Nate Lustig said that his ambitions for his venture has grown over time.

"When we first started, our focus was to be the best ticket and textbook site we could be," said Lustig. "Now, we are trying to be a portal that students will set as their homepage that will meet every need of college."

Nearly two years ago, Nate Lustig and J.P. Tucker bought Exchangehut.com, a Web site where students sell things to one another.

"Students have a lot of needs," said Lustig. "Especially freshman that are coming to campus."

The two UW juniors said that they used the site as freshmen to get a seat at Camp Randall.

"My freshman year, I lost the football lottery," said Lustig.

"As a freshman I didn't get football tickets either," said Tucker. "So, it's just a personal frustration of mine."

When the Web site went up for sale, the two friends decided to put a bid on it. They bought it for $6,000.

"Both of us have had part-time jobs and we've run that route," said Tucker. "I think we much prefer doing our own thing."

The site now has 165,000 users, some from other campuses, WISC-TV reported.

Lustig and Tucker put about 65 hours worth of work into the site each week. They are currently adding new features including a local business guide that will feature restaurants, bars and stores.

By using the visitor's Internet Protocol address, the Web site will tell the person how far away the business is from their home and give them directions.

"It revolutionizes what you can do with a Web site, where you can just have local info right there at your fingertips," said Lustig.

As the young entrepreneurs move forward, they said that they believe marketing will be a challenge. They plan to expand to other campuses across the nation.

"We'd love to just build something that is viable at each campus and is going to solve students needs," said Lustig.

Their hard work is paying off. The pair just received backing for almost $200,000 and recently purchased a similar Web site at Northwestern University, WISC-TV reported.