Ulf Oesterle

Five years ago, Ulf Oesterle took out a $6,000 student loan. But he wasn’t buying a meal plan or textbooks. He was starting a record label.

Today, Aux Records (pronounced like the first letter of Oesterle’s last name) is five years old and still going strong. Aux’s first band, Merit, still holds the label’s best-selling album and has toured the country with its three albums. Aux now boasts nearly a dozen artists.