The Dingman Center is ending a great week full of summer planning and celebrating. To start the week we cheered on Smith School graduates including our own Alla Corey, MBA ‘13. Later in the week we held our final meeting of the Board of Advisors and Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. We closed the week at DC Upfront, a partner event with InTheCapital. Now that our week of celebrations is closing, let’s take a look at what’s worth reading from the startup community.
Local startup FlagTap, who you might remember seeing at this year’s Cupid’s Cup Business & Innovation Showcase, is a universal online rewards program that lets website owners reward users for interacting with their websites. In this week’s edition of the Washington Post’s Business Rx column, Elana Fine gives advice to Co-Founder Aaron Dinin on the fundraising process, particularly with Angel Investors.
Historically, entrepreneurship was for risk-takers; people who didn’t want a “real job” and decided to go at it on their own. According to Entrepreneur.com, times are changing. In 2012, almost 13% of American adults were in the process of starting a new business, up from 8% in 1999. The face of entrepreneurship is also changing with an increase in female and immigrant entrepreneurs. Check out this cool infographic on WHO the entrepreneurs are in the U.S.
This week, AOL Co-Founder, Chairman of Startup America and Former Cupid’s Cup Keynote Speak Steve Case announced that Startup America Partnership will join forces with Startup Weekend (based in Seattle) to found UP Global in an effort boost startup activity in regions all around the world, outside of traditional technology hubs like San Francisco and New York. Check out this article in the Wall Street Journal for more details on the upcoming partnership.
Finally, the Dingman Center has decided to pivot on its mission to now focus on building on a community that discovers, equips, connects and celebrates entrepreneurs. You can find this announcement plus highlights from the semester in our latest newsletter.
