By: Justin Taubman ’16 MBA Candidate
Each semester, students from across campus participate in the Dingman Center’s Fearless Founders program. The program consists of three stages: Idea Shell, Hatch and Terp Startup. True to the name of each stage, the Fearless Founders program guides student ventures from idea to launch.
This spring, 19 students were selected to participate in Hatch program, where they will build and test their business ideas using the Lean Launchpad methodology. Once the course has been completed, students will be eligible for up to $1,500 in seed funding provided by Capital One.
What kinds of ventures can we expect from this year’s cohort? Here are “elevator pitches” from two student entrepreneurs:
Venture: Vendoo
Founder: Thomas Rivas-Siles
Vendoo is an app that is focused solely on the seller side of an e-commerce transaction. It will save the seller time by posting on different marketplaces and being able to control all the listings from our app. Apart from saving time, we increase the probability of a sale by recommending marketplaces relevant to the item being posted based on its information. It is the one-stop app for sellers.
Venture: Kanvasroom
Founder: Aaron Pludwinski
Kanvasroom’s mission is to connect creative professionals around the world and give them the tools to create projects anywhere remotely. Members create multimedia portfolios that showcase their work to the creative industry. Top creative companies, recruiters, organizations, and more — come to Kanvasroom to see the incredible work and find talent to hire. Once hired, creatives can collaborate on projects using real-time video conferencing, sketching, brainstorming, payment tool and so much more all in one online workspa
ce. By creating an environment that allows creative teams to discover, hire, and collaborate, Kanvasroom has provided the most convenient and cost-effective method to outsource creative work, get hired, and create amazing projects.
Below is a complete list of the spring Hatch cohort and their ventures. For more information on the Fearless Founders program and how to apply, please click here.
Abb Kappoor & David Potter: Curu
Matthew Ernst: Homeless No More
Sumanth Jinagouda: Spot This
Victoria Tataw: Nails By Tataw
Thomas Rivas-Siles: Vendoo
Oru Wonodi: NOVA Prints & Apparel
Bret Caples: Campfire Marketing
Jamie Thompson: The Pregame Ritual
Shyon Parsadoust: Roll-A-Wire
Jacob Orbach: Trek
Aaron Pludwinski: Kanvasroom
Carlouie Nievera: Carlouie & Company
Dustin Ecton: Taptime TV
Saran Asfaw: East Habesha
Pablo Jodar: Paella Chef
Philemon Mastewal: Q
Louis-Philippe Jacobe de Naurois & Davit Sargsyan: Alma Sangría