Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship

After a rigorous quarterfinals judging process, the 10 semifinalists for this years Pitch Dingman Competition have been selected. University of Maryland alumni entrepreneurs, past Pitch Dingman Competition participants and Dingman Center staff judged each application on the basis of its existing traction, revenue model and viability. At the Semifinals on November 17 at 6 p.m. in Frank Auditorium, Van Munching Hall, they will pitch their businesses shark-tank style to a panel of esteemed judges, including Bill Boyle, Dingman Center Angel investor; Ryan Pillai of WeCook, last year’s Pitch Dingman Competition winner; Harry Alford, Managing Director of Humble Ventures; Zeki Mokhtarzada, former co-founder of Webs, Inc. and Chief Architect of Digital Products at Vistaprint; and Julianna Neelbauer, former Dingman Center legal advisor and current COO of Ad Hoc LLC.

Sign up to watch what is sure to be a close competition between 10 exemplary student startups at UMD.

We are proud to announce the 10 semifinalists:

afterclass – Uday Misra, Ariel Kotch
A peer-to-peer education platform for students to crowdsource answers to class questions.

Carlouie & Company – Carlouie Nievera
A retro fashion-line inspired by the ’80s and ’90s era styles of Saved By the Bell and Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

CourseHunter – Aaron Bloch, Benjamin Khakshoor
A platform that interfaces with school registration systems to help students get into the classes they need.

Curu – David Potter, Abb Kapoor
A mobile app that helps users improve their credit score without changing their spending habits.

FroDoh – Simon Amato, Holly Wilson
Frozen donut holes in a variety of delicious flavors to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Gravity LLC – Richard Kong
Gravity  LLC produces Gravity Tales, an online publishing platform for Chinese and Korean fantasy stories translated into English.

Grumpy Joes – Michael McGraw, Seung Hwang
An online apparel shop that features a line of novelty t-shirts designed by and for veterans.

OpenPT LLC – Ramsey Khadder, Tamika Hardy, Corey Abrams
A cloud-based platform to improve connections and client experiences between physical therapists and patients.

POSH – Nathalyn Nunoo, Elania Tait, William Kwao
A beauty consultation firm that provides reliable, affordable service to clients seeking freelance makeup artists.

Tag Along – Karmah El Naggar, Omar Mihilmy
An app that interfaces with ticket-selling websites using Facebook API to suggest a list of friends who may want to attend a concert with you.

Each semifinalist who pitches will receive $250 toward developing their startup. The five startups chosen to advance to the Final round in March will each receive a $500 prize, courtesy of SECU. There will also be a $500 Audience Choice prize, determined through a text-to-vote.

So what are you waiting for? Register for semifinals today to come root for your favorite team.