The Robert G. Hisaoka Speaker Series continues with a Founders Panel on Tuesday, February 19 from 4:30-6:00 p.m. Panelists Paul Capriolo ’06, Kristen McClellan and Jeff Grass are all successful entrepreneurs who started their businesses as students. In a panel moderated by Robert Hisaoka, students, staff, faculty and alumni will hear about the experiences and challenges each founder faced transforming their ideas into lucrative businesses. Register now to attend, and stay tuned to our blog to learn more about each of the panelists.
Social Growth Technologies – Paul Capriolo ‘06
Throughout his career as an UMD alumnus and serial entrepreneur, Paul has founded and led a multitude of technology startups to successful acquisitions. In 2009, Paul noticed the explosive growth in the social gaming industry and the lack of a monetization method to capitalize on its user base. Paul started Social Growth Technologies to serve as a flexible platform that allows companies to monetize the social gaming market through in-game advertising. After seven years of growth and expansion, Paul recently secured an acquisition of Social Growth Technologies by Kiswe Mobile in 2016.
While growing his business, Paul has earned numerous honors for his work, as the 2010 winner of the Cupid’s Cup business competition, being named E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year, Dingman Center 2015 Rudy Award winner for Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year and was even inducted into the UMD College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences Hall of Fame.
Paul Capriolo holding the winning trophy at the 2010 Cupid’s Cup
Since the acquisition of Social Growth Technologies, Paul has taken on a role with Zentail, an emerging e-commerce technology company, as their Director of Growth. In addition, Paul dedicates much of his time to mentoring students on how to grow their businesses at Dingman Fridays.
In 2006, he earned a BS in Computer Science from the University of Maryland and went to earn an MS from Carnegie Mellon University in Entertainment Technology in 2008. He has served as an Entrepreneur in Residence at Maryland Smith since 2014, and joined the Dingman Center’s board of advisors in 2017. He’s even been featured in an episode of the Dingman Center’s podcast, Bootstrapped.
Interested in learning more about Paul’s journey? Listen to his interview with Elana Fine and Joe Bailey on episode 34 of the Dingman Center’s Bootstrapped podcast: Monetizing the Social Gaming Industry