DC: What are your names, majors, and anticipated graduation years?
Daniel Yu, MBA, Marketing, 2022 and Mathew Parsons, MBA, Consulting & Finance, 2022.
DC: In two to three sentences, how would you describe your startup?
Yu: North Star Toys & Such seeks to equip parents with the resources to teach their children social and emotional management skills. We have a flagship product of a diverse set of dolls and a children’s book teaching kids all about emotions. We wish to be the one-stop shop for resources on social skills development and emotional intelligence for all parents with young children.
DC: At what point did you know you wanted to create your own startup?
Yu: I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur at an early age and when I heard of the Pitch Dingman Competition during my time in the MBA program, I knew I had to enter. We are grateful for the Fearless Ideas track, which helped turn our entrepreneurial dreams into a reality.
DC: What or who is your biggest influence for your startup?
Yu: Shark Tank. I watched Shark Tank religiously for years. Without that show and witnessing people succeed with their start-ups, I would have never tried to take this challenge on.
DC: How have the effects of the pandemic changed your company’s focus or ideas?
Yu: Since we could not attend trade shows and in-person events to promote our company and product, we really had to leverage social media and e-commerce to market ourselves. It’s been a learning curve to understand all about SEO optimization and hashtag strategy.
DC: What updates or significant accomplishments can you share with us about your company from the last six months?
Yu: Our first doll prototypes are ready for shipment from China, we finalized our children’s book manuscript, and we’re launching on Kickstarter in a month. Our website is also a week or two away from launching.
DC: What do you feel that you have achieved from participating in Terp Startup Accelerator this summer?
Yu: Through market research and consumer interviews, we began to understand more deeply about our target customer and their buying preferences, which has helped us tremendously in developing our prototypes.
DC: If you could give advice to any aspiring entrepreneurs, what would it be?
Yu: The entrepreneurship life is all about self-discipline. When you’re your own boss, you dictate your own terms – so make sure you find a good balance between working hard and playing harder.