Category Archives: Dingman Fridays

May 23 2022
Leave a comment
Dingman Fridays, EnTERPreneurs, Ladies First, New Venture Practicum, Pitch Dingman, Terp Marketplace

That’s a Wrap! Spring 2022 at the Dingman Center

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship is wrapping up a busy semester of events and programs. We are pleased to report that our students are excited to engage with us in person while we are continuing to offer some virtual options. We are proud to see our enTERPreneurs continuing to thrive, and look forward to the exciting work that will come out of the Terp Startup Accelerator cohort this summer.

Join us in looking back over our spring 2022 semester…

Signature Events & Programs

Dingman Fridays 

This semester, we continued using a hybrid model to deliver Dingman Fridays where the first Friday of each month was held in person at Van Munching Hall and following Fridays were held virtually over Zoom. Each week the Dingman Center hosted a series of experienced entrepreneurs as well as a legal advisor who gave students, alumni, staff and faculty practical and actionable feedback on business ideas. If you’re interested in participating, sign up for the Dingman Fridays newsletter to be notified when we bring back Dingman Fridays in the fall.

Feb. 23 – Being Black in Entrepreneurship Event

To celebrate Black History Month, The Dingman Center partnered with Southern Management Leadership Program to organize our third annual Being Black in Entrepreneurship event via Zoom. Panelists Audrey Awasom ‘18, Founder & CEO at Noble Uprising and André Blackman ‘05, Founder and CEO of Onboard Health, were joined by moderator Sydney Parker ’18, CMO of Aurora Tights as they discussed their contributions and experiences as Black entrepreneurs.

Mar. 15 – Terp Marketplace

Dean Konana visiting Terp Marketplace venture, The CP Thrift Shop.

This semester, 37 students startups got to test the market by setting up tables in Van Munching Hall and selling their products and services for Terp Marketplace. The turn out was huge as vendors sold an array of products and services like sustainable clothing, delicious treats, custom candles, and more.

Apr. 26 – Pitch Dingman Competition

The three top Quattrone Venture Track teams pose with their winnings.

After two years of being virtual, the Dingman Center held Pitch Dingman Competition 2022 Finals in person at Stamp Grand Ballroom. The event was bigger and better than ever with over 300 in-person and over 500 virtual attendees watching the six student start up finalists pitch to judges Shark Tank style. While all of the finalists did an outstanding job presenting their business and ideas, this year, Edwin Djampa ’22, founder of Omega 3, won the grand prize for the Main Street Track and Sanketh Andhavarapu ’23, founder of Vitalize, won the grand prize for the Quattrone Venture Track.

Terp Ladies First Founders Class

Ladies First Founders is the Dingman Center’s signature course for female and non-binary students interested in entrepreneurship. This semester, 13 students worked to build soft skills for overcoming gender biases in entrepreneurship. Unlike previous years, students did not need to have launched a venture, as the focus of the course was on demystifying entrepreneurship.

To learn more about the course and why these students took it read here.

Fearless Founders: New Venture Practicum

New Venture Practicum is another one of the Dingman Center’s signature courses where students experiment with business models, revenue streams and go-to-market strategies. After developing their business throughout the semester, students end the course by pitching for seed funding.

This semester’s cohort included:

  1. Build Bigger – Jonathan MacGregor ’22
  2. Easy Park – Sarthak Patel ’25
  3. Em G Art Design Studio – Emily Garcia ’24 (Studio Art and Art Education)
  4. Heart2Starr – Ileana Lozano ’22
  5. Odin Electric – Paul Mouring ’22 (Mechanical Engineering)
  6. Sequester Carbon Certified – Nathan McMullen ’23
  7. Shai Consulting – Shiv Agarwal ’23
  8. Stockadoo – Hrithik Bansal ’22 (Computer Science) and Justin Fenn ’22 (Computer Science)
  9. Sparza – Ryan Myer ’22 (Finance and Innovation and Entrepreneurship)
  10. Treasuremybeaute’ – Treasure Valdez ’23 (Communication)
  11. Tribar – Perri Moeller ’22
  12. UCleaner – Blake Kuzemchak ’23
  13. Undefined Dreamerz – Takiyah Roberts ’25 (Material Science Engineering)
  14. Venture – Isaac Lefkovitz ’24 Samai Patel ’24

To learn more about the course and the businesses involved read here.

Founders Forum

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is IMG_1676-1-1-1024x768.jpg
Founders Forum is held once a month, shown here at The Hall CP.

Not only will events like the Pitch Dingman Competition–among other Dingman Center programs–benefit your business, but they will provide you with a community of supportive like-minded individuals. Once a month, both current and alumni members of Terp Startup, Pitch Dingman Finalists and Startup Shell participate in Founders Forum. This forum is an opportunity for participants to hone entrepreneurial skills, learn from peers, and catch up with one another. During these meetings, we dive into a new topic related to running a businesses in a roundtable-style, while also making time to socialize.

Terp Startup Accelerator

This is now the program’s eighth consecutive year, and the first time the program will be held live again after two virtual years. Aside from the program’s workshops and roundtable discussions held throughout the summer, each team in the cohort will receive a stipend of up to $5,000 and a dedicated advisor to help them grow their businesses.

  1. Arch Dash – Ina Kovacheva ’23 (Computer Science)
  2. Bedtime Sports – Josh Doying MBA ’23
  3. CryptoKicks – Shiv Agarwal ’23 (Psychology)
  4. Em G Art Design Studio – Emily Garcia ’22 (Studio Art & Art Education)
  5. EMPIRE 242 – Kang Ewimbi ’23 (Entertainment Industry)
  6. JuJu Food Delivery – Weixiang Wang ’22 (Computer Science), Nanxin Luo ’25 (Finance and Information Systems), Zeyang Liu ’22 (Economics), Keying Sun ’23 (Statistics), Liqianrui Yang ’22 (Economics and Management), Zirui Zhou
  7. Omega 3 – Edwin Bright Djampa ’22 (Nutritional Food Science)
  8. ReGlass – Bennett Greenspun ’24 (Astronomy)
  9. Sparza – Ryan Myer ’22 (Finance), Kyle Sznoluch
  10. Sustainabli – Alisha Pun ’24 (Economics)
  11. TapIn – Rob (Diego) Castro ’24 (Finance), Zach Lefkovitz ’24 (Computer Science), Samai Patel ’25 (Computer Science), Corbin Voorhees ’25 (Aerospace Engineering), Joe Beckman ’25 (Undecided), Matt Gashaw ’25 (Computer Science), Edward Awe ’25 (Finance, Government and Politics), Neil Kundagrami ’24 (Computer Science and Math)
  12. UCleaner – Robert Choe PhD ’23 (Bioengineering), Blake Kuzemchak PhD ’23 (Bioengineering), Erfan Jabari PhD ’23 (Bioengineering), Noah Eby PhD ’23 (Bioengineering)

We’re Still #Trending!

The Dingman Center is officially on TikTok

Follow us on TikTok! @dingmancenter

The Dingman Center has stayed #trending this semester with our TikTok account! We have posted four videos advertising Giving Day, Terp Marketplace and Pitch Dingman Competition 2022–with more videos to come in the summer and fall. So far, our videos have almost 3,300 views combined. Be sure to check out our account and give us a follow to get exclusive Dingman Center content.

We hope everyone in the Dingman Center community has a restful and relaxing summer. We can’t wait for all the remarkable entrepreneurship to come in the upcoming school year.

Warmly,
The Dingman Center Team

Dec 16 2021
1 Comment
Dingman Fridays, E-Fund, EnTERPreneurs, Fearless Founders, Ladies First, Pitch Dingman, Terp Marketplace, Terp Startup

That’s a Wrap! Fall 2021 at the Dingman Center

The Dingman Center team celebrated Venture Programs Intern Barathi Aravindan’s Fall 2021 graduation at Terpzone.

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship is wrapping up a semester of live, virtual and hybrid programming. We are pleased to report that our students are excited to engage with us in person while still having some virtual options. As finals week comes to an end and holiday break begins, we want to take the time to reflect on the Dingman Center’s successful programs, events and more. Join us in looking at our Fall 2021 semester recap!

Continue reading →
Nov 05 2021
Leave a comment
Dingman Fridays

Feature Friday! Fancy & Spicy

Founder Brin Xu ’22 and colleagues serving Fancy & Spicy samples at Dingman Fridays.

DC: What is your name, major, and graduation year?
Xu: Brin Xu, Sociology, 2022

DC: Which Dingman Center programs have you been involved with?
Xu: I have been involved in Pitch Dingman competition, Terp Startup Accelerator, Terp Startup Fellows programs.

DC: In two to three sentences, how would you describe your startup?
Xu: Fancy & Spicy is a digital culinary platform allowing anyone in the world to share authentic food experiences. We primarily offer online cooking classes, and plan to become a social platform for food lovers.

DC: Now that you’ve won the Pitch Dingman Competition ‘21, what’s next for your company? 
Xu: Since we won the Pitch Dingman Competition, we have been working on our scaling initiatives with support from the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. We are moving our company toward the path of sustainability.

DC: What updates or significant accomplishments can you share with us about your company from the last six months?
Xu: In the last six months, we redesigned our website to build the foundation for future development, expanded products lines, built a team of 4 top chefs, continued producing attractive social media contents, and honed our value proposition. These efforts have been very rewarding. For example, we have acquired 157 new customers and received revenue about $10,000 so far.

DC: Can you describe your typical day as a business owner?
Xu: My typical day as a business owner is busy and fun. I usually read industry news and emails during my breakfast to catch up information. In the morning, I check our class bookings, billings, and cash flow to make sure things are on track. In the afternoon, I meet up with my customers, chefs, website developer and other stakeholders. Evening is a good time to reflect, and plan work for the next day.

DC: As a business owner, how do you define success?
Xu: As a business owner, I think success is running a profitable company that contributes to social goods. Knowing that I am doing is helping myself and others toward a better and heartier life means a lot to me.

DC: If you could give advice to any aspiring entrepreneurs, what would it be?
Xu: I would advise them to find a supportive community. I have been very lucky to have the Center’s support through the way, otherwise Fancy & Spicy would not be here today. I encourage first-time founders reach out to communities and move forward. 

To learn more about Fancy & Spicy, please visit the website here.

Tagged , ,
Sep 10 2021
Leave a comment
Dingman Fridays, Feature Friday, Pitch Dingman, Terp Startup

Feature Friday! Vitalize

Vitalize is a digital wellness platform tailored to healthcare providers.

DC: What’s your names, majors, minors, and graduation years?
Andhavarapu: My name is Sanketh Andhavarapu (May 2023) and I’m majoring in Health Decision Sciences and Neurobiology with a minor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Shah: My name is Veeraj Shah (May 2021) and I graduated from the University of Maryland with degrees in Health Policy & Technology and Neurobiology. I’m now pursuing a PhD in Public Health at the University of Cambridge in the UK.

Sanketh Andhavarapu ’23

DC: Which Dingman Center programs have you been involved with?
Andhavarapu: With Vitalize, we completed the Terp Startup Accelerator in 2020. We also frequently participate in Dingman Fridays to receive coaching. I also participated in the Pitch Dingman Competition earlier this year with my nonprofit STEPS, where we were awarded 2nd place in the Main Street Track.

DC: In two to three sentences, how would you describe your startup?
Shah: Vitalize is a digital wellness platform tailored to healthcare providers to improve their well-being and reduce burnout. We offer clinician-focused cognitive behavioral therapy through a mobile app, and robust analytics and actionable insights on staff well-being trends and app engagement for hospital leadership.

DC: At what point did you know you wanted to create your own startup?
Andhavarapu: In high school, I had the opportunity to be the Chief Human Resources Officer of a nonprofit organization. I learned that I really enjoyed leading and inspiring teams to collectively achieve social impact. This experience directly motivated me to found STEPS, a revenue-generating education nonprofit. In this role, I realized how important it was for me to take on an irreplaceable role in anything that I put time and effort into. I liked knowing that as a founder, there is no one more knowledgeable about your idea and innovation than yourself, and that you’re leaving a unique footprint on the world. I didn’t find this same sense of personal fulfillment when looking at the different clubs I could join when I first came to UMD. This is why, when I had the idea for Vitalize, I knew I had to take action and it was a no-brainer that I wanted to invest my time and effort into making it successful.

Veeraj Shah ‘21

Shah: Early in my time at UMD, I dove into the field of public health. My sophomore year, I worked with the Chief Administrator of Health & Human Services for Prince George’s County as a health policy intern, and began to see the world of local public health in action. But what I saw was a landscape full of opportunities for innovation, and how policy alone would not be able to tackle some of the most pressing health disparities and equity gaps present right in my backyard. That summer, I worked as a business analyst intern at IBM Watson Health, spearheading health technology efforts that would improve the state-level innovation capacity of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. I quickly saw how simply innovations had the opportunity to improve the quality of healthcare delivery and prevent the burden of disease. 

From that summer on, I knew that my interests lied as a health technology entrepreneur, where I was able to connect my interests in technology to solve critical problems in healthcare and public health. As a founder, I also soon realized how exciting it was to begin building a team and to truly become a subject matter expert on a topic you care about. Vitalize directly reflects these passions – leveraging technology to improve the wellbeing of healthcare providers, and building an incredible team of students committed to this mission.

DC: What or who is your biggest influence for your startup?
Andhavarapu: Both of us have had mentors and family members suffer from burnout as healthcare providers. We saw how people who committed their professional life to helping others were constantly emotionally exhausted, had poor wellbeing, and in some cases wanted to leave healthcare completely. As aspiring healthcare providers and entrepreneurs, we wanted to ensure that healthcare providers had all the resources necessary to achieve the best wellbeing. We see Vitalize as the first step towards creating lasting cultural transformation surrounding wellness and stigma in healthcare.

DC: How have the effects of the pandemic changed your company’s focus or ideas?
Shah: The idea for Vitalize was actually born prior to the pandemic. Burnout among healthcare providers is a decades-long issue. The onset of the pandemic exacerbated the problem and also highlighted the dire need for new solutions, motivating us to pursue Vitalize as a company. The added free time that came with online classes and being in quarantine also allowed us to put more time into Vitalize.

DC: What updates or significant accomplishments can you share with us about your company from the last six months?
Andhavarapu: The last 6 months have been very exciting for Vitalize. We are just about finished the development of our product, which we will be launching through a public beta with over 100 clinicians in the next couple weeks. We also secured a hospital pilot with Midland Memorial Hospital in Texas, which we will be conducting as a research study in November to evaluate the efficacy of our product and collect data. Finally, we’ve also garnered interest from two hospital interests in larger scale pilots (1000+ providers), which we’re hoping to execute in early 2022.

DC: If you could give advice to any aspiring entrepreneurs, what would it be?
Shah: Don’t underestimate the importance of customer discovery. If you have an idea that you are looking to pursue, it is important to conduct several unbiased interviews with all the potential stakeholders (customers, payers, partners, etc). Customer discovery is a great way to validate assumptions and de-risk your startup before investing too much money and time into a potentially flawed concept. It’s also important that you build a strong team with diverse skill sets who are all passionate about the problem being solved and are willing to commit long hours to see the company come to fruition.

For more information about Vitalize, please visit the website here.

Jul 28 2021
Leave a comment
Dingman Fridays, EnTERPreneurs, Pitch Dingman, Terp Startup

MPLEX: Where Are They Now?

Galen Stetsyuk (right) and Mike Sorokin (left) co-founded MPLEX in 2015.

Galen Stetsyuk and Mike Sorokin met freshman year as undergraduate students at the University of Maryland, College Park, and soon after co-founded MPLEX in December 2015. Both avid gamers frustrated by the subpar options available within the Virtual Reality Industry, Stetsyuk intended to form “a virtual reality video game company creating a game worth getting a VR headset for.” MPLEX’s goal was to create a technology to tackle the current challenges associated with VR games and experiences, including but not limited to simulation sickness.

Stetsyuk and Sorokin were highly involved with the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship while they attended the University of Maryland. MPLEX evolved from its initial idea through various Dingman Center programs including Terp Startup Accelerator, Dingman Fridays, and Pitch Dingman Competition. Although the MPLEX team didn’t place at the 2017 competition they entered, they remain grateful for the support and connections made along the way, which helped contribute to the funding they received later on.

Stetsyuk and Sorokin now work full-time on building their company, along with 10 other people they have added to their team, almost all of whom are former UMD students. This growth has been made possible by the second funding round the company just closed, amounting to a total investment of $1.2 million to date. While the co-founders are no longer students themselves, the team hasn’t strayed far from the University of Maryland, as they currently operate out of an incubator space within Mtech. MPLEX also tries to get UMD students involved with their company whenever possible. The company is currently planning an in-person esports tournament to take place on October 16th at the Antonov Auditorium on the University of Maryland, College Park campus. The event will be free for all students to attend and will feature live gaming and other interactive experiences for students to trial.

MPLEX’s main focus lately has been on launching Core Disruption, the company’s debut VR game, which uses simulation sickness reduction technology. The game is a vehicular-based competitive multiplayer experience that has high-fidelity graphics and sound quality, deep player progression, customization, and offers a wide variety of options for different playstyles. Those anxious to purchase the game will have to be patient, as Stetsyuk estimates a rollout through digital distribution by the end of the year, or early 2022. In the meantime, interested students should mark their calendars now for MPLEX’s October 16th esports tournament for a sneak peak.

Dec 16 2019
Leave a comment
Community, Dingman Fridays, Events, Hult@UMD, Ladies First, Pitch Dingman, Robert G. Hisaoka Speaker Series, student entrepreneur, Terp Marketplace

That’s a Wrap! Fall 2019 at the Dingman Center

Things are slowing down at the Smith School. Students are taking their last finals, and we’re finishing up work to prepare for a blissful holiday season ahead. So grab a cup of cocoa and take a trip with us down memory lane as we recap a fantastic fall semester of events, programs and more at the Dingman Center!

A Rise in the Rankings

VMH3-01.png

University of Maryland rose in the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine’s rankings to #7 in undergraduate programming, and #3 for public universities. This marks our fifth consecutive year in the top 10! Read about the rankings here.

Continue reading →

Dec 05 2017
Leave a comment
Community, Dingman Center Angels, Dingman Fridays, Ladies First, Pitch Dingman, Robert G. Hisaoka Speaker Series, Terp Marketplace

Wrapping Up Fall 2017 at the Dingman Center

Fall2017Wrap Collage

The end of the semester is here once again! Student entrepreneurs are buckling down to get through their final exams, group projects and presentations before they’re off for the holidays. As the Dingman Center quiets down while students are studying, we’ve had time to reflect on the events we’ve held throughout the semester. In these past few months, we’ve seen a tremendous amount of energy, engagement and enthusiasm from the community at our events and programs at the Smith School. Take a look at some of our favorite highlights over the past semester!

Continue reading →

Dec 20 2016
Leave a comment
Community, Dingman Fridays, Ladies First, Pitch Dingman, social entrepreneurship

Wrapping Up a Fantastic Semester at the Dingman Center

It’s that time of year. The stream of talented student entrepreneurs we’ve seen come through our doors begins to thin out with the arrival of finals, commencement and (at last!) winter break. But in the quiet of their absence, we can fondly reminisce on the outstanding semester we’ve had at the Dingman Center. In the past couple of months, we’ve seen a record amount of energy and engagement from the community in our programs. Read on for some of our favorite highlights from the semester.

Continue reading →

Dec 14 2016
2 Comments
Community, Dingman Fridays

Entrepreneur-in-Residence: Rashad Moore

3184-cropThe Dingman Center is pleased to announce the addition of another successful founder, Rashad Moore, to our impressive group of Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. Rashad is excited to become more integrated into the Dingman community and to do what he enjoys most of all—helping young entrepreneurs. He started attending Dingman Fridays a few years ago and loved getting access to smart people with great ideas. He states, “Dingman is doing a lot of great stuff—if I had this in college, I may be further along.”

Rashad began his career in the defense industry in the outskirts of Washington, D.C., working for Northrop Grumman where he saw an unmet need for software engineers within the defense industry. After learning how to win government contracts while working for Clear Solutions, Rashad quickly realized it didn’t matter what company got the government bid, they would still come to him for software engineering.

Continue reading →

Tagged , ,