Category Archives: Fearless Founders

Upgrade Your Style with Terp Startup Wanderlust Wardrobe

This summer, the Dingman Center will be conducting interviews with the 12 student startups who are participating in our virtual Terp Startup summer accelerator. Participating student entrepreneurs received a stipend up to $5,000 that would enable them to work exclusively on their startups over eight weeks in the summer.

Wanderlust Wardrobe

Founder: Lucy Bedewi ’20, Marketing

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DC: Tell us about your startup. What problem are you solving and for whom?

Bedewi: Shopping is confusing. Styling yourself and dressing well is an art. Every single day we are flooded with ads telling us what to wear, where to shop, what’s in style and that we have to buy all of it. Through Wanderlust Wardrobe, I help people discover what to wear through easy and accessible fashion styling resources. By using a combination of face to face styling, video chatting and texting, everyone is now able to find confidence in their wardrobe every single day.

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Terp Startup Vitalize Solves Physician Burnout with Dedicated Wellness App

This summer, the Dingman Center will be conducting interviews with the 12 student startups who are participating in our virtual Terp Startup summer accelerator. Participating student entrepreneurs received a stipend up to $5,000 that would enable them to work exclusively on their startups over eight weeks in the summer.

Vitalize

Founders:

Sanketh Andhavarapu ’23, Neuroeconomics (Individualized Studies); Neurobiology and Physiology double major; Innovation and Entrepreneurship minor (left)
Veeraj Shah ’21, Neurobiology and Physiology; Health Sciences, Policy and Technology double major (right)

Interested in becoming a customer? Fill out this customer discovery form.

VitalizeDC: Tell us about your startup. What problem are you solving and for whom?

Our startup, Vitalize, is the first wellness app designed specifically for physicians. 

42% of our country’s physicians report experiencing burnout, a syndrome characterized by emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and diminished sense of accomplishment. The consequences of physician burnout are multifold, severely affecting physicians themselves, patients, and hospital systems. The extensive body of literature around the topic of physician burnout culminates into a crucial conclusion: a high performing healthcare system isn’t possible with such high rates of burnout. Simply put, physician burnout is a public health crisis.

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Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth with Terp Startup SweetsbyCaroline

This summer, the Dingman Center will be conducting interviews with the 12 student startups who are participating in our virtual Terp Startup summer accelerator. Participating student entrepreneurs received a stipend up to $5,000 that would enable them to work exclusively on their startups over eight weeks in the summer.

SweetsbyCaroline

Founder: Caroline Ta ’21, Marketing major

logo 2 (1)DC: Tell us about your startup. What problem are you solving and for whom?

Ta: SweetsbyCaroline is a baking business that specializes in custom gluten free french macarons, as well as cakes, cupcakes, and other desserts that are perfect for engagements, weddings, parties, and other events. It’s estimated that over 32 million Americans have food allergies and 1% of the U.S. population has Celiac disease. As consumers today are opting to follow a healthy lifestyle and reaching for all natural and convenient options, we want to provide health conscious people with affordable, custom gluten free bite sized desserts, to satisfy their sweet craving. We have an assortment of unique flavors such as fruity pebbles and s’mores and a variety of packaging options that are great for any event.

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Senior Send-Off: Dan Raithel, founder of BraceLint

In our Senior Send-Off series, the Dingman Center celebrates the student founders who are part of the graduating class of spring 2020. We are so pleased to have had the chance to get to know each of these talented entrepreneurs through our programs. 

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BraceLint_Brand-01Daniel Raithel – BraceLint

Dan Raithel ’20, a graduating senior and Economics major, had his first encounter with the Dingman Center at spark: Where Fearless Ideas Start in Fall 2018, but by then he had already been cooking up his idea for BraceLint, a flat and portable alternative to lint rollers. Dan eagerly enrolled in New Venture Practicum in Spring 2019, then was accepted into the Summer 2019 Terp Startup cohort. A veteran of the Marines, Dan proved himself to be a hardworking, focused entrepreneur, and built countless prototypes of his ideal BraceLint before he found one he was happy with. Now as a finalist in Pitch Dingman Competition, he’s ready to show that his hard work has paid off. Root for Dan at virtual Pitch Dingman Competition Finals tomorrow, April 22 from 4-6 p.m. live via Zoom. Don’t miss this last chance to support him!

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Terp Startup The DMV Come Up is a Production Company Serving People of Color

This summer, the Dingman Center will be conducting interviews with the fifteen student startups who are participating in our Terp Startup summer accelerator at the College Park WeWork. Participating student entrepreneurs received a stipend up to $5,000 that would enable them to work exclusively on their startups over eight weeks in the summer.

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The DMV Come Up

unnamedFounder & CEO: Sadia Alao ’20, Marketing & Theater Double Major

DC: Tell us about your startup. What problem are you solving and for whom?

Alao: The DMV Come Up is a nonprofit, college-age run, DMV-based creative multimedia production collective for people of color that produces imaginative and original content. Young minority creatives are currently inaccurately and stereotypically represented in the media industry from the angry black woman, the welfare queen to the latino high school dropout and impoverished Native American. I also know firsthand that many of us in the DMV don’t have the resources, network, or support system to nurture our creative talents. We’re aiming to empower young underrepresented creatives in the multimedia industry to create the content they want to see in the world and understand that it does not have to be done alone. 

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Terp Startup BraceLint Saves the Day with Pocket-sized Lint Rollers

This summer, the Dingman Center will be conducting interviews with the fifteen student startups who are participating in our Terp Startup summer accelerator at the College Park WeWork. Participating student entrepreneurs received a stipend up to $5,000 that would enable them to work exclusively on their startups over eight weeks in the summer.

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BraceLint

BraceLintFounder & CEO: Daniel Raithel ’20, Economics major

Preorder a BraceLint here!

DC: Tell us about your startup. What problem are you solving and for whom?

Raithel: My startup, BraceLint, is a consumer convenience product based around the simple idea of a lint roller. During the year there are many occasions where we have to look or dress our best and present ourselves with confidence. whether it be an interview, meeting, or a date, feeling good about your appearance is one of the best ways to get over these sometimes-uncomfortable hurdles. After leaving the house you can fix your hair or makeup, but your clothes are kind of stuck the way they are. Lint rollers are bulky, often covered in hair, and are not designed to be brought out of the house. This is where the BraceLint comes in! BraceLint is an easy single-use version of a lint roller that fits flat into your pocket or bag until being propped open and used in “emergency” pet hair/lint situations. To understand how it works, think of a paper bracelet that fits over your wrist and slides the same way a lint roller would. After you’re done you can discard it, using the same or even less of the paper you would with a lint roller (after taking off the notoriously gross first sheet of a lint roller). This a product meant for the prepared fully unprepared like me who refuses not to pet animals or avoid situations just because they are forced to dress up!

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Terp Startup Pendulum Analytics, Inc. Ensures Safe Financial Transactions

This summer, the Dingman Center will be conducting interviews with the fifteen student startups who are participating in our Terp Startup summer accelerator at the College Park WeWork. Participating student entrepreneurs received a stipend up to $5,000 that would enable them to work exclusively on their startups over eight weeks in the summer.

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Huizhen Li,  Mario Martinez, William Sherman, Hang Yang, Wei Zhang

Pendulum Analytics, Inc.

PendulumAnalyticslogoFounder & CEO: William Sherman, MBA ’19, MBA & Master of Finance

Summer Associate and Corporate DevelopmentMario Martinez ’19, MBA & Master of Finance

Summer Associate and Corporate Development: Wei Zhang, Post Doc, Animal Science, & UMD Tech Transfer SME

Summer Associate, Product Development, and Data Science: Huizhen Li ’19, Master of Finance 

Summer Associate, Product Development, and Data Science: Hang Yang ’20, Master of Quantitative Finance

DC: Tell us about your startup. What problem are you solving and for whom?

Sherman: While we are a technology and analytics company, the aim of Pendulum Analytics is to help maintain a healthy global financial sector by strengthening the overall core business posture of individual financial service firms. We believe the benefits of a healthy financial sector will permeate through to other key stakeholders of the global economy. Stakeholders, such as individuals like you and I. 

As the opportunities within the financial services domain are so vast, you may ask, what is our starting point? Mitigating the risk of transaction failures across the world. Members of our team have been subjected to the fire storm that comes with a high dollar transaction failures. The immediate and downstream impacts can be detrimental to a financial institution in a number of ways. 

We endeavor to build our firm while using our strengths in technology and analytics. In addition to our strengths, we want to leverage some of the cutting edge innovations that are being created here at the University of Maryland. Mainly in effort to build and integrate a risk management center of excellence for each of our member banks. 

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Terp Startup OpenPoll Helps Organizations Get More Reliable Polling Data

This summer, the Dingman Center will be conducting interviews with the fifteen student startups who are participating in our Terp Startup summer accelerator at the College Park WeWork. Participating student entrepreneurs received a stipend up to $5,000 that would enable them to work exclusively on their startups over eight weeks in the summer.

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OpenPoll

OPENPOLLLogoFounder and CEO: Zachary Wynegar ’20, Computer Science Major

DC: Tell us about your startup. What problem are you solving and for whom?

Wynegar: Most Americans can relate to answering fewer, if any, unknown phone calls due to the large amount of spam. However, this hasn’t always been the case. The American public opinion research and political polling industries have become reliant on telephone calls to gauge public opinion, and due to Americans refusing to answer the phone to unknown numbers, these industries are suffering from lesser accuracy and skyrocketing costs. OpenPoll relieves this pain point by allowing these organizations to gather accurate public opinion data from the public using digital means including social media, text messaging, and email. We are specifically operating in the niche political polling industry which has specialized needs currently unfulfilled in the market.

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Terp Startup NuroSTREAM Helps Students Study through Neuroscience

This summer, the Dingman Center will be conducting interviews with the fifteen student startups who are participating in our Terp Startup summer accelerator at the College Park WeWork. Participating student entrepreneurs received a stipend up to $5,000 that would enable them to work exclusively on their startups over eight weeks in the summer.

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Kirsten Newman and Steven Jettoo

NuroStreamNuroSTREAM

Co-Founder and CEO/President: Steven D. Jettoo ’20, Computer Science major with a Data Science Focus
Co-Founder and COO/CMO: Kirsten “Sage” Newman ’15, Physics major, Math minor

DC: Tell us about your startup. What problem are you solving and for whom?

Jettoo & Newman: NuroSTREAM is an education tech company that aims to enhance high school and college students’ learning curve by streamlining educational content, easing access to efficient learning tools, and captivating minds. Issues in the education system such as limited one-on-one interaction, impersonal material, and lack of perspective cause students to fall behind. We address these issues by using brain-targeted techniques and innovative learning models.

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Terp Startup Iced Out Cosmetics Celebrates Those ‘Iced Out’ by Society’s Beauty Standards

This summer, the Dingman Center will be conducting interviews with the fifteen student startups who are participating in our Terp Startup summer accelerator at the College Park WeWork. Participating student entrepreneurs received a stipend up to $5,000 that would enable them to work exclusively on their startups over eight weeks in the summer.

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Iced Out Cosmeticsimage1

Founder and CEO: Isha Kamara ’20, African American Studies major

DC: Tell us about your startup. What problem are you solving and for whom?

Kamara: Iced Out Cosmetics was created to make the groups most ostracized and made to seem less attractive by society feel beautiful and like they have a place in the beauty industry. As a first generation African woman who has been bullied most of her life for having dark skin, I decided to make it my purpose to create a brand for dark skinned people of color to prove to them that they are beautiful—that beauty is not just skin deep but also a mentality that everyone can achieve with confidence. The uniqueness of this brand is that my target demographic does not start and end with only black women. Many brands make the mistake of leaving out the LGBTQIA+, they are often overlooked by brands and have no real representation in the beauty industry. My brand will be a brand that celebrates dark skin beauty and the difference that adds to our beauty as more than an aesthetic.

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