Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship

Matchmaking takes many forms. When we think of this term we often think of finding a significant other. Someone who can help make your life whole. In startupland, matchmaking is being redefined. When entrepreneurs talk about a true match it’s usually in the form of a co-founder, a developer, a salesperson. Similar to traditional matchmaking, this match is hugely important to a founder’s life because it’s who they’ll spend 80-plus hours weekly working on a venture.

There are a number of big players in entrepreneur matchmaking, including CoFoundersLab, as well as a number of big players in the freelance space, such as Elance, Upwork, and Freelancer. At the University of Maryland, a team of students are combining matchmaking and freelancing with their startup, VentureStorm. VentureStorm differs from the major players because it is not solely a platform to find a freelance project for the month, but also provides the opportunity to join a team. The startup is entering the market with a focus on college students. Users of VentureStorm are aiming to form relationships, build teams, and launch a business straight out of college. The venture’s value proposition is that students can find team members or co-founders on their campus.

“College students have brilliant ideas for websites and apps but they can’t build them on their own,” says Tyler Denk, VentureStorm’s Chief Operating Officer. “In tech, there’s so much space to develop ideas that benefit everyone. VentureStorm allows students to collaborate with other students to bring an idea to life.”

When a student logs into the VentureStorm web site they create one of two profiles: project owner or developer. The project owner posts their idea with a description of the type of developer they’re looking for, as well as their budget and offered compensation. Developers can then browse the database of projects at their university and apply to projects based on their interests and expertise (Ruby on Rails, php, etc). From there the matchmaking begins. Once a match has been made, the VentureStorm collaboration page allows project owners and developers to communicate, negotiate, and utilize legal documents and development tools. VentureStorm also acts as a third party payment platform that ensures secure transactions between the two parties.

L to R: Ephraim Rothschild and Tyler Denk.

Like so many startups, the founders came up with this idea when they ran into the problem themselves. A few semesters ago Denk, a Mechanical Engineering major, and co-founder Taylor Johnson, an Electrical Engineering major, came up with an app idea but neither student knew how to develop an app. That’s where the idea for VentureStorm began. From there, Johnson brought on twin brother, Tommy Johnson, also an Electrical Engineering major. Later, the team added two talented developers: Ephraim Rothschild and Akash Magoon; both Computer Science and Mathematics double-majors. Rothschild is currently VentureStorm’s Chief Technology Officer, and Magoon is the company’s Chief Information Officer.

After working on the idea for a few months, members of the team joined the Dingman Center’s Fearless Founders accelerator where they did extensive customer discovery and developed a minimal viable product. Denk and Rothschild are spending the summer in the Fearless Founders incubator program, Terp Startup.

“For students who are not in the computer science school, finding a talented developer can be hard,” said Rothschild. “We bridge that gap and that’s why I’m excited to be spending my entire summer working on VentureStorm.”

Like students with corporate internships, both Denk and Rothschild are spending 40-plus hours per week working on VentureStorm. The main focus of the summer has been developing. Both value the Terp Startup experience and are enjoying working on their own venture rather than for an outside entity.

“There’s nothing better than pursuing your own idea, working on your own schedule,” said Denk. “I always wanted to be an entrepreneur because I like carrying out my vision.”

The team acknowledges they have to start focusing on more than just perfecting the tech side of the platform, they must start focusing on marketing and business development. This fall, they hope to bring on several campuses to the platform. Denk, Rothschild and the rest of the team hope to grow VentureStorm so that after graduating they are able to run the business full time.

About VentureStorm

Co-Founders: Tyler Denk ’16, Taylor Johnson ’16, Tommy Johnson ‘16, Akash Magoon ’18 and Ephraim Rothschild ’17

VentureStorm is an online platform that connects aspiring student entrepreneurs with talented student developers locally on their campus to advance their business from idea to launch. The VentureStorm team is currently building a unique collaborative workspace on their platform to enhance the communication and development process. The team aims to expand their services to more universities by Fall ’15.

By Tiffany Chang

Greetings from the air as I am currently writing from my flight to Shanghai! While I am headed to China a few days earlier than the rest of the AdVENTURE Challenge: China group to do some exploring, once the Smith MBA team lands, that’s when the real fun (and work!) begins.

Our journey starts in Shanghai where we will stay for three days experiencing tours, Chinese acrobatics, and visiting accelerators; then we take a train down to Bengbu to visit an incubator and Enelco Environmental Technology. Finally we culminate the rest of our trip with a China Business Model Competition in Beijing.

This trip sounds like a TON of fun but it’s also very much about good, hard work. Each one of us has prepared up until this point to work on a variety of new innovative ideas and business models that will be pitched in a business model competition with participating universities in China. With all the amazing pit stops to incubators, accelerators and historic landmarks that the Dingman Center has arranged for us, there’s only one major thing left to do to prepare for the trip! Continue reading →

Last weekend, 17 University of Maryland (UMD) alumni came to the Smith School’s Van Munching Hall to jumpstart their business ideas at the Dingman Center’s re-vamped program, Dingman Jumpstart. The program helps alumni increase their odds of building successful businesses by learning how to reduce customer risk and develop clear action plans. The alumni, called Dingman Jumpstart Cohort Alpha, experienced a series of lectures and workshops presented by an all-star lineup of instructors who have all been trained in the National Science Foundations I-Corps curriculum. The weekend kicked off with a Friday evening reception complete with speed pitches then two days of lectures and workshops followed.

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Last night, the Dingman Center awarded a total of $8,500 in grant funding to student entrepreneurs in the Hatch stage of the Fearless Founders. Congratulations to all of the students who worked hard this semester going through the customer discovery process and iterating on their businesses. Keep reading for the full list of winners.

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While Elana Fine is in London facilitating a workshop during the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers Conference (GCEC 2014), Entrepreneurs in Residence Jason Shrensky and Harry Geller served as guest lecturers during the Fearless Founders Hatch class this past Monday. The two offered valuable advice for the Fearless Founders Hatch cohort, touching on their own personal experiences as entrepreneurs. Keep reading for an overview of the two-part lecture from this week’s class.

Jason Shrensky

Harry Geller

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This week, the Dingman Center Angels held a March Madness-themed investor meeting full of Terp spirit. Congratulations to Entrepreneur-in-Residence Jason Shrensky who made it to the #1 spot on our bracket for knowing the most about the Dingman Center Angels! For more pictures from the event, check out the album on our Facebook page. Here’s what’s worth reading this week.

• A recent study from says investors who prime the capital pump for entrepreneurs are biased toward pitches from attractive men. Read why, For entrepreneurs, it pays to be a handsome man.
• How do you get what you want while leaving the other party feeling like a winner too? Learn How To Negotiate for What You Want.
• While you may be promoting yourself or business on Twitter, you may be making a handful of easily correctable mistakes that could be limiting your influence and reach on Twitter, as well as hurting your brand. Here are The 5 Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Are Still Making on Twitter.
• The Affordable Care Act — which many see creating challenges for businesses — could benefit a particular group of business people: entrepreneurs. Read more about how the Affordable Care Act could help entrepreneurs quit their day jobs.
•  Any company that has an Internet enabled product is riding a wave of worldwide availability. Today’s Startups Are Global Out Of The Gate — Are We Ready?

Stay connected with the Dingman Center  

According to St. Louis University, approximately 224 universities and colleges now offer an entrepreneurship major worldwide. At the Dingman Center, we discover, equip, connect and celebrate entrepreneurs through our various programs and initiatives. But, what do we mean when we use the word “entrepreneurship”? Does it mean starting a business? Developing technology? Innovating in the workplace? Last week, I asked our community to give us their take on entrepreneurship by finishing the sentence “Entrepreneurship is…”

Here are some of the responses I saw on the Dingman Center’s Faecbook page:

” Entrepreneurship is inborn, just find it in yourself!” – Reha Gupta

“Entrepreneurship is wild and a rollercoaster” – Danial Dadkhoo

“Entrepreneurship is creating happy and healthy places where humans can work and play together on a shared goal” – Miriam Lemus

“Entre (many), prenew (idea + infancy), ur ship (your personal journey). All together, entrepreneurship is utilizing your skills to turn many new ideas into reality.  Entrepreneurship is a journey that has no sail, but constant wind.” – Chris Lane

“Entrepreneurship is extreme focus and the opportunity to help change the world and give others jobs and opportunities.” – Danny Goldberg.

I asked our in-house entrepreneurship expert Elana Fine (@elanafine) who said “entrepreneurship is the path from uncertainty to certainty.” This is exactly what we teach the student entrepreneurs that spend sleepless nights in our bullpen. Start with an idea (uncertainty). Test the idea, do market research, get customer feedback, and maybe fail and start all over again. Once you’re convinced you have something worth pursuing (certainty), take the leap and DO IT! That journey is what we call entrepreneurship. What does entrepreneurship mean to you? Leave a comment and let us know.

Danielle Bennings (@dfbennings) is the Dingman Center’s Events and Marketing Coordinator, responsible for coordinating all Center events including Dingman Center Angels’ investor events, Pitch Dingman Competitions, Entrepreneurship Research Series, Global Entrepreneurship Week, and her favorite, Cupid’s Cup. Danielle also supports the marketing and outreach efforts of the center by contributing to the Center’s bi-weekly digest, The Pitch and the Dingman Center blog. Additionally, she manages the social media strategy. Danielle is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Public Relations and Corporate Communications at Georgetown University. She received a B.A. in Political Science from the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh in 2011. 

The Robert H. Smith School of Business offers experiential learning opportunities that give MBA students real-world, hands-on experience with companies in the Washington D.C. area– better known as, the Smith Experience. The Dingman Center has three unique offerings within the Smith Experience: AdVENTURE Challenge: China, Venture Practicum and Dingman Venture Fellows.

AdVENTURE Challenge: China is version 2.0 of the China Business Plan Competition. Still an eight-day global experience, we’re kicking it up a notch by taking MBA students to both Beijing and Hong Kong. Think Amazing Race meets venture creation in an opportunity unlike any other offered at the Smith School, including a 2-day competition at Peking University, focused on lean startup methodology. For the first time, Smith MBAs will participate in multinational teams including students from Chinese universities. Students will be able to earn additional points as the group visits Chinese startups and corporations, cultural sights, and by completing mini challenges that will push them out of their comfort zones.

Venture Practicum is a three-credit course where MBA students use skills learned in the classroom on projects for startups in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area. This program has also made a slight change, now accepting only second-year MBAs who are in a better position to work at startups sourced from the Dingman Center Angels investor network. Startups will submit proposals for mission-critical projects that they need MBA talent to work on (no licking envelopes for these students). The students then choose companies based on the projects they want to work and participate in a day-long bootcamp where they are briefed on the project, get to know the company, and ultimately get to work. The course culminates with an in-depth final project and a big boost to the students’ resumes.

Dingman Venture Fellows is our newest program designed specifically for first-year MBA students who are highly interested in entrepreneurial innovation and startups. Once designated a fellow, students work closely with the Dingman Center team and the Office of Career Services to pursue summer internships with VC- or angel- funded startups and early stage companies. Most startups can’t afford to hire the MBA talent they desperately need, so the Dingman Center provides a minimum $5,000 matching fund to Dingman Venture Fellows so that they can secure these internships. Students interested in becoming a Dingman Venture Fellow must submit an application by February 3. For more information, contact Joel Marquis, Assistant Director of Venture Programs at jmarquis@rhsmith.umd.edu.

Are you a student interested in getting more involved with the Dingman Center? Review our website for information on all of our program offerings.