Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship

By: Justin Taubman ‘16 MBA Candidate

The next company we would like to feature that will be competing in the Finals of the Pitch Dingman Competition is ICOW. Jonathan Kau launched ICOW with his co-founder and CEO Haiwen Ding in November to help international students through the college application process. I had the opportunity to chat with Jonathan about his success so far and plans for expansion. Make sure to come and check out his pitch next Tuesday at 6:00pm in the Colony Ballroom at Stamp.

When Jonathan’s co-founder went through the process of applying to college in the United States from China she witnessed the need for this type of service. The United States’ college application process is very different from that of China so students are forced to hire agencies to help them navigate the process. These agencies can be extremely expensive and also quite shady, by writing the application essays for their clients. ICOW addresses this need by providing a web based solution that operates similar to how TurboTax helps individuals navigate the complexity of their taxes.

Since November, ICOW has generated $20,000 in revenue with over 120 customers. The greatest marketing achievement to date has been implementing a referral program, which has driven 35% of their customers. Jonathan uses three types of marketing to promote the product. First, they have recruited campus ambassadors by providing them with their service for free to promote ICOW at their schools. Next, they create a ton of online content through webinars, blogs, etc. to help drive inbound leads. Finally, their product is spread very organically by word-of-mouth as their customers continue to share their happiness with the product to their friends and family.

I asked Jonathan what hurdles he has faced in creating this business and not surprisingly he immediately explained how difficult it was working through all of the internet restrictions in China. He told me that they are looking at incorporating their business in China to try and mitigate some of the limitations they have faced as a result of China’s “Great Firewall”.

ICOW is projecting some exponential growth in 2016 as students begin ramping up the application process and they port to additional languages. We wish them good luck in the final competition.

By: Justin Taubman ’16 MBA Candidate

As we prepare for the Pitch Dingman Competition Finals on Tuesday, February 16 at 6 p.m. in Stamp’s Colony Ballroom, I will introduce the competitors who have not yet been featured in the blog this year. Today I will introduce you to WeCook.

When I asked Ryan Pillai, Founder of WeCook, to describe to me in a nutshell what service their company provided, he explained “We send a professional chef once a week to bulk cook meals for your week.” He went on to describe how it works. A chef arrives with all of the required groceries and cooking utensils to your home. The chef then prepares up to a week’s worth of food in a short appointment and packages the meals in individual containers for future consumption.

A while back when Ryan got off  the University of Maryland’s student dining plan, he found it very difficult to eat healthy all week, so he began preparing all of his meals at the beginning of each week. Some of Ryan’s friends started following suit and eventually they decided to turn their habit into a business. They eventually realized they could hire professional chefs to deliver this service to individual’s homes.

Home cooked meals by WeCook

Today, WeCook is operating in DC, MD, and VA and their chefs are cooking 220 meals per week. Their growth was achieved through several marketing strategies. Through online marketing, the startup targeted their primary customers, working mothers. The team at WeCook have also been very active by attending conferences and networking events, engaging in as many opportunities to speak about their product as possible. Ryan told me that they have also begun performing demonstrations in organic grocery stores and farmer’s markets, which should help them with their word-of-mouth campaign strategy.

I found it very interesting to hear what Ryan thought his biggest hurdle has been. “In the sales process, it can be very difficult to convince someone that they need a personal chef,” said Ryan. “It is going to require people’s behaviors to change. But I always make sure to use the line that our service is as low as $7.99 per meal, which is less than a Chipotle burrito.” I am sure Uber’s customers felt the same way about having a private driver until they realized the convenience and ease of the service. Hopefully WeCook will be able to capitalize on the behavior transformation that Uber and other services have initiated.

Check out WeCook’s Facebook page and make sure to come out and watch them pitch next Tuesday for a shot at the $15,000 Grand Prize.

By: Justin Taubman MBA Candidate ‘16 

Welcome back to snowy College Park. I hope that everyone had a safe return. The Dingman Center is happy to announce a successful fall of 2015 for the Dingman Center Angels (DCA). Several of the Angel group’s members were involved in seven investments during the fall semester (June – January).

For those not familiar with the Dingman Center Angels, it is a group of angel investors who provide funding to early-stage companies from around the area. The group looks to invest $100,000 to $1,000,000 in seed/early stage companies, and often syndicates with other angel groups and venture capital funds (VCs) for deals up to $2 million. DCA is not a fund and does not invest as a group. The fund’s members collaborate on due diligence but make individual investment decisions. Each member makes their own thorough review of all information, including speaking with representatives of the company.

Here is a quick run-down of the companies that our Angels invested in over the past semester:

The hardware/software company NetBeez raised its first round with help from a member of DCA in June. NetBeez enables companies with a large network infrastructure to quickly troubleshoot and repair network problems, cutting costs and reducing network downtime. They use hardware and software monitoring agents to immediately detect which enterprise locations are affected by network outages or performance issues.

In August, several DCA members participated in a follow-on investment round in the software company, SalesWarp. SalesWarp focuses on simplifying and streamlining the critical business processes associated with managing a successful E-commerce business. The company provides retailers of all sizes and business needs with tools to deliver an omnichannel experience across all channels, ensuring customers receive the experience they expect, shopping the way they want.

The consumer kiosk company CardIsle raised its first round of angel funding from DCA in
September. The company produces consumer facing kiosks that as the name suggests can replace the greeting card isle in a single box, offering meaningful, customized greeting cards. This company adds value to any retail store that sells greeting cards by transforming the “atoms” of the greeting card isle to “bits” in a digital kiosk, thus greatly reducing the required real estate.

The software company Delight Me received a portion of its initial investment in November from a member of DCA. Delight Me is an integrated life management, coaching, client relationship, and digital marketing solution for individuals and enterprises to set goals, track progress, and receive feedback from trusted advisors. Delight Me seamlessly integrates people, data, and goals using a unique closed-loop framework. By making it easy to provide and receive encouragement, course corrections, and advice, subscribers achieve better results in less time. Professional service providers, such as advisors, consultants, trainers, teachers, and coaches use Delight Me’s data collection, graphing, and messaging platform to attract, engage, and Delight clients on a sustained basis.  Professionals use Delight Me to reach their target customers with timely information, advice, and products needed to achieve their goals.

November also included participation by several DCA members in the initial round of investment in the big data analytics company, Yet Analytics. Yet Analytics uses big data to improve the decision making process of human capital professionals by making the data of the connected world more visible, accessible, and actionable.

In December, GoldLasso raised money from DCA. This advertising and marketing tech company provides marketers truly native email monetization to deliver a better advertising experience to subscribers.

The most recent investment in January with the company, Eventuosity. This company has streamlined comprehensive event management through their simple software solution.

We are looking forward to another busy semester of investment activity. Make sure to read our biweekly newsletter, The Pitch for more information about our portfolio companies.

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship is kicking off 2016 with a new strategic initiative. Historically, the Center has focused primarily on traditional entrepreneurship but recently has recognized the desire among its student populations to pursue social ventures. To execute social entrepreneurship programming, the Center has welcomed Sara Herald as Associate Director for Social Entrepreneurship.  Previously, Herald and social entrepreneurship programs resided in the Smith School’s Center for Social Value Creation (CSVC).  To streamline entrepreneurship offerings at the Smith School, Herald and her portfolio have moved under the Dingman Center umbrella.  CSVC will continue to focus primarily on developing research and curriculum around triple bottom line business principles.

MSEC student entrepreneur.

Student entrepreneurs.

Students working on a canvas.

Sara Herald

 “Since social entrepreneurship often attracts a broader range of students beyond business and engineering, we anticipate this will be an area of growth for the Dingman Center,” said Elana Fine, Dingman Center Managing Director.  “Recognizing that all entrepreneurs require similar resources, we have reorganized the assets of the Smith School around one hub of entrepreneurship.  We believe this new structure will better serve of all our students and alumni interested in launching social ventures.”

Social entrepreneurship is often described as venture creation for the purpose of solving a social problem.  Social enterprises are not charitable organizations: they are businesses with both social missions and earned revenue models.  Organizations such as Honest Tea, Warby Parker, and Smith’s own Hungry Harvest are social enterprises, as well as thriving companies.  Social entrepreneurs face many of the same challenges as traditional entrepreneurs, in addition to unique obstacles related to their social missions.

“I am excited to bring social entrepreneurship into the Dingman Center portfolio to expose more students to the opportunities in triple-bottom-line businesses,” said Herald. “Millennials increasingly choose to work at and purchase from organizations that have an explicit social mission, and this integration keeps the Dingman Center at the forefront of entrepreneurship trends.”

Herald will lead two signature student programs: the Maryland Social Entrepreneur Corps (MSEC) and the Do Good Challenge. MSEC is a dynamic international internship program for undergraduate students to combat poverty in Latin America by supporting small community-based businesses. This unique study and internship program teaches the basic principles of social entrepreneurship through courses, case studies, discussions, and hands-on, practical experience. The Do Good Challenge, a partnership with the School of Public Policy, is an innovative competition that inspires Terps to make the greatest social impact they can for their favorite cause. Students team up to volunteer, fundraise, promote awareness, or advance their own social enterprise during an eight-week period.

“Bringing social entrepreneurship into the Dingman portfolio is a great thing for all aspiring entrepreneurs at UMD,” said Herald. “Students who want to solve a social problem can now come to one place to access resources like Fearless Founders, MSEC and the Do Good Challenge Accelerator, and aspiring traditional entrepreneurs can learn how triple-bottom-line business models can help their businesses stand out to customers.”

For more information on the Dingman Center, visit our web site: http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/dingman.

Last week, 10 founders took the stage to pitch their startups in the Pitch Dingman Semifinal Competition. At the end of the competition, only five were selected to move onto the final round in February where $30,000 in cash prizes will be awarded. The semifinalists included a mix of undergraduate and graduate students who are spending much of their college experience building a business. Startups ranged from a virtual reality classroom and a bitters company to a web platform connecting artists and a personal chef service. Each semifinalist provided a lightning fast 3-minute pitch followed a grueling 3-minute Q&A from judges. Before the finalists were announced, the audince choice voted for their top startup. The award went to Uboard founded by undergraduate student Natalie Urban.

Register to attend the competition and watch the following startup founders compete:

Embitterment

Founder: Russell Garing

Embitterment is a DC-based cocktail bitters company that produces high-quality, handcrafted aromatic products designed for both serious mixologists and casual, at-home bartenders.

ICOW

Founder: Jonathan Kau

ICOW is democratizing higher education applications for international students. Our first product is a TurboTax-like web application that guides Chinese students through the process of writing resumes, researching universities, and writing essays.

Uboard

Founder: Natalie Urban

You’re a college student doing big things on little sleep. At uBoard, we are working to make your night more comfortable so that your day is more productive.

VentureStorm

Co-Founders: Tyler Denk ’16; Taylor Johnson ’16; and Tommy Johnson ‘16

Have you ever had a great idea for a website or mobile application, but lacked the technical skills to bring it to life? VentureStorm connects aspiring student entrepreneurs to talented student developers locally on their campus.

WeCook

Founder: Ryan Pillai

WeCook enables anyone to have a personal chef to do their everyday cooking and grocery shopping anytime, cost effectively.

The other five semifinalists did not leave empty handed. All 10 semifinalists were awarded a $250 grant to continue work on their business. The final round of competition is set for Tuesday, February 16 at 6 p.m. in Colony Ballroom, Stamp Student Union. Each founder will provide a 6-minute venture pitch including a product/service demo. Attendees will have an opportunity to text-to-vote for their favorite startup. Judges will be announced in January. Check out the Pitch Dingman Competition web site for more information.

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Over the past few weeks, young University of Maryland alumni from across the nation have been using an online platform to judge the quarterfinal round of judging for the Pitch Dingman Competition. The results are in and there will be 10 semifinalists pitching on December 3 in a “Shark Tank-” style competition. An all-star panel of judges will select the most promising five startups who will move on to the final round of competition on February 16. In the end, the finalists will pitch for $30,000 in cash prizes.

This is a Terp startup event you won’t want to miss. In addition to a tough competition, audience members will hear a keynote address from Jason Cohen, CEO of Halen Brands and proud UMD alumnus. Cohen founded his first food-related company in 1999 called Mamma Says. This company filled the market gap in tasty biscotti. From there, he sold the business to World Gourmet Marketing which produces popular snack foods under the flagship brand, Sensible Portions. Snacks include Veggie Straws, Pita Bites and Multigrain Crisps. A more recent success is SkinnyPop popcorn which will be served at the Semifinal Competition. Attendees will also have the chance to text-to-vote for their favorite company and award them the $500 Audience Choice Award. Register to attend and bring a friend to cast your votes at the competition!

Pitch Dingman Competition Semifinalists

Centurion Virtual Reality

Founder: Andre Rauch

Centurion Virtual Reality is a software company that uses a 3D game engine to develop educational simulations based off real world scenarios. Our goal is to revolutionize education by bringing virtual reality to the classroom.

Embitterment

Founder: Russell Garing

Embitterment is a DC-based cocktail bitters company that produces high-quality, handcrafted aromatic products designed for both serious mixologists and casual, at-home bartenders.

Flutter

Founder: Ariel Bitton

Using its machine-learning algorithm, Flutter generates personally tailored activity recommendations so users can stop browsing, and start doing.

ICOW

Founder: Jonathan Kau

ICOW is democratizing higher education applications for international students. Our first product is a TurboTax-like web application that guides Chinese students through the process of writing resumes, researching universities, and writing essays.

Kanvasroom

Founder: Aaron Pludwinski

Kanvasroom.com provides the personalized creative talent search and workflow that you both need and deserve.

Spot This

Founder: Sumanth Jinagouda

Spot This is an on demand fashion discovery service. Upload picture of the item you desire to purchase. Our fashion experts, using proprietary image processing algorithm, will find you the best matches!

Uboard

Founder: Natalie Urban

You’re a college student doing big things on little sleep. At uBoard, we are working to make your night more comfortable so that your day is more productive.

Upperstack

Founder: Fahed Hijazi

The new professional social network for today’s generation.

VentureStorm

Co-Founders: Tyler Denk ’16; Taylor Johnson ’16; and Tommy Johnson ‘16

Have you ever had a great idea for a website or mobile application, but lacked the technical skills to bring it to life? VentureStorm connects aspiring student entrepreneurs to talented student developers locally on their campus.

WeCook

Founder: Ryan Pillai

WeCook enables anyone to have a personal chef to do their everyday cooking and grocery shopping anytime, cost effectively.

Judges Panel

• Jason Cohen, CEO, Halen Brands
• Barry Gossett, Vice Chairman, University System of Maryland Board of Regents
• Sara Herald, Associate Director, Social Entrepreneurship, Center for Social Value Creation & Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship
• Kenneth Ulman, Chief Strategy Officer, University of Maryland, College Park
• Oliver Schlake, Clinical Professor, Robert H. Smith School of Business

By: Justin Taubman MBA ’16

Last week, Managing Director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, Elana Fine and Associate Director, Holly DeArmond, visited the University of Florida to attend the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) annual conference. Founded in 1996, GCEC provides for collaboration and communication on specific issues and challenges confronting university-based entrepreneurship centers. Each year in October, a global conference is held on the campus of a GCEC member school. This year’s conference drew more than 300 delegates from 17 countries, 42 states and 212 colleges, universities and schools. At the annual awards banquet, the Dingman Center received the 2015 Outstanding Contributions to Venture Acceleration award. The Dingman Center was selected for its Fearless Founders Accelerator with the mission of providing student entrepreneurs with the tools necessary to develop their business ideas and successfully launch their businesses.

The Dingman Center was not the only UMD presence at the conference. I spoke with Justin Searles the co-Founder of Venture Board (also founder of the Terp Startup Shell) who also attended GCEC. Justin has a unique understanding of how rapidly schools are adopting entrepreneurship into their curriculum. Venture Board is a platform to assist schools in connecting student entrepreneurs across campus and organizing special events. Justin explained that one of the biggest problems that newer entrepreneurship centers are struggling with today are the silos among separate entrepreneurship initiatives across campus and departments. Venture Board is a tool designed to help schools deal with those types of problems. As you could imagine, GCEC was a ripe place for Justin and his co-Founders, Scott Block and Avi Eisenberger. Justin said that his market makes business development enjoyable, that his customers’ jobs are to help young entrepreneurs succeed. Additionally, he mentioned that his customers are highly engaged with he and his partners so they are constantly receiving constructive feedback to enhance the product. For Venture Board, their attendance of GCEC was invaluable. They were in front of so many of their customers hearing about their pain points and learning how they could add value. This will be very helpful as they continue to expand through their recent partnership with Blackstone LaunchPad.

One of the speakers at GCEC mentioned a forecast of the students at their University; they said that by 2030, 50% of the students would want to start their own business after graduation. Everyone in the audience seemed shocked, but then the next slide came up on the presentation and that data point was actually a poll from 2015. Colleges and Universities are realizing that many of the largest donors are actually entrepreneurs and schools that have entrepreneurship centers can stay engaged with those alumni to stay involved as a mentor, speaker, or even future donor. The proliferation of entrepreneurship programming is wonderful and we are very lucky to have such an established center at the University of Maryland.

By: Justin Taubman MBA ’16

The Smith School of Business’ Office of Career Services (OCS) is a wonderful resource to help students find jobs after school. OCS focuses on bringing consulting, supply chain, marketing, and finance firms to Smith to recruit because most students are interested in pursuing careers in those fields. However there is a minority of students interested in pursuing less traditional careers. Unfortunately, the job hunt is a little bit more difficult for those of us interested in working somewhere like an early stage startup. The hiring process for startups is unlike any bigger more established firm, so applying the same process won’t be too effective. I’d like to share some tips that I found helpful for getting an MBA summer internship and am continuing to follow during full-time job hunt.

1776 Event Photo Credit: radioexpert.org

Startups hire to fill positions just in time; they cannot afford to hire human resource professionals or recruiters to fill positions nine months in advance. This is why networking is so important for landing a good job in this category. If you are diligent about networking in the startup world and people remember who you are, when they are looking for talent, you are much more likely to come up in conversation.

There are so many opportunities to network with startups in the Baltimore and DC area. I am signed up to receive information from Meetup about tech meetups, entrepreneurship meetups, but there are a lot more specific meetups that might be more useful to others. Local incubators, such as 1776 also hold networking events regularly that are either free to students or charge less than $20 to attend. There are plenty of resources online to find out where the next networking event is being held. If you go to enough of them you will likely start seeing the same people over and over again because it’s a smaller network than you think. You will also start to figure out who the big players are in the area and who is hiring, etc.

Entrepreneur at work Photo credit: gobankingrates.com

Networking with startup entrepreneurs isn’t exactly like networking with other professionals. Business professional attire normally gives entrepreneurs anxiety, so when going to networking events, I suggest dressing down. Think jeans and an un-tucked button down with Vans sneakers. Entrepreneurs are also probably not going to just meet you once or twice and then call you when they have a spot to fill for their company or one of their friend’s. So the networking process should be organic and should be more like making a new friend. Invite them to go out with you to a cool concert or to meet up if you realize you are traveling to the same city at the same time. Get them to know and like you, not just as a valuable member of their team, but as a person they wouldn’t mind working 100 hours a week with.

Stay in contact with everyone you meet, but especially with the folks that you believe have the most influence to help you find a job. Show that you are high-energy and hard to shut down. Demonstrate your strengths and value to a startup and eventually you will see results.

Once you have found a great opportunity to work at a startup, remember that the Dingman Center offers two very great opportunities for students that get offered internships at startup companies. The Kathryn Stewart Fellowship Program for undergraduate Terps and the Hisaoka Fellowship Program for first-year full-time MBAs both award salary matching of up to $5000 for startup internships. These fellowships are extremely helpful as a selling point to entrepreneurs that cannot afford to pay expensive salaries for top talent. As a Hisaoka Fellow, I am very grateful for having had the opportunity to work for a startup without having to worry about a lower salary than my classmates. If you are interested, check out how to apply now!

Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) is the world’s largest celebration of the innovators and job creators who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth and expand human welfare. For one week every November, organizations around the world participate in Global Entrepreneurship Week with events and programs that celebrate entrepreneurship. After a successful GEW 2014, the Dingman Center is back at it, November 16-20, for a week-long celebration of entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland. Here’s what he have planned for this year.

November 16 and 17 from 9 to 11 a.m.
Atrium, Van Munching Hall
Smith is Global

Visit the employer desk to hear about activities and events for Global Entrepreneurship Week and International Education Week. Enjoy a doughnut courtesy of the Dingman Center and Office of Global Initiatives.

November 16 from 5 to 8 p.m.
Universities at Shady Grove
Food Entrepreneurship Conference

It’s the tastiest entrepreneurship event in town. Meet student and alumni startups from the food sector as you sample food from some of the areas hottest restaurants. Hear from founders who are revolutionizing how and what we eat.

November 18 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
2517 Van Munching Hall
ChangeTheWorld Showcase

The Center for Social Value Creation presents the ChangeTheWorld.org Showcase provides students consultants an opportunity to present on their recommendations and solicit feedback. Register here.

November 19 at Noon
2333 Van Munching Hall
Dingman Center Speaker Series: Sean Skelley

Sean Skelley will come to campus to talk about how he sold his business to Best Buy and grew it to Geek Squad, employing 20,000 people and generating $2 billion in revenue each year. Skelley will talk about his journey and how his team found inspiration from an unlikely hero: Tigger, Winnie-the-Pooh’s irrepressible friend. Lunch will be provided. Register today.

November 12 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Outside, Stamp Student Union
Dingman Fridays on TerpRide

Dingman Fridays are hopping on the bus! Walk-in sessions will be held on the UMD TerpRide bus parked in the bus station outside of Stamp Student Union. Hop on and pitch your business idea.

November 20 from 1:30 to 5 p.m.
Frank Auditorium, Van Munching Hall
Smith VCIC

The Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) is a global MBA competition that Smith competes in annually. The final negotiations by the finalists between the student “fund” teams and entrepreneurs is open to the public. The winning team will go on to the regional competition at Georgetown University on January 29.