Tag Archives: worth reading

May 03 2013
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Worth Reading

Worth Reading 5/3/2013

What an eventful day for the Dingman Center!  Thanks to everyone who came out to our last Pitch Dingman Competition of the year. It was a packed house today at Tyser Auditorium! Congratulations to Vitus, an IT solution for veterinarians, who won 1st place as well as the Audience Choice Award!  Runner up was BOVER, a mobile app for farmers in developing countries.  Special mention also goes to the other competitors, Cart Noodles, Sweet Buds, and Terpiture who also put up a valiant challenge. It takes  a lot of guts to pitch in front of a panel of experts and all of our finalists are will on their way to startup success!

For the rest of you aspiring entrepreneurs, here’s some articles worth reading to get you on your way as well!

Here at Worth Reading we encourage aspiring entrepreneurs to read as much as possible to not only build their skills but also to learn from experts.  We want you to read so much that we’re recommending that you read an article from inc.com that recommends other books that aspiring entrepreneurs should read!

The hardest part of starting a business is coming up with an idea, but the trick is that ideas are everywhere! In this Wall Street Journal article, several entrepreneurial  experts and mentors weigh in on where they draw their entrepreneurial inspiration from.

So now you have your idea, but an important thing to keep in mind is the idea you start with is likely not the idea you’ll end with once your business gets going.  This Wired article takes a look at Pivots and the importance of identifying opportunities despite hitting dead ends.

Cold calling can be a drag, but for a new startup without an established client base, it might be the only way to generate business leads.  Never fear though! Inc.com presents their guide to make cold calling fun!

Finally, there’s been a trend towards social entrepreneurship lately (even in today’s Pitch Dingman Competition). Forbes examines the rise of starting for-profit businesses to directly tackle social issues.  Definitely an interesting read!

Until next time!

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Apr 26 2013
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Worth Reading

Worth Reading 4/26/2013

Welcome back! It’s hard to believe that there’s only a few weeks left in the school year, soon the halls in front of the Dingman Center will be a lot quieter.  But before the school year ends, there’s still one last Pitch Dingman Competition, taking place next Friday at Tyser Auditorium.  Don’t forget to stick around after the competition as well as the Dingman Center will be sponsoring a post-competition mixer for our guests, food and refreshments will be provided!

Enough plugs though, onto what’s worth reading from the week!

As always, we take some time to recognize enTERpreneurs in the press.  This week, Cupid’s Cup and Pitch Dingman alum Diagnostic anSERS were featured on the Washington Post’s weekly Business RX column.  In addition, this Businessweek article that examines the usefulness of the traditional business plan also features one of our very own MBA entrepreneurship classes, led by Smith Professor Brent Goldfarb.

Everyone knows that to do business in today’s world, you need a social media presence, but do you really know what a social media strategy entails? Inc. examines the basics of setting up a social media strategy that works for your business.

Companies everywhere have struggled with making their own “viral” marketing campaigns.  How does a campaign go viral?  Can it be forces?  Is it more about luck?  Inc. continues its social media primer, by offering a look at what attributes successful viral campaigns share, and how businesses can take apply those lessons.

Finally, a high ranking director at Oglivy & Mather examines the virtues of being weird, and how it’s helped him find success in his career. Inspiring words for weirdos everywhere, and to be fair, aren’t we all a little weird?

Until next time!

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Apr 19 2013
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Worth Reading

Worth Reading 4/19/2013

Happy weekend from all of us at the Dingman Center for entrepreneurship. Now that Cupid’s Cup is behind us, it’s time to start looking forwards to our upcoming events. We have one more Pitch Dingman Competition coming up on Friday May 3, come watch five promising student startups (and potential future Cupid’s Cup finalists) compete for $2,500 in prizes. Also stay tuned for more info about this year’s Dingman Jumpstart program, taking place in the summer!

And now onto some articles worth reading this weekend:

It’s always cool to see out region get recognized for being leaders in innovation and entrepreneurship. According to this ranking compiled by Fast Company, Maryland ranks #3 in the nation (3 spots ahead of California) with DC close behind at #10.

We at the Dingman Center firmly believe that anyone can become an entrepreneur, but the culture of business often favor the bold and extroverted, for those of us who like to keep things low-key, entrepreneur.com offers a few tips on how to take advantage of introvert tendencies to find success.

And for those of us just starting out, Young Entrepreneur gives their own tips on how to keep one’s ego in check as a young entrepreneur. Remember to keep everything in perspective!

Sometimes, we need to look back to understand where we should be going. In the latest installment of INVENTORS, from PBS Digital Studios, we meet Marty Cooper, the creator of the cell phone, who shares the story of the first ever cell phone call, as well as his thoughts on good design.

Finally, it’s always awesome to see enTERPreneurs in the press.  In case you missed it, here’s the Diamondback’s feature on Evlove, In the Capital’s feature on Route Rider, and the Washington Post’s Business RX column on Earthstarter, LLC.

See you next time!

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Apr 12 2013
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Worth Reading

Worth Reading 4/12/2013

What a great Cupid’s Cup! One week out and we’re still coming down from our high here at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship.  Congratulations again to EarthStarter, LLC for taking the 2013 cup, look for their Nourishmat to change the way we all do home gardening soon!  Thanks also to all our finalists for bringing their A game to the Cupid’s Cup finals. The judges definitely had their work cut out for them!

Did you miss last week’s Cupid’s Cup festivities? Don’t fret, our local media has you covered, read these great recaps from College Park Patch, The Diamondback, The Washington Post, and InTheCapital.

And on that note, here are some (non-Cupid’s Cup) articles worth reading from the last few weeks!

Entrepreneurs are always looking for ways to better leverage social media technologies to support their businesses, Entrepreneur.com features 3 apps to help you write a marketing plan and 14 steps to generate leads on twitter, and Facebook unveils the next stage of its small business education program.

The Venture Capital industry today is very different than what it was years ago, entrepreneur.com examines the current trends in VC and how a gap is emerging mid-level VC firms.

And finally, We’ve all heard of how hard it is for entrepreneurs to give up ownership of their own companies to investors, but this story takes that to an extreme. Wired gives us the peculiar story of a man who sold his life’s decisions to investors for $1 a share!

See you next time! As always, check out our Facebook or Twitter to stay updated on the latest Dingman Center news.

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Mar 15 2013
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Worth Reading

Worth Reading 3/15/2013

Happy Friday everybody! Its spring break next week but the Dingman Center is still hard at work preparing for the upcoming Cupid’s Cup Business & Innovation Showcase and Competition! Have you gotten your tickets yet?  If not make sure you register on our eventbrite page NOW so we won’t have to turn you away later because we’ve filled the theater again!

And now for some things worth reading from the week:

In case you’ve been out of touch, South by Southwest is in full swing in Austin, Texas and the interactive segment gave us a lot to talk about regarding cool new technologies and businesses emerging from around the nation.  For those of you who missed the festivities, Time gives a good recap of their top 5 highlights from SXSW, and inc.com gives us 8 lessons learned for entrepreneurs everywhere.

Speaking of technologies to change the world, a prominent Silicon Valley investor launched the Sandy Hook Innovation Initiative last week, challenging entrepreneurs to create safer technologies for the firearm industry. What other controversial issues can entrepreneurs solve through by using innovation to bypass all the politics?

Google also made a big splash in the news this week by acquiring DNNresearch, a university incubated startup from the University of Toronto.  With a trendsetting company like Google digging into University based startups, could this be the beginning of a new renaissance in tech commercialization?

Finally in UMD news, In the Capital ran a great feature on UMD’s new student-run incubator, Startup Shell.  No doubt it’s an exciting time for entrepreneurship at the university and we can’t wait to see what happens next.  Which reminds me, don’t forget to reserve your seat for Cupid’s Cup!

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Mar 08 2013
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Worth Reading

Worth Reading 3/8/2013

What a week it’s been? We hope you all stayed safe when Winter Storm Saturn rolled around, we weren’t hit too badly here in College Park.  Other than that, we’ve been going full speed ahead in preparation for Cupid’s Cup, which will be here in less than a month! If you haven’t already registered, go to http://cupidscup.eventbrite.com/ and save your seat for the event.  Registration is free, but seats are limited, and the venue fills up every year!

With that said, let’s take a look at some interesting reads we’ve found during the last few weeks

It seems like more and more people are taking notice of DC as an entrepreneurial hub. This comes to no surprise to those of us who’ve been here for years, but it’s great that the rest of the world is also starting to catch on.  Here’s a great profile from Entrepreneur.com profiling the DC scene, and another article from In the Capital highlighting DC being ranked as one of the top cities for female entrepreneurs!

If you’re like me, coming up with a name for anything takes forever and a day. How do you come up with something that both describes the business and sets you apart from your competition?  This article from Young Entrepreneur gives 6 handy tips to keep in mind when coming up with that perfect name.

In awesome new tech news, a lot’s been said about 3d printing recently, but what about 4d printing? A team from MIT revealed their new innovation on 3d printing at the TED Conference last week.  A 3d printed object that changes shape and assembles itself after printing!  Check out this article from Tested.com to see it in action!

Finally in Dingman Center family news, Managing director Elana Fine was featured in an article last week regarding the oncoming impacts of crowdfunding with equity. Crowdfunding was also the topic of the latest Innovation Fridays podcast, featuring Elana, Ed Barrientos, and Jason Shrensky. And saving the best for last, Jackson Gellar, son of EIR Harry Gellar, was featured in his school newspaper for a company that he started, proving that it’s never too early to start being an entrepreneur!

Until next time, and don’t’ forget to BUY YOUR CUPID’S CUP TICKETS!

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Feb 22 2013
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Worth Reading

Worth Reading 2/22/2013

It’s been a while since our last Worth Reading feature, but it’s been an exciting time for the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship!  Yesterday, 12 student startups from around the nation competed at the Cupid’s Cup Semi-Finals held at Under Armour headquarters. We’ll be announcing the results soon so stay tuned to find out which 5 teams will be competing at the Cupid’s Cup Finals on April 5, 2013!

In the meantime, here’s some suggested reading to get you in the mood:

You can find entrepreneurial lessons and metaphors anywhere you look, but this list from Young Entrepreneur of what leaders can learn from the current crisis in the Capitol seems fitting for those of us who live and work in the DC Metro area.

Speaking of the Capitol, here’s an interesting article from Bloomberg about how little Silicon Valley actually know about how the government works, which was written in reaction to their previous article about how little members of congress actually understand the internet.  Seems to me it’s up to our entrepreneurs to make up this gap!

Which brings us to the DC startup scene, which as you know is growing fast!  In the past 2 weeks, 1776, a new DC incubator, was featured a few times, here one feature from BizTech Magazine, and here’s a video feature posted by an ABC affiliate in Sacramento!

Finally, for those of you who missed DC Social Media Week this past week, Carl Pierre of In The Capital gives a great synopsis of a Startup Grind DC speaker event featuring Eugene Stoltzfus, founder of Rosetta Stone, who talked about the challenges he faced when starting up Rosetta Stone, and the insights he learned while building the business.

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Nov 09 2012
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Tips & Advice, Worth Reading

Worth Reading 11/9/2012

With Digital Capital Week going on and the election just wrapping up, we hope everyone is having an eventful week!  We at the Dingman Center have been hard at work preparing for Global Entrepreneurship Week next week.  We have a full schedule of activities planned for the community.  Check out the schedule below for details!  As always, check out our Facebook or Twitter to stay updated on the latest Dingman Center news.

Be sure to join us next week if you can!  Now onto some things worth reading!

As always, we begin with this week’s Business Rx column, this time featuring ConferenceEdge, a tech startup looking for advice on where and how to find advisers.

In case you missed it, The Dingman Center launched the website for the new and improved 2013 Cupid’s Cup.  Check it out at www.cupidscup.com!

If you use LinkedIn, you’ve probably noticed the introduction of LinkedIn “endorsements.”  Inc.com explores how small business owners can take advantage of this new feature.

Finally, as marketing on Facebook becomes more sophisticated, like with its new “promote” feature, it will inevitably start to become more costly as well.  This article from Entrepreneur.com explores how businesses can promote their brands outside of the popular social network.

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Sep 28 2012
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Worth Reading

Worth Reading 9/28/2012

It’s been another exciting week at the Dingman Center, just earlier today we held our first Dingman Center Angels Review Day of the 2012-2013 Academic Year!  Participating entrepreneurs came in to pitch in front of a packed crowd of Dingman Center Angels and eager business students.  Across the hall, Dingman Center EIRs advised a full docket of aspiring entrepreneurs for Pitch Dingman.  Amidst the hustle and bustle at the Dingman Center, we are still excited to continue our new feature started last week!

So here’s what we found worth reading this week!

  • Did you know that the US Chamber of Commerce has ranked the State of Maryland the #1 state for innovation and entrepreneurship? Maryland secretary of business and economic development breaks it down for us.
  • Nobody can build anticipation like Apple.  With the recent release of the iPhone 5, Catherine Kaputa of Fast Company examines the strategies that Apple employs to get its fans pumped for every new release, and what lessons entrepreneurs can learn from these strategies!
  • With political campaigns in full swing, there’s a lot of talk about China and the potential threat it imposes, as well as jobs lost to India.  Michael Silverstein, the founder of BCG’s global consumer practice joined the HBR Ideacast this week to argue why China (and India) should be seen as an opportunity for businesses, not a threat. (More of a worth listening.)
  • The District of Columbia continues its quest to find ways to become a more attractive location for entrepreneurs.  However, the mayor’s plans hit a speed bump this week as the DC Council refused to pass a major capital gains tax break for tech investors and entrepreneurs.
  • Finally, Google launched its new microsite “Google for Entrepreneurs” this week.  Check out the different ways that Google supports the startup community and stay up to date about upcoming community events around the world.
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Sep 21 2012
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Worth Reading

Worth Reading 9/21/12

Worth Reading is a new feature for the Dingman Center blog where we curate interesting articles from the past week highlighting current events in the local start-up community or interesting features that may be helpful to entrepreneurs.   If you find an article you find especially interesting and would like to share with the rest of the Dingman Center community, please email a link to marvin.yueh@rhsmith.umd.edu.

So here goes:

Ever wonder how you can make LinkedIn work for you as an entrepreneur?  Ted Prodromou shows you how in this except of his new book.

Were you at last year’s Cupid’s Cup?  If not then you probably also missed the kick-off of Startup Maryland, a grassroots initiative to create a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem in the state of Maryland.  Well, this week they kicked off their “Pitch Across Maryland” Tour, taking pitches in a customized bus.  Check out coverage from the Washington Post as well as South Maryland News (here and here)!

See you next week!

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