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July, 2007 |
Venture Capitalists,
are you working on your
golf swing? Because the 15th Annual
Entrepreneur Invitational Golf Tournament
is
schedule for October 10th! Help support the
Dingman Center and enjoy a round of golf with us.
Also, we have just wrapped up another successful
year of the Capital Access Network
program. Read about this year’s results.
Entrepreneurs,
have you heard about the Dingman Center's newest
program? The TiE-Smith
Fellows in Entrepreneurship Program caters to
promising entrepreneurs in early stage ventures.
The Dingman Center is proud
of its Mentor Program.
Dingman Center staff and experienced mentors are
available every Tuesday from 8 - 11 a.m. to provide
support and resources to help your company make a
leap forward in its business. Appointment required.
Contact
Melissa Carrier for an appointment.
Also, mark your calendars for all of our
Fall 2007 events!
Students,
the Dingman Center is "Open For Business."
Contact
Melissa Carrier to pitch your business idea at
Pitch Dingman
this summer.
Also, read about how fellow students used classroom
learning to impact local non-profits through the
Social Venture
Consulting Program.
Dingman Center
News:
Other interesting
links:
Upcoming Events
Pitch Dingman
Schedule summer Pitch Dingman sessions directly with
Melissa
Carrier. Your next opportunity to win $500 at
the Pitch Dingman Competition resumes in September.
For more information, e-mail
PitchDingman@rhsmith.umd.edu.
Mentor Day
The Mentor Program at
the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship is an
innovative consulting service for entrepreneurs and
small-medium businesses that assists companies in
identifying solutions to business problems with the
support of experienced, senior management
professionals. Office hours are every Tuesday from 8:00 a.m. - 11:00
a.m. Contact
Melissa
Carrier for an appointment, to set up a session, or for more details.
Additionally, consultative services will be
available for select companies looking for
longer-term support from mentors at $250/hour
payable to the Dingman Center.
Entrepreneur Invitational Golf
Tournament
Wednesday, October 10th
P.B. Dye Golf Club, Ijamsville, MD
Get ready for the 2007 Entrepreneur Invitational, the fifteenth golf
tournament to support entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland, benefiting the Lamone Entrepreneur Scholars Program. Recognizing the popularity of golf and the benefits of
doing business on the golf course, this exclusive event will take place
on Wednesday, October 10, 2007 at the beautiful P.B. Dye Golf Club in
Ijamsville, Maryland with close proximity to the Greater Baltimore and
Washington, D.C. area. As the name implies, invitations to the
Entrepreneur Invitational are extended to presidents and CEO's of
high-growth venture businesses, as well as principals of firms that
provide services to entrepreneurs.
An incredible day of golf and corporate hospitality has
been planned for sponsors and guests, including an exhilarating 18 holes
of championship golf, cocktails, dinner, and entertainment. Participants
will enjoy the opportunity to gather at a beautiful golf setting, while
creating and enhancing business and social associations with each other.
All guests will be provided with a memorable golfing and corporate
entertainment experience, while benefiting the Lamone Entrepreneur
Scholars Program.
The event begins at 11:30 AM and concludes with
Dinner and Awards program. More
information forthcoming!
▲ Back to
the top
TiE-Smith Fellows in
Entrepreneurship Program
A
Partnership Between TiE-DC and the Dingman Center
for Entrepreneurship
The Dingman Center for
Entrepreneurship and TiE-DC invite Emerging
Entrepreneur and Professional members to apply for
this fall's TiE-Smith Fellowship program. Details of
the program can be found below.
The goal of the TiE-Smith Fellows
in Entrepreneurship Program is to help promising
entrepreneurs significantly improve the odds of
success for their early stage ventures. This program
was launched in Fall 2005 as a partnership between
TiE-DC and the Smith School of Business, The
University of Maryland at College Park. After very
successful runs in Fall 2005 and Fall 2006, we will
now repeat this program for a new set of
entrepreneurs. In this third round, scheduled for
September-December 2007, the program will be limited
to only 15 to 20 budding entrepreneurs who have
already launched their ventures but not yet received
Venture Capital funding.
Program Co-Directors: Prashanth
Boccasam, CEO, Approva Corporation and Board Member,
TiE-DC Anil K. Gupta, Professor, Smith Business
School and Board Member, TiE-DC Adam Lehman,
Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Dingman Center for
Entrepreneurship Asher Epstein, Director, Dingman
Center for Entrepreneurship
Structure: Each TiE-Smith Fellow
gets the following value added services from the
program:
Participate in 11
once/week workshops (Friday mornings, 8.30-12:00):
Each workshop will include:
(a) a
lecture/presentation by faculty
(b) a
presentation/sharing of perspective by a guest
speaker
(c) discussion
of the Fellows’ issues, including deeper “case
analysis” of ventures from within the group.
Up to 4 small group
mentoring meetings (3-4 Fellows/Mentor) with veteran
VCs/Entrepreneurs who agree to serve as TiE-Smith
Mentors.
Program Fee: $2500 (a limited
number of Fellows may be provided with 50% support
from TiE-DC) •
Outline of Topics:
1. Defining And Clarifying Your
Business Model
2. Evaluating Your Business
Model: Demand-Side Assessment
3. Evaluating Your Business
Model: Competitive Advantage Assessment
4. Assembling, Leading and
Managing Your Team
5. Managing Innovation: Bringing
Your Products) to Market
6. Developing/Executing A Market
Awareness Strategy
7. Developing/Executing A
Customer Acquisition Strategy
8. Developing/Executing An
Alliance/Partnership Strategy
9. Strategies, Tools and
Resources to Finance Your Growth
10. Planning For And Managing
Business Transformations (Sales, Combinations, Etc.)
For more information
contact
aepstein@rhsmith.umd.edu
▲ Back to the top
Social Venturing:
A Year Later
By Lilah Pomerance
The Dingman Center Social Venture
Consulting program and its partner, Grassroots.org,
built upon its initial success by working with three
additional non-profits and six MBA student
consultants this spring. The Social Venture Consulting program
exposes MBA students to the importance of community
service while giving them professional opportunities
to apply their MBA education in the real world.
Non-profit organizations benefit from the skill sets
of business focused volunteers with savvy approaches
to some common challenges of working with
non-profits.
This past semester, two
Grassroots' members, Byte Back and Road of Life,
joined another non-profit, Arts for Anyone, in the
Social Venturing program. Byte Back is a community
computer training center in Northeast Washington,
DC. It provides low-cost, hands-on computer training
to underserved, low-skilled, and underemployed
residents of the metropolitan Washington, DC area.
To grow its relationship with the surrounding
technology community, Sharon Bollers MBA/MPP ’08 and Rukhe
Aghomo
MBA ’08 ran a stakeholders survey, from soup to
nuts, to identify best practices for Byte Back for
building the essential relationships that would help
launch Byte Back’s students into the professional
world.
Road of Life’s mission is to
eradicate preventable cancers and other prevalent
diseases by educating children about the dangers of
tobacco use, the importance of regular physical
activity, and good nutrition. Laura Gonzalez MBA ’08
and Don Wood MBA ’08 created a business plan for how
Road of Life could sell its curriculum to create an
income stream to benefit its non-profit activities.
As Rob Emrich, Road of Life Founder, described, “Our
whole business model is geared around openness and
we needed someone to define parameters and create a
long-term, sustainable method of funding ourselves.”
Rob felt this experience was useful for non-profits
because “having those type of discussions and
critical analysis about your operations is always
important. How we can do things better and
differently, understanding the social and the
economic value of our work -- going through these
discussions with the help of the MBA students was
really, very valuable.”
Lastly, Arts for Anyone develops
arts-infused initiatives that use the arts to
educate and needed a marketing plan for their
website and publication materials. From this
experience, Laura Bennett MBA ’08 commented that, “I
was able to actually help an arts organization and
develop my marketing skills, which added to the
educational benefit of my MBA and gave me something
good to discuss in interviews for internships.” In
addition, Tekisha Harvey MBA ‘08, added that getting
client-face time was a great experience that I will
take along with me in my future endeavors, whether
they be consulting or not. It was also a great way
to put our academic learning into practice. Learning
to balance client needs with practical solutions was
an invaluable takeaway.”
If you are interested in
participating in this program this Fall, please
contact
Melissa Carrier.
▲ Back to the top
Fall
2007 Calendar
Open House
This annual event is open to all
students and regional
entrepreneurs. It is an opportunity
to hear about the programs and
events which the Dingman Center is
planning for the upcoming year, to
meet the Dingman Center staff, EIRs and
new Dingman Scholars, and to get
involved with our activities right
from the beginning.
Date: Friday, September 28
Dingman
Process Workshop
This informative 75 - 90 minute
workshop explains the Dingman
Process, which consists of Ideation,
Assessment, Implementation, and
Iteration. The most successful
entrepreneurs are not necessarily
those with the most innovative
ideas, but those who can find gaps
in the market and develop products
to meet consumers' needs. The
Dingman Process helps entrepreneurs
systematically analyze and develop
businesses based on this concept.
This workshop is presented once each
academic year, and this year it will
be held at College Park as well as
at each of our satellite campuses
for our part-time MBA students.
Dates: September 18th –
22nd
Women's
Entrepreneur Event
This event is co-sponsored by the
Smith Association of Women's MBAs. The event
will include a group of dynamic
women who are successful
entrepreneurs talking about their
experiences and answering questions
from the audience. A
networking reception with
refreshments will be provided
throughout the evening.
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Thursday, September 27
5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. |
3rd Floor Atrium |
Pitch Dingman
Students are invited to pitch their
ideas to the Dingman Center every
Friday between 11:00 a.m. and 12:00
p.m. Each student will have 5-10
minutes to give an overview of their
business idea and Dingman Center
staff/EIRs will provide immediate
feedback. Business ideas found
viable will find further support in
the Dingman Center.
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Every Friday
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 pm |
3570 VMH |
Pitch Dingman
Competition
Similar to the Pitch Dingman
reviews. Business ideas found
viable will find further support in
the Dingman Center.
|
Friday, September 28
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 pm |
3570 VMH |
|
Friday, October 26
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 pm |
3570 VMH |
|
Friday, November 30
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 pm |
3570 VMH |
|
Friday, December 14
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 pm |
3570 VMH |
Dingman Day
Lunch
These catered luncheons are open to
all University of Maryland students. Successful entrepreneurs
will talk about their experiences
and answer questions from the
audience.
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Friday, October 12
12:00 - 2:00 p.m. |
Executive Dining Room |
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Friday, December 7
12:00 - 2:00 p.m. |
3rd Floor Atrium |
CAN Breakfast
(invitation only)
The CAN Breakfasts are by invitation
only to angel investors who are
qualified investors in the CAN
network. Investors will have an
opportunity to hear a 10 minute
presentation from approximately four start-up entrepreneurs who are
seeking funding for their business.
For more information on the CAN
Program and to participate, contact
Melissa Carrier.
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Wednesday, September 26
9:30 a.m. - 11:30 am |
3570 VMH |
|
Wednesday, November 7
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 pm |
3570 VMH |
|
Wednesday, December 12
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 pm |
3570 VMH |
CAN Review Day
Students and faculty are invited to hear start-up
companies present to our
Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and Dingman staff as they
prepare for Capital Access Network angel investor
presentations. Listen to feedback by our experts,
give some advice of your own, and learn about some
of the new businesses being started today. It's a
great experience for everyone!
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Wednesday, August 22
9:00 a.m. - 1:00 pm |
2511 VMH |
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Wednesday, October 17
9:00 a.m. - 1:00 pm |
2511 VMH |
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Wednesday, November 14
9:00 a.m. - 1:00 pm |
2511 VMH |
Tech Visionary
Panel (invitation only)
See what's on the horizon in the
world of technologies. These panel
discussions will look at some of the
cutting edge trends and innovations
to come to market. Learn how these
technologies are going to affect
healthcare, entertainment, financial
services, defense, media, and the
entire range of human interaction.
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Wednesday, October 24
8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. |
3570 VMH |
Mentor Day
The Mentor Program is an
innovative consulting service for
entrepreneurs and small-medium
businesses that assists companies in
identifying solutions to business
problems with the support of
experienced, senior management
professionals.
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Every
Tuesday beginning September 18
8:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. |
3570 VMH |
Social Venturing
Advancing the social welfare of our
community is a critical component of
being a successful business leader
and students seek this experience
during their educational years. The
Social Venturing Program's focus is
on the nexus between businesses and
non-profit organizations.
Through this program, the Dingman
Center is offering an array of
programs that benefit the public and
private sectors, students and the
broader community.
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Learn more on
Monday, September 17
11:00 a.m. - 1:00 pm |
3570 VMH |
▲ Back to
the top
Capital Access Network
(CAN)
The Capital Access Network program completed another
successful year in assisting local companies prepare
and seek private investment capital with our angel
group. During the past 12 months, we processed 78
applications and provided coaching to nearly 35
early stage companies. Additionally, 20
entrepreneurs presented at our 7 CAN Breakfast
events. We added new high net worth angel investors
and established partnerships with Maryland and
Virginia economic development institutions as well
as other regional angel groups. We would like to
congratulate the following companies on their
successful funding efforts: Animal Attraction, iNEO
Marketing, Zaracom, Newsworthy, Hook & Ladder, and
Dyscern (who had such a successful holiday season
that they self-funded with cash on hand).
Additionally, we would like to thank our sponsors
for their support of this program: The Hammond Han
Group, Deloitte, Venable, Morrison & Foerster, and
Silicon Valley Bank. For more information about this
program or to become an angel investor, please
contact
Melissa Carrier.
▲ Back to
the top
Top Ten Creative
Leadership Traits
Creative leaders
continually meet new
challenges, and
recognize and pursue
new opportunities
through bold
innovations.
What are the top ten
characteristics and
traits of Creative
Leaders?
1. Great at
generating many
ideas – innovative,
game changing and
even commonplace.
2. Always looking to
experiment with good
ideas. Sometimes,
trying out a few
times.
3. Unwavering belief
in their creativity
and innovation,
coupled with
originality in
thinking.
4. Smart and bright
with a positive
self-image. More
often, they are not
born geniuses.
5. Passionate,
expressive and
sensitive to their
teams, colleagues
and surroundings.
6. Demonstrate
superior judgment,
and do not make
quick decisions
(although have a gut
feel).
7. Non-conformists
and independent,
requiring less
social approval than
most people.
8. Innate ability to
understand and solve
the problem, and
manage the
consequences.
9. Born dreamers
with strong
imagination;
however, manage to
keep things in
perspective.
10. Create and
launch game changing
products meeting a
high level of
quality and design.
If you enjoyed reading
this Creativity best practice, read the
complete list of Creativity Innovation Best
Practices.
References:
eCornell: Leading through Creativity
Buy
Your Smith-Branded Merchandise for Departmental
Speakers and Conferences at the Smith Store
 Your
VIP visitors and departmental guest speakers should
leave Smith with an elegant Smith-branded gift as a
thank you for their visit, and The Smith Store is
THE place to go for these items. The Smith Store has
been working hard to develop a selection of
high-quality merchandise that will be appreciated,
displayed and used back in your visitor's home or
office. A few of these items are shown below, and
others are available as well. With two weeks notice,
the "sky is the limit" in terms of item selection.
If you are short on time and only have a few days,
The Smith Store can help you out by providing one of
their items that is in stock.
There are a few great products in
stock this semester, ranging in price. For example, The Smith Store
has newly designed T-shirts,
sweatshirts, hats, coffee mugs, coffee thermoses,
wine openers and many more items to come.
Always available from The Smith Store is the
Smith polo shirt, available for $25.00, or brown
leather money clip wallets for $15.00.
Questions? Contact Tarak Dave at
tarakd@umd.edu.The Smith Store is
located in 3570-U, in the Dingman Center for
Entrepreneurship. The hours of the Smith Store vary
and appointments are always available to meet
your needs.
▲ Back to the top
THE DINGMAN CENTER FOR
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Founded by Rudy Lamone in 1986, the Dingman Center was one of
the first of its kind in the country and has emerged as a
top-ranked entrepreneurship center. Thanks to initial funding
with a generous grant from Michael D. Dingman, founder of the
Signal Corporation (now part of Honeywell International), the
Dingman Center continues to grow as a regional and national
catalyst in the field of entrepreneurship. The Center is now
aggressively evolving, and in some areas, is expanding its
services to further its role as a leader in the student,
regional, and academic entrepreneurial communities.
The Dingman Center is currently led by:
Asher Epstein, Managing Director
Melissa Carrier,
Associate Director
Mr. John LaPides, Chairman of the
Board and
Entrepreneur In Residence
Dr. Scott Koerwer, Associate Dean,
Professional Programs and Services
Please visit our website at
http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/dingman.
Past
Newsletters:
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June, 2007
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May, 2007
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April, 2007
-
March, 2007
-
February, 2007
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January,
2007
-
December, 2006
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November, 2006
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October, 2006
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September,
2006
-
August, 2006
-
July, 2006
-
June, 2006
-
May, 2006
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April, 2006
-
March, 2006
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February, 2006
-
January, 2006
▲ Back to
the top
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