Date: April 17, 2009 Time: 3:00-5:00 p.m. (BB&T Business
Invitational will be held earlier in the day
from 2:00-3:00 p.m.) Location: Van Munching Hall
Applications are now being accepted! $22,500
will be awarded to the best student/recent alum
businesses. For more information on how to
apply or to attend, please visit the website.
Pitch Dingman informal sessions returned
to normal schedule this month. Students and alumni
can reserve a specific time-slot, but walk-ins are
also welcome: first 3 Fridays of every month from
11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in 3570 Van Munching Hall.
The next Pitch Dingman Competition is
scheduled for February 27th, 11:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
(Room TBD). Mark your calendars!
We are pleased to announce our Spring
2009 clients for the Social Venture Consulting
Program. Over 40 non-profits applied and 9
organizations have been selected. 25 full-time and
part-time MBA students will serve as consultants for
these engagement that run until May.
The Dingman Center’s Capital Access
Network (CAN) is busier than ever screening regional
early-stage companies and coaching entrepreneurs in
an effort to successfully connect them with the
angel investor community. The CAN Program, sponsored
by Morrison & Foerster and Silicon Valley Bank,
brought the following exciting start-up companies to
the January Investor Breakfast:
LATISTA
- LATISTA's automation solution delivers
operational efficiency and tracking to project
owners and construction firms that are
unparalleled in the industry. Customers attest
that their use of LATISTA Field management has
led them to higher quality production, lower
costs and reduced legal and financial risks.
LATISTA is the market leader in their field with
only one direct competitor that is far behind in
capabilities.
Elderlife Financial
Services - When seniors can no longer
live home alone, they typically move to senior
living communities. Seniors typically rely on
the sale of their home or other assets to fund
what is a month to month stay that can cost
$3,000 - $6,000 per month. Typically, the
liquidation of assets takes time. Elderlife
provides loans to strong prime+ borrowers,
generally the adult children of a senior to
bridge families' move to senior living.
The next CAN Breakfast will be held on Wednesday,
February 11, 2009.
For a recap of the inaugural Dingman
Center Start-Up Bootcamp, please click
here.
Students interested in participating in the next
round of the start-up bootcamp should contact
Sara Moon.
February 9, 2009 - Mark Walsh, chief
executive of the start-up
Genius Rocket,
loved this year’s Super Bowl — not so much the game,
but the hit Doritos ad, the $1 million prize it won
for the two brothers from Indiana and what their
triumph represents. “The match lit the fuse with
that Doritos ad,” Mr. Walsh said.
Mr. Walsh is truly an Internet commerce veteran. His
online credentials go back more than two decades to
Compucard and then through General Electric’s GEnie,
America Online and VerticalNet.
His current venture, Genius
Rocket, runs an online marketplace where people
compete to get paid for their work, ranging from
90-second video ads for the Web to product logos and
book covers.
Genius Rocket had nothing to do
with the Doritos Super Bowl ad contest. But the site
aims to be the kind of place where people like Joe
and Dave Herbert, whose “Free Doritos” spot won the
competition, can find customers for their creative
work.
The buyers, mainly consumer
marketers, issue a request for work, describing what
they want. Then, far-flung creators submit their
work and the buying company picks one or a few
winners. The prizes typically range from $5,000 to
$500, Mr. Walsh said.
By now, Genius Rocket, founded
in 2007, has 8,000 registered “creative
collaborators,” as Mr. Walsh calls the prize contest
entrants, spread across 100 nations. To date, Genius
Rocket has conducted contests for 50 projects for 40
companies.
His stable of enterprising
amateurs and freelancers possess “incredible
talent,” Mr. Walsh said, and they can do advertising
and marketing projects for a tenth the cost of
traditional ad agencies.
Genius Rocket is another proof
point in a larger trend that may just be getting
underway — the rise of the prize economy. It is
already well established in science, as a more
efficient way of eliciting breakthroughs than
traditional federal funding or grant-making.
For the full article on The New York
Times, please click
here.
Date: April 13 & 27,
2009 Time: 11:00 a.m. Location: 2119 Hornbake Library (South Wing)
On Monday, April 13th and Monday, April 27th, the
HCIL, in partnership with the Dingman Center, will
be having two great Seminar Series Speakers:
April 13: Mary
Czerwinski from Microsoft Research will be
joining us to give a talk on Computing
Everywhere: Visualization and Interaction
Research at MSR
April 27: Joe Marks
from Disney Research will be joining us to give
a talk on The What and How of Technological
Research at The Walt Disney Company
For more information
including abstracts and bios, please visit the
website.
February 6, 2009 - Women in business will
tell you that success is a combination of
inspiration, perspiration and a really good business
plan. Rockville Economic Development, Inc. (REDI)
understands the importance of a solid business plan,
and today announces the 6th annual
StartRight! Women’s Business Plan Competition to
reward entrepreneurs for good preparation. The
contest is open to Maryland, District of Columbia
and Virginia businesses that are at least 51%
women-owned, and have been in operation for two
years or less. Eligible entrants could win up to a
$10,000 cash grand prize.
“At
REDI we believe that sound business plans,
especially in today’s economic environment, are a
key to success for many entrepreneurs,” said Sally
Sternbach, REDI Executive Director. “The StartRight!
Competition encourages woman entrepreneurs to
develop the business planning skills that build a
solid foundation for their business enterprise. To
foster participation in this competition, and to
support the growth of local companies, we also offer
free business plan writing seminars to provide
business owners with the skills they need to develop
successful business plans.”
The StartRight! Women’s
Business Plan Competition is supported by local
business sponsors who have generously donated cash
and in-kind prizes. The first place prize of $10,000
is sponsored by EagleBank, the second place prize of
$5,000 is sponsored by Shulman, Rogers, Gandal,
Pordy, and Ecker, PA, and the third place prize of
$2,500 is sponsored by Foster, Soltoff and Love,
Ltd. In addition to the cash prizes, additional
benefits are provided by the Montgomery County
Department of Economic Development, Intelligent
Office and Brightline Media.
“This is the fifth year that
EagleBank has sponsored the StartRight!
Competition,” said Thomas D. Murphy,
President-Montgomery County. “As a community-based
financial institution we are committed to working
with companies with well-thought out, financially
sound concepts that are supported with market
research and solid planning. A good business plan
helps create profitable businesses, and the
StartRight! Competition is a means to this end. We
are pleased to provide this support to small
businesses to help them grow.”
To participate in the
StartRight! Women’s Business Plan Competition
applicants must submit an executive summary and $25
entry fee to REDI by March 25, 2009. The full
business plan must be submitted by April 1, 2009.
REDI’s business plan writing seminars will be held
on Wednesday, February 11; Tuesday, February 24;
Wednesday, March 11; and, Wednesday, April 8, 2009
at the Rockville Regional Library located at 21
Maryland Avenue. The 9:00 am to 12:00 noon classes
are free and open to all. For more information on
the business plan writing seminars or the StartRight!
Competition visit the
website.
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, Director of Venture
Investments and Social Entrepreneurship Mr. John LaPides, Chairman of the Board and Entrepreneur-in-Residence
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