University of Maryland MBA Startup Lands
Target Deal
Board Game Makers Wits & Wagers on
Store Shelves Now
College Park, Md. October 11,
2007 North Star Games, a Dingman
Center portfolio company has landed its
party game, Wits & Wagers, on the
shelves of Target stores nationwide for
the upcoming holiday season. The Dingman
Center, part of the University of
Marylands Robert H. Smith School of
Business, helps students and regional
entrepreneurs develop their businesses.
North Star Games was started and
incubated at the center when founders
Dominic Crapuchettes and Satish
Pillalamarri were 2004 Smith MBA
candidates. It is now one of the Dingman
Centers eight portfolio companies, to
which the center provides funding and
advisory services in exchange for
equity.
Getting picked up by a top retailer
such as Target is a major score for
North Star Games, said Asher Epstein,
managing director of the Dingman Center
for Entrepreneurship. We have been
supporting NorthStar games for four
years and theyve come a long way. Wits
& Wagers is a great game and Targets
decision is further validation. The
company is great example to other Smith
School student entrepreneurs.
As a Dingman Center portfolio
company, North Star Games has received
$10,000 in financial support along with
business mentorship from the center and
its team of experienced
entrepreneurs-in-residence. In 2006, the
company won the Dingman Centers first
Cupids Cup business competition and the
$10,000 prize to fund the venture. A
year later, the founders were inking the
deal with Target.
Its the classic story of taking a
business to the next level,
Crapuchettes said. We had to raise half
a million dollars, negotiate contracts
with overseas manufacturers, and
navigate the intricacies of Targets
electronic procurement system, all while
trying to maintain our normal
operations. The Dingman Centers support
throughout the process has been a huge
help.
The Wits & Wagers game has players
guessing answers to trivia, and then
betting on the answer they think is the
closest to correct. It has won a dozen
prestigious industry awards, including
the 2007 Party Game of the Year from
Games magazine and the Mensa Mind Games
award.
In addition to the Target deal, a
Seattle-based video game company will
release Wits &Wagers on a major
platform in December. An entertainment
agency is also interested in adapting
the game into a television game show for
2008.
Financials of the Target deal were
not disclosed. More information about
North Star Games can be found at
www.NorthStarGames.com.
A $175,000 investment fund recently
created with donations from Smith alumni
Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard
head, and Kevin Plank, founder of sports
apparel company Under Armour allows
the Dingman Center to invest up to
$30,000 in companies started by current
and former students. Dingman Center
invests up to $30,000 in viable
companies started by current and former
Smith students. In addition to North
Star Games, the center has invested in,
among others, Hook & Ladder Brewing Co.,
a microbrewery started by a Smith MBA
student; SHOP DC, a shopping publication
started by an MBA student and acquired
by the Washington Post Newsweek
Interactive; Goozex, an online
used-video game trading platform founded
by a Smith MBA and University of
Maryland undergraduate Economics
graduate; and Geocentric, a Web-based
destination marketing company founded by
a Smith EMBA graduate.
About the University of Marylands
Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of
Business is an internationally
recognized leader in management
education and research. One of 14
colleges and schools at the University
of Maryland, College Park, the Smith
School offers undergraduate, full-time
and part-time MBA, executive MBA,
executive MS, PhD and executive
education programs, as well as outreach
services to the corporate community. The
school offers its degree, custom and
certification programs in learning
locations on three continents North
America, Europe and Asia.
