Students Entrepreneurs Pitch Michael Dingman to Win Funding

Blind Pig Cocktails presents at the Pitch Dingman competition.

Four student entrepreneurs got the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to Michael Dingman, benefactor of his namesake Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business. The center holds monthly “Pitch Dingman” competitions and weekly sessions that give student entrepreneurs a chance to present their business ideas to the center’s staff and entrepreneurs-in-residence for feedback and the chance to win start-up funding. It was a treat for students to pitch their businesses to Dingman and his three sons for $2,500 in prize money, to cap the kickoff to the center’s 25 anniversary celebration.

First up, Evan Ulrich pitched RoboSeed, a small unmanned flying device with a design based on a maple seed. Ulrich is an engineering PhD student and developed the technology with his faculty advisor, Darryll Pines, dean of the James A. Clark School of Engineering. His pitch including a demonstration of his RoboSeed prototype.

Next to pitch was Llacey Simmons, an MBA student starting a preschool program, Leading Start Kids, that will incorporate leadership lessons and Mandarin Chinese instruction into daily activities for children.

Then the judges heard from, Daanish Maqbool, an aerospace engineering graduate student. He has come up with a new innovation on a type of jet engine he’s calling The Advanced Pulsejet Engine.

Closing out the pitch competition were MBA students Landon Shoop and Brian Walsh and their business, Blind Pig Cocktails, high-end, premixed cocktails they are planning to sell in mason jars. Their high-energy pitch earned them the $250 audience choice award, determined by judging the crowd reaction noise level.

In the end, Ulrich and RoboSeed won the $2,500 in cash funding and the approval of the judging panel, rounded out by past University President C.D. “Dan” Mote, Dingman board chair Mark Walsh, and Smith School Dean Anand Anandalingam.