Thirteen entrepreneurs and groups of entrepreneurs in the Spring 2015 Hatch Cohort of the Fearless Founders program at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland have received a total of $11,000 in capital to support their businesses.
Capital One provided a $2,500 minimum viable product (MVP) grant that was won by Venture Storm (Taylor Johnson, Tommy Johnson, and Ephraim Rothschild). The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship provided four $1,000 grants for students to continue working on their businesses over the summer. The Dingman Summer Scholarships were awarded to V.R. Madras (Vish Tatagari), Nonich (Damar Bess), Tabster (Sanil Shah), and DMV Followers (Anthony Valle). A $1,000 prize for the Best Overall Pitch went to Crab Shell Cases (Bryce Peterson and Adam Vinner). Finally, seven teams received a $500 Venture Well Grant for technology, prototyping, and website development: K. Sultana (Omar Goheer), Travrse (Mike Mandl), Meta Cartel (Jordan Greenwald), Bethany’s Organics (Bethany Monaghan), Starchild Studios (Ayana Cotton), 417 App Studios (Ghedalia Gold-Pastor), and Kanga Trash & Energy Systems (Cody Branchaw).
To take the three-credit Hatch course, students at the Smith School of Business must first take the Idea Shell course in the fall. The Idea Shell course will be offered next in Fall 2015, and the Hatch course will be offered again in the Spring 2016 semester.
The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship develops curricular and extracurricular programs that use the resources available at Smith to support startup businesses. The center pursues research about entrepreneurship, teaches entrepreneurship, and helps with the practice of entrepreneurship. The center received the prestigious NASDAQ Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award from the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship in 2014.