News Articles - 2007

Even FedEx Had to Start Somewhere

December 11, 2007 - I attended a University of Maryland basketball game last week but barely saw a moment of it.

I missed the game because I was busy talking to entrepreneurs and business people from various stages in their careers. One unassuming man in his 50s, dressed casually in a red turtleneck, sweater and jeans was particularly engaging. He seemed to be a font of knowledge for aspiring entrepreneurs.

We were in a box used by the university's business school and the staff there had invited me to attend a gathering of small business owners and others affiliated with the school's Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship.

 ►WashingtonPost.com, Full Story

Greenbelt Firm Seeks Board Game Fame

December 10, 2007 - How many states are at least partly in the Central time zone? What, in dollars, is the most ever paid for a painting by elephant?

On a recent weeknight, about 40 people are gathered into teams at the Mayorga Coffee Factory in Silver Spring and tossing out their best guesses to those and other questions. It's a monthly event thrown partly for fun and partly to promote a Greenbelt company's latest board game, Wits & Wagers.

 ►WashingtonPost.com, Full Story

Small Companies put Charity into their Business Plan

November 20,  2007 - Can you do well as a business while doing good?

Hook & Ladder Brewing Co., a Silver Spring, Md., craft-beer brewery, has a business model built on the concept of "A Penny in Every Pint," a program that donates a portion of all beer sales to local firefighting communities where the beer is sold. They also donate tens of thousands of dollars for burn treatment and awareness.

Brothers Matt and Rich Fleischer have donated more than $20,000 over the past year, even with the rising costs of hops making a dent in their bottom line.

 ►Wall Street Journal, Full Story

North Star Aims to Shoot the Moon

October 2007 - Star light star bright. I wish I may. I wish I might. Play this game all night.

That's what the brains behind North Star Games hope every family member across the nation will say each night before they go to bed.

Founder Dominic Crapuchettes and his business partner Satish Pillalamarri may get their wish. The small business recently signed a deal with national chain Target to carry their game Wits & Wagers for this holiday season.

 ►The Washington Post, Full Story

Bright Ideas to Business

August 2007 - This four-page feature article in the August edition of Washington Smart CEO, gives an insightful look inside the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, from its beginnings more than two decades ago into the now thriving student businesses who had their inception with the center. "Right or wrong when it comes to real-world situations, academia has somewhat of a reputation for being long on the abstract, rather than practical application of what actually works when it comes to starting and running a business. No prospective employer, or bank executive reviewing an application for a small-business start-up loan for that matter, would say a college degree isn’t a desirable commodity, of course. But didn’t Bill Gates have to drop out of Harvard to start Microsoft? That impression clearly is not lost upon the brain trust at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business."

►Washington Smart CEO, August 2007, Page 22 (PDF)

Gen Y Exhibits Entrepreneurial Ambitions: Many young people not risk-averse when it comes to business, survey shows

July 23, 2007 -  So many folks in my generation (Gen Y) are going out on their own after college or after short stints in corporate America. Instead of thinking about how to get along with the boss, they're becoming their own boss, tackling all sorts of issues associated with running a business. So it's not entirely surprising that colleges and universities are seeing the entrepreneurial ambitions of their students and trying to help them succeed. I spent a lot of time reporting on the increase of entrepreneurship education, including in Maryland where many colleges and universities are offering courses and activities and expanding other opportunities, such as providing internships at start-up companies and providing seed money for new businesses. The article about these opportunities ran in Sunday's business section. What's interesting is the changing attitude among young people concerning work, the business world and taking risks. I ran across a recent survey by OPEN from American Express examining the attitudes among Baby Boomer and Gen Y small business owners. They differ on issues of career choices, risk-taking and serial entrepreneurship. (The survey included 602 small business owners, equally divided between Gen Y and Baby Boomers.)

► The (Baltimore) Sun, Full Story

Goozex Game-Trading Service Offers Dashboard Widget

July 11, 2007 -  Goozex, the Internet-based game trading service, first began offering Mac games earlier this year. Now they’re expanding access to Mac users by offering a Dashboard widget for download.

Goozex lets users trade in their video games for points, which they can use to buy other users’ games. Goozex offers a guarantee on all transactions to make sure you don’t get ripped off.

 ► Macworld.com new, Full Story

Maryland Firefighters to Reopen Station as Pub

June 14, 2007 -  In a few weeks, retiring Montgomery County, Md. Captain Jeremy Gruber could own a piece of history.

Gruber recently won a bid for the historic Silver Spring Fire Station 1 with plans to open it as a bar and grille. The sale is expected to be finalized in the next couple of weeks and Gruber said he is planning to open it by mid- to late-spring of next year.

"Everyone I've talked to thinks it's the best reuse of the station," Gruber, who worked in the station from 1987-88 and off and on for the last 20 years, said. "I haven't talked to one person who didn't think this was a good idea."

 ► Firehouse.com new, Full Story

Goozex Game-Trading Site Adds Mac Titles

April 30, 2007 -  Goozex, a video game trading Web site, has recently opened its doors to Mac users. Goozex already offers trading services for PC and video game console users, available throughout North America.

Goozex was launched in July, 2006 by three college friends who were tired of getting taken advantage of by used video game stores that offer low trade-in prices for games, then turn around and sell the same games for a markedly higher fee. Their solution was to create Goozex as a way to facilitate online trading instead.

 ► Macworld.com, Full Story

Coming Soon: Park Place, Restaurant 3, Hook & Ladder Spin-Off

April 12, 2007 -  Rich and Matt Fleischer, fire-fighter buffs and owners of Hook & Ladder Brewing Company, will be turning a landmark Silver Spring firehouse (8131 Georgia Ave.) into an American restaurant that will preserve the station's original look and serve their popular beers.

► ZAGAT, Full Story

Making It: A young entrepreneur finds the money she makes from selling candy really sweet

April 8, 2007 -  Kailyn Cage was the kind of kid who loved candy (still does) and always had some with her. "Everyone called me Candy Girl," she says. So it made sense to the financially savvy Kailyn to bring a book bag full of treats to sell to fellow students at Kettering Middle School in Prince George's County. Kailyn had no idea that operating a business at school wasn't allowed, she says. "I was just running all over the place selling candy. Even my teachers bought candy."

► The Washington Post, Full Story

Post Buys Business School Student's Web site

March 13, 2007 - A 32-year-old University of Maryland student who started a local shopping guide on the Web two years ago has sold the site to The Washington Post Co.

While working on her MBA at Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, Zoey Rawlins created Shop DC, a shopping and fashion guide, with $7,000 in startup funding from the school's Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship.

► Washington Business Journal, Full Story

Finding a Hook in Silver Spring: Brothers to open restaurant and pub in old firehouse

March 5, 2007 - Where coils of fire hoses once rested, pints of ale will soon be poured.

The historic Fire Station No. 1 on Georgia Avenue in Silver Spring, which has been eyed by more than a dozen developers and hundreds of potential buyers since it went up for sale in July, will become a restaurant and brew pub with a firehouse theme. A firefighter and part owner of Hook & Ladder Brewing has a deal pending to purchase the property from the Silver Spring Volunteer Fire Department.

► The Washington Post, Full Story

Hook & Ladder Brewing is on Fire

February 20, 2007 - All it took was a second chance — and a degree from the University of Maryland.

Originally founded by brothers Rich and Matt Fleischer in 1999 in San Francisco, the Hook & Ladder Brewing Co. had its ups and downs until it reopened in Silver Spring about 20 months ago.

► Full Story

Putting Practice to Theory

February 16, 2007 - When Matt Fleischer founded the Hook & Ladder Brewing Co. eight years ago in Silver Spring, he had both the desire to make great beer and the drive to live out his entrepreneurial dream.

What he didn't have, he admits now, is much in the way of actual business knowledge.

"I learned about business in the trenches," Fleischer said. "But I wanted to learn more about the executive style, not just the in-the-trenches stuff."

► Full Story

Companies Coming & Going: New incubator company moves in, another moves out and lands in Annapolis

January 7, 2007 - It's only a week into the new year, and already the county's homeland security incubator has celebrated two victories.

The Chesapeake Innovation Center welcomed the first new tenant since May to its Admiral Cochrane Drive headquarters just as it sent off another firm to operate on its own in Annapolis.

► Full Story

Where the Smart Money's Going in '07: Local software, telecom, biotech firms figure to get the most venture funding

January 1, 2007 - Six years ago, John Backus was sure he'd found a winner in Mobile 365, a Chantilly start-up that routes text messages between wireless companies. Backus, a partner in Reston-based Draper Atlantic Ventures, invested $7 million in it over the next few years. His confidence was rewarded in September when a California software company purchased it for $425 million, sending $50 million back to his fund.

That's the kind of deal Backus -- and just about anyone else -- would like to repeat in the new year. So where will he and other local venture capitalists look to put their money in 2007?

► Full Story