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November, 2005 |
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SPEAKER
EVENT
HUGH PANERO
--
PRESIDENT AND CEO OF XM
SATELLITE RADIO
TO SPEAK TO
ENTREPRENEURS AND STUDENTS
Wednesday, November 9
-- 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Hugh Panero to talk on
"RADIO TO
THE POWER OF X"
Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, D.C. , Horizon
Rooms A and B
XM
Satellite Radio is leading the satellite radio
industry with rapid growth in this exciting field,
and has experienced great success thus far. Mr.
Hugh Panero, President and CEO of XM Satellite
Radio,
will talk about the successes as well as problems
they have encountered as the leaders in the
satellite radio industry.
A reception will be
held prior to Mr. Panero's talk, during which time the audience can network with
each other, Smith faculty who are present, and Mr.
Panero. At
7:00 p.m. he will share his experiences in building the #1 digital satellite radio service in the U.S. and offer future perspectives for the industry.
RSVP via e-mail to
Carol Cron.
Dress is business formal.
A University of Maryland
charter bus will be available to transport
students needing transportation from Van Munching Hall to the Reagan
Building at 5:00 p.m. and will return them to College
Park at 8:30 p.m. The ride is FREE, but
you must buy a ticket to reserve your space, with
the money being refunded on the bus. E-mail
Ori Zohar for a
reservation on the bus.
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Dingman Process
Workshop
Tuesday, November 8 ~ 12:15 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
1505 Van Munching Hall
Join the Dingman Center
Managing Director and Dingman Center Scholars to
learn how to spot a business opportunity and how to
turn your business idea into a viable money-making
business. Pizza and sodas will be served.
RSVP to Carol
Cron.
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DINGMAN
CENTER EVENTS FOR NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER
Dingman Process Workshop
Come learn how to spot an opportunity for a business
idea, evaluate a potential business opportunity, and
put a new business in motion. Dingman Center
Managing Director Asher Epstein will talk about all
of these topics while describing the Dingman
Process. This workshop is open to all students
and regional entrepreneurs. He will also talk
about ways to get involved with the Dingman Center.
Pizza and soda will be served. RSVP to
Carol Cron.
Tuesday, November 8, 12:15 p.m. - 1:45 p.m., 1505
Van Munching Hall
Pitch Dingman
Competition
This event
is held monthly and is a follow-up to our weekly
walk-in Pitch Dingman held on Fridays at
11:00 a.m. Come to the monthly competition,
present your business idea in 5 minutes to a panel
of judges from the Dingman Center, and you could win
$500! For information about the weekly Pitch
Dingman sessions on Fridays or the monthly Pitch
Dingman competitions, e-mail Derek Vlcko at
dvlcko@rhsmith.umd.edu.
Friday, November 18, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., 3570 Van
Munching Hall
Friday, December 9, 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., 3570 Van
Munching Hall
Speaker
Event -- Hugh Panero, President and Chief Executive
Officer -- Wednesday, November 9
Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, D.C.
This event will feature Mr. Panero, who
has served as a member of the Board of Directors and
as President and Chief Executive Officer of
XM Satellite Radio
since June 1998. His talk is entitled
"Radio to the Power of X."
Mr. Panero has over 16 years
experience building and managing entertainment
distribution services. From 1993 to
1998, Mr. Panero served as President and Chief
Executive Officer of Request TV, a national
pay-per-view network owned by Liberty Media and
Twentieth Century Fox. Prior to his employment with
Request TV, Mr. Panero spent ten years with Time
Warner Cable where he was part of the team that
built the cable systems serving parts of Queens and
Brooklyn, New York. Mr. Panero held various
positions with Time Warner Cable, including VP,
Marketing. A reception will be
held during which time the audience can network with
each other, Smith faculty who are present, and Mr.
Panero.
RSVP via e-mail to
Carol Cron.
A charter bus is available for students needing
transportation from Van Munching Hall to the Regan
Building. E-Mail
Ori Zohar for a
reservation on the bus. The trip is free, but
you must buy a $5.00 ticket to reserve your space;
your money will be refunded on the bus. The
dress is business formal.
Wednesday, November 9, 5:45 - 8:00 p.m., Ronald
Reagan Building, Washington,
D.C.
Back-2-Basics
Panel Discussion -- "Exiting Your Business"
This
popular event continues with a discussion
about exiting your
business. Several entrepreneurs and Smith
faculty who are highly experienced in the topic of
"exiting your business" will talk about their
experiences, answer general questions from the
moderator, and then answer specific questions from
the audience. Panelists will
include Bill Cole, Partner, Ernst & Young, Roger Hebden,
Blueprint Technologies, Inc., S. Tien Wong, Opus8,
Inc., and Bob Baum, Associate Professor
in the Management & Organization Department at Smith School of
Business. Light
refreshments will be served.
RSVP to
Carol Cron.
Thursday, December 1, 5:00 - 7:00 p.m., 1206, Van Munching Hall,
College Park
Dingman Day
Lunch
These
catered luncheons are open to undergraduate and MBA
students and members of the entrepreneurial
community. The guest speakers will be Dr. Rudy
Lamone,
Founder of the Dingman Center, Mr. Dan Goodman, Smith
Technology Commercialization Fellow, and Mr. Omarr Tobias, Dingman
Center Scholar
talking about his business,
Clean City, LLC.
RSVP to
Carol Cron.
Friday, December 2, 12:30 - 2:30 p.m., 3rd floor
atrium, Van Munching Hall
Holiday Game
Festival -- Stamp Student Union
The
Dingman Center, Northstar Games and the YMCA will co-sponsor a
Holiday Game Festival at the Stamp Student Union on
December 4 from 11 a.m. until 9 p.m. This is a
great place to do some holiday shopping, try out
some new games, and win some cash and prizes!
Read more about this event below.
Sunday, December 4, 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m., Stamp
Student Union, University of Maryland, College Park
Half Day Seminar
on Business Growth Strategies
Co-Sponsored by Dingman Center and Grow Fast Grow Right Enterprises, LLC
Grow Fast Grow Right Enterprises, LLC (GFGR) is proud to partner with the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship and Snowbird Capital to offer a special half-day version of GFGR's full day and a half event on business growth strategies from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday, December 9, 2005. This half-day seminar has been custom-tailored for earlier stage and rapidly growing smaller companies. The program will cover current market trends and best practices in business growth, while offering the perspective of several local experts in a smaller, interactive environment.
Friday, December 9 -- 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.,
2517 Van Munching Hall (Executive Dining Room)
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OCTOBER, 2005 PITCH DINGMAN COMPETITION WINNER
The Dingman Center for
Entrepreneurship held its second
monthly "Pitch Dingman Competition" on
Friday, October 21. Pitch Dingman is a monthly
contest open to all members of the University of
Maryland community – including students, faculty and
staff – and is designed to promote the concept of
entrepreneurship and the launch of new businesses.
The format allows for a five-minute presentation of
a business idea, followed by three minutes of
questions and feedback. The contest judges include a
combination of Dingman Center MBA student scholars
and Dingman Center entrepreneurs-in-residence.
Undergraduates Chris
Mechanic and Erik Pedley received the
First Place Prize of $500 at the October 21 Pitch
Dingman Competition. The two student entrepreneurs
partnered together to develop a new-to-market
consumer product targeted to urban working
professionals. “Their product idea was formed by
first identifying an unmet need among the target
segment and then developing a creative solution,”
said Derek Vlcko, Pitch Dingman coordinator and
Smith School MBA student. “It's great to see a
continual stream of creative and innovative ideas
finding their way into the Dingman Center,” said
Vlcko, “We have the resources students need to take
their business from the ideation to the
implementation phase of start-up.”
“The
idea is very simple and it may even seem a bit
silly, but for an individual who suffers from this
problem the solution is worth its weight in gold,”
said Mechanic. Erik Pedley expressed, “It can be
intimidating trying to figure out how to bring an
idea to reality and it's something that many people
look to accomplish. The Dingman Center was extremely
helpful throughout this process.”
"The
quality of the ideas has significantly evolved. You
can tell there has been more analysis of not only
the customer but also the market than we typically
see in presentations. Whether you win or lose, Pitch
Dingman helps you refine your idea so that your
product and/or idea is plausible for the marketplace
- eventually helping you land an investor who sees
your passion for the idea,” said Sadia Asghar a
Dingman Scholar who participated as a judge in this
Pitch Dingman Competition.
The next Pitch
Dingman Competition is scheduled for 11:00 a.m. to
1:00 p.m. on Friday, November 18, 2005 in the
Dingman Center (3570 Van Munching Hall).
Working sessions are held at the Dingman Center on
non-competition Fridays to assist entrepreneurs in
preparing their pitches and to offer feedback and
advice once competitors' businesses are up and
running. For information about the monthly
competition or the weekly work sessions, contact
Derek Vlcko at
dvlcko@umd.edu.
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HOLIDAY GAME FESTIVAL
Co-Sponsored by Dingman Center, North Star Games
and the YMCA
Free
Holiday Game Festival for Families & Friends –
December 4th
More than
$2,000 in Cash Prizes and Door Prizes!
Come to the
Holiday Game Festival on Sunday, December 4 for a
fun time with friends and family, and get a head
start on your holiday shopping at the same time!
The
Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, the YMCA,
and North
Star Games are co-sponsoring a Holiday Game
Festival that will be held at the University of
Maryland campus in College Park. It will feature
over 50 volunteers who will teach and play the best
new board games with you, a
YMCA supervised activities room for kids,
local board game inventors, $1,000 in cash prizes,
and over $1,000 worth of raffled prizes! Admission,
raffle tickets, and all Holiday Game Festival events
are free!
The event will be in the Grand Ballroom in the Stamp
Student Union
from 11:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. on
Sunday, December 4.
This is your chance to enjoy the day with family and
friends and find unique holiday gift items all at
the same time. You can find more information about
the event on the North Star Games website at
http://www.northstargames.com/events/index.page.
North Star Games is a local start-up business that
was incubated at the Dingman Center in 2003.
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HALF
DAY SEMINAR ON BUSINESS GROWTH STRATEGIES
Co-Sponsored by Grow Fast Grow Right
Enterprises, LLC and the Dingman Center
Friday,
December 9 -- 8:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Grow
Fast Grow Right Enterprises, LLC (GFGR) is proud
to partner with the Dingman Center for
Entrepreneurship and
Snowbird
Capital to offer a special half-day version of GFGR's full day and a half event on business growth
strategies from 8:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. on Friday,
December 9, 2005. This half-day seminar has
been custom-tailored for earlier stage and rapidly
growing smaller companies. The program will cover
current market trends and best practices in business
growth, while offering the perspective of several
local experts in a smaller, interactive environment.
This event will include an opening presentation led
by award-winning Robert H. Smith Adjunct Professor,
lawyer and co-founder of Grow Fast Grow Right
Andrew J. Sherman
on the questions facing all
emerging growth companies including, “How do you
keep your momentum?”, “How do you ensure a
sustainable and durable increase in growth and
profits?”, and “How do you increase your value and
make money for your shareholders and leadership
team?” GFGR can show you how. A panel discussion
will follow with Mr. Sherman moderating and panel
members including Dingman Center Managing Director,
Asher Epstein, CEO of Snowbird Capital, Nelson
Carbonell and President of New Vantage Partners,
John May.
The leadership team at GFGR has seen it all in the
selection, development and implementation processes
of a given growth strategy. As business growth
experts, Grow Fast Grow Right has helped
hundreds of companies meet and exceed their
strategic, financial and performance goals,
delivering advice from the trenches and with the
real-world track record to back it up. A GFGR event
provides senior executives and other business
leaders with the proven insights, tools and
strategies that really do help to grow a strong,
well-founded company. We hope you will take
advantage of this rare opportunity to participate in
a world-class executive education program
co-sponsored by GFGR, the Dingman Center and
Snowbird Capital.
To register for this event call 1-866-GRO-RITE
or register online at
www.growfastgrowright.com.
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EVENT SUMMARIES
Dingman
Day Lunch (Overview of China Business Plan
Competition) -- October 14
Just after
noon on October 14, a crowd of over one hundred
students, faculty, and staff converged on Van
Munching Hall's Executive Dining Room. The smells of
ginger, garlic and soy wafted past the long line of
attendees who had registered for the Dingman Day
Lunch. The Topic: Lessons Learned from the China
Business Plan Competition.
Managing Director, Asher Epstein, and
Entrepreneurs-in-Residence Dan Goodman and John
LaPides were joined by Dingman Scholars Sadia Ashgar,
Derek Vlcko, and Valerio Zanini on their recent
trip to Beijing. The trip was centered around the
finals of the first China Business Plan Competition,
sponsored by the Robert H. Smith School of Business.
The winning team, which produces an arthritis
treatment based on extracts from Chinese herbs, was
awarded $25,000 to continue developing their
business. This monetary award represents many times
the average annual salary of most Chinese and was
presented with great emotion from all parties. The
competition itself received tremendous media
exposure. A report on the event was aired several
times by a Pan – Asian English language television
station.
The recap of the competition was merely a backdrop
for the myriad of lessons learned by the Dingman
team. Sadia, Derek, and Valerio made an excellent
presentation while the attendees enjoyed a large
Chinese food buffet from Hunan Treasure, a local
Chinese restaurant in Greenbelt.
-
After
several harrowing highway experiences, Sadia
realized the opportunities for infrastructure
improvements -particularly the roads. Sadia was
also impressed by the amount of service workers in
every store due to the low cost of labor.
-
After
lunching with a local Venture Capitalist, Derek was
struck by the lack of standardized accounting
regulations and credit risk management.
-
Valerio, who had visited soviet Russia, was
surprised by the “softer” character of China's
Regime. While there are very few political
freedoms, Valerio noticed, along with the other
scholars, an enormous entrepreneurial spirit among
those he met.
This
entrepreneurial power is not going unnoticed by the
Chinese authorities. One of the many highlights of
the trip was a visit to a massive Technology Park on
the outskirts of Beijing. The park houses 439 R&D
centers and covers 90 km2. A mix of independent
entrepreneurs aspiring to be the next Microsoft were
housed next to researchers co-sponsored by Sony,
BMW, and Ericcson.
All in all everybody was energized by what they
learned during their China experience. The China
Business Plan Competition was the first of what will
become an annual event. The next competition will be
in 2006, and the international companies of Siemens
and ING Asia have expressed interest in sponsoring
it.
Back-2-Basics
("Financing Your Business") -- October 18
About 45 students and local
entrepreneurs came to the campus of the Universities
at Shady Grove on October 18 for the first of our
Back-2-Basics series for this academic year.
The topic was "Financing Your Business", and the
panel consisted of Smith Senior Fellow Mark Walsh,
Silicon Valley Bank Vice President Megan Scheffel,
and Oblicore CEO Yuval Boger. Asher Epstein,
Managing Director of the Dingman Center was also on
the panel and helped to guide the Q&A discussion.
Representing the banking industry, Megan Scheffel
talked about what they most want to see when a small
business comes to them for financing, which is
customers and revenue.
Mark Walsh talked about his many experiences
financing different ventures over the years, and
what he currently looks for in businesses in which
he now makes investments. Yuval Boger talked
about the challenges he has had with a variety
of start-up experiences.
The next Back-2-Basics will take place in Van
Munching Hall on Thursday, December 1 from 5:00 -
7:00 p.m. Bill Cole, a Partner with Ernst and
Young, Roger Hebden, CEO of Blueprint Technologies,
and Associate Professor Bob Baum will talk about
"Exiting Your Business". This event is open to
the public, and all are welcome; light refreshments
will be served. RSVP to
Carol Cron.
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www.mbafinder.net
A new online service launched by the Dingman Center
A new service to match MBA students
with area businesses looking for some good part-time
and/or short-term consulting by MBA students was
launched this month by the Dingman Center for
Entrepreneurship.
MBAFinder.net
is a marketplace for temporary service to help small
businesses and entrepreneurs find high quality
graduate business school students to work on short
term projects.
Any Smith MBA student who is looking for some short
term, part-time work, whether for money or just for
the experience, should check out
mbafinder.net
to
see what kinds of skills are currently being
sought.
Please provide any feedback about this new online
service to Asher Epstein, at
aepstein@rhsmith.umd.edu .
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THE DINGMAN
CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP
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
Dr. Charles Heller, Chairman of the Board and Director Emeritus
Dr. Scott Koerwer, Associate Dean,
Professional Programs and Services
Please visit our website at
http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/dingman.
This
newsletter is powered by and co-sponsored by
Mailer-Mailer, at
http://www.mailermailer.com/
Previous
2005 Issues of Dingman Center
Newsletters:
October, 2005
September, 2005
July, 2005
June, 2005
May, 2005
April, 2005
March, 2005
February, 2005
January, 2005
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