Pitch Dingman Competition

2022 Competition Tracks

Track 1: The David and Robyn Quattrone Venture Track

This track is targeted to students with scalable, tech or tech-enabled ventures that already have traction (revenue, users, investment and/or grants, customer interviews, etc.) but no minimum revenue is required. 

Grand Prize: $30,000

2nd Place: $10,000

3rd Place: $1,000

Semifinalist Prize: $500; $6,500 in AWS Activate Credits

Audience Choice Prize: $1000

Track 2: Main Street Track

This track is for small businesses with revenue ($1,000 minimum) and initial customers but not focused on scale.

Grand Prize: $20,000

2nd Place: $7,500

3rd Place: $1,000

Semifinalist Prize: $500; $6,500 in AWS Activate Credits

Audience Choice Prize: $1000

Track 3: Fearless Ideas Track

This track is an idea-style challenge for students who do not yet have a developed venture. Students must have started their venture after June 1, 2021, to be eligible. Ventures pre-revenue are encouraged to apply, and must not have made more than $1,000 in lifetime revenue.

Grand Prize: $5,000 and guaranteed admission to our Terp Startup summer accelerator program (additional $5,000 stipend)

Specialty Prizes:

All Main Street Track and Quattrone Venture Track Quarterfinalists and Semifinalists are also eligible for the following specialty prizes, with a $1,000 award each: 

1. Best Graduate
2. Best Smith Student Founder or Team
3. Ladies First Founders
4. Social Impact
5. Sustainability  

2022 Competition Dates

David & Robyn Quattrone Venture Track + Main Street Track

• Applications open: January 18, 2022, at 12 a.m.
• Application deadline: February 4, 2022, at 11:59 p.m.
• Quarterfinalists notified: February 24, 2022
• Semifinalists notified: February 24, 2022
• Pitch Dingman Competition semifinals: April 8, 2022

Fearless Ideas Track

• Applications open: January 18, 2022, at 12 a.m.
• Application deadline: February 4, 2022, at 11:59 p.m.
• Finalists notified: February 24, 2022
• Fearless Ideas Pitch Day: April 14, 2022

All Tracks

• Pitch Dingman Competition finals: April 26, 2022

The University is actively monitoring the incidence of COVID-19 in our region. At this time, Pitch Dingman Competition 2022 is scheduled to take place in person at Stamp Grand Ballroom. However, the Dingman Center and the University of Maryland will follow guidance from local health departments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding large gatherings, including CDC recommendations on preventing the spread of COVID-19. In the event that an in-person event is not possible, Pitch Dingman Competition will proceed in a virtual format. Details for that will be provided to semifinalist teams at the appropriate time.

Eligibility

All current University of Maryland - College Park (UMD-CP) and UMD-CP at Shady Grove students, both graduate and undergraduate, are welcome to apply. Applicant teams must be composed of at least 50% UMD-CP students as part of the founding team and currently serving on the lead management team. Ventures of any industry are welcome. All current students as well as students that graduated in Winter 2021 are eligible to apply.

You must complete an application for your team to be considered for the Pitch Dingman Competition. You may indicate which track you prefer in the application. Based on your interest and your application responses, the Dingman Center will make the final decision on which track your venture will compete in.

All tracks' applications consist of a series of questions about you and your business as well as a pitch deck, though there are some track-based differences below.

The Fearless Ideas Track: Be prepared to answer what your venture idea does, what problem it solves, and for whom. Additionally, you will prepare a short pitch presentation (no more than 5-7 slides) providing a brief overview of your business idea and a 3-minute video pitch. While the video should cover most of the information from your pitch deck, feel free to be creative in how you communicate this information. Some topics to include in the pitch deck are:

• What problem are you trying to solve? How many people have this problem?
• What is your solution to the problem?
• Previous attempt(s) at solving this problem and why is your solution better?
• How will you make money?
• Founder team – What backgrounds and experiences do they bring?
• Use of prize funds

The Quattrone Venture Track and Main Street Track: In addition to some clarifying questions, you will prepare a short pitch presentation providing a brief overview of your business idea. It is meant to help you—as an entrepreneur—to practice and hone your ability to verbalize and sell the idea to early-stage investors such as friends and family, angel investors and venture capital firms. The key is to share your passion and enthusiasm for your idea. Your pitch deck should be short (no more than 5-7 slides) and to the point. Some topics to consider for the application questions and to include in your pitch deck are:

1. What problem are you trying to solve?
2. How big is your problem? Talk about addressable market size.
3. What is your solution to the problem? What is the value proposition for the customer?
4. Who are your competitors and why is your solution better?
5. How will you make money? What are your revenue stream(s)? Marketing and distribution strategy?
6. Management team – What backgrounds and experiences do they bring?
7. Current traction – Do you have existing revenue?
8. Plan moving forward – How will you use the prize money to grow your business and what are your targets for the next six months?

Teams will also want to submit materials that will be used in print, web, and other media including:

• Team descriptions
• Team/team member photos
• Product or prototype photos (if applicable)
• Company logo (high-resolution files)

Quattrone Venture Track

Mike Ravenscroft MBA ‘21

Startup Success Manager, Dreamit Ventures

Mike is an early stage healthtech investor and startup strategist at Dreamit Ventures. He previously served on investment teams at C5 Capital and CIT GAP Funds, and has a background in strategy and technology consulting. He holds an MBA from the University of Maryland.

Sara Herald MBA ’11 

Sara Herald is the Director of the University of Maryland's Southern Management Leadership Program. Prior to this, Herald served as the Director of Venture Development at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship where she managed a portfolio of 7 venture programs and 3 undergraduate courses.

Jasmine Snead Ferguson ’18, MBA/MPP ‘21

Co-Founder, Aurora Tights
New Ventures Specialist, M&T Bank 

Jasmine Snead is a co-founder of Aurora Tights, an athletic apparel brand for performers in all shades and sizes that will soon be on sale in retail stores across the country. In one year, she grew Aurora Tights from an MVP to Pitch Dingman Competition Finals, where her outstanding performance won her the $15,000 grand prize. Jasmine is impact minded and has an intensive knowledge of retail, e-commerce, operations, and go-to-market strategies. She is a joint MPP/MBA ’21 candidate at the University of Maryland, College Park.  

Ryan Swann ‘06

Chief Data Analytics Officer, Vanguard

Ryan Swann is an angel investor and board member, investing and advising early-stage startups in the data/AI/ML, cybersecurity, blockchain, and sustainability spaces. Professionally, he has deep experience in data and advanced analytics (AI/ML) and is currently the Chief Data Analytics Officer at Vanguard, the world's second-largest asset management company. Ryan, an STS College Park Scholar, received his bachelor's from UMD, MBA from The Wharton School at UPenn, and MPA from Harvard University.

Main Street Track

Steve Freishtat ‘81

Founder, Next Day Blinds Corporation

Steve, a graduate of The University of Maryland, founded The Next Day Blinds Corporation in 1993. He served as its CEO, until its acquisition at the end of 2019. Over his twenty seven years as CEO, Steve developed and effectively utilized skills for the emergence of conscious leadership, orientation toward stakeholder culture, authenticity in branding, and instillation of organizational values.

Kendall Holbrook ‘02

CEO, Dev Technology Group, Inc.

Kendall N. Holbrook is the CEO of Dev Technology Group located in Reston, Virginia. In her 26-year career, she has supported a variety of roles in IT and has honed her skills by working with Government stakeholders. Ms. Holbrook serves as the Advisory Board Chair for After School All-Stars D.C, is a member of the Fairfax County Virginia Information Technology Policy Advisory Committee, and serves as a mentor to high school students through multiple programs in Fairfax County, with a specific focus on mentoring women and young girls. She holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Virginia, and a MBA from the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland.

Abby Malchow MBA ‘17

Sr. Business Development Manager, Small Business Empowerment, Amazon

Abby enjoys helping small businesses and entrepreneurs succeed in her role at Amazon and is 2017 MBA graduate of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and a 2013 BBA graduate (cum laude) from the University of Diego. Abby recently retired from the U.S. Navy on April 1, 2022 as a Chief Petty Officer after more than 20 years of service. Outside of her day job, Abby is a passionate advocate for veteran suicide prevention and mental health awareness. 

Max Weiner ’96

Owner, Max Weiner Jewelers
Founder & CEO, Budge Technology Inc

Max is an entrepreneur, real estate investor and gemologist who works mainly in the second hand jewelry markets buying and selling diamonds, watches, coins and other rare objet d’art. Max has started a handful of successful businesses that still prosper today. The newest is Budge Technology Inc, which has built a Restaurant Point of Sale Software as a Service Platform. Budge will be transformative in the way consumers interact with restaurants. Max holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Marketing from UMD.

David Quattrone MBA '05

Co-Founder & CTO, Cvent

David Quattrone is co-founder and CTO at Cvent, for which he designed and supervised the development of Cvent's original beta product as well as all of Cvent's subsequent product releases, upgrades and redesigns.

Chris Ballenger

Founder & CEO, APEX Strategies

Tom Parsons ’93, MBA ’10

President, Parsons Ventures, Inc.

Thomas formed Parsons Ventures, Inc. and purchased B&R Associates in 2012, an automotive equipment company. He has established himself as a respected leader in the automotive equipment industry, having been named to several manufacturer distributor councils, and he is a board member on the Washington Area New Automobile Dealers Association (WANADA). 

Ngozi Azubike '82

Chief Operating Officer, OBAN Corporation

Ngozi is an entrepreneur/consultant with 25+ years of experience in business startup, growth/acquisition, and operations with major U.S. corporations and governments. Her areas of expertise are business strategy, business transformation, and entrepreneurship. Her clients include executives in commercial firms and billion dollar federal agencies. 

Sarah Frimpong

CEO & Founder, Wellfound Foods

Sarah Frimpong (Frim) is the CEO + Founder of Wellfound Foods in Washington, D.C. Since 2013, Frim has grown the Wellfound from humble beginnings in a local food incubator to providing full-scale wholesale distribution of its fresh grab and go sandwiches, salads, grain bowls, and breakfast items to over 50 different sites in the region each week. 

Akash Magoon ’18

Co-Founder & CTO, Nayya

Akash Magoon is the co-founder of Nayya, a healthtech company based in New York City that personalizes the way that Americans choose and use their medical insurance and employee benefits. Nayya was founded in 2019, and they most recently announced their $55m series-C funding in March of 2022 - bringing total funding to north of $100m since inception. Akash was named 2022 Forbes' 30 Under 30, holds multiple patents in the domains of machine learning and healthcare, and is a University of Maryland Computer Science graduate in the 2018 class. Prior to founding Nayya, Akash started another healthtech company as a student at UMD, and also led software teams at Amazon Web Services and Enigma Technologies after graduating. Akash was born and raised in Baltimore, MD, and he is proud that Nayya has a growing team of Terrapins and Maryland natives.

Main Street Track

MatMate

James Dawson ’24 (Business Management)

The MatMate is a novel, patent pending protective device that stops the driver’s heel from wearing through their car’s floor mat. It attaches with carpet safe adhesive, making it a risk-free, totally unobtrusive solution to this issue.

North Star Creations

Mat Parsons, MBA ’22

North Star Creations creates products for parents to teach their children how to recognize and understand emotions. These tools will equip their children with self awareness and relationship skills to navigate through life.

Omega 3 LLC

Edwin Djampa ’22 (Nutritional Food Science)

Omega 3 is the nutritional food brand pioneering the use of brain-boosting, organic ingredients without compromising quality, taste, or sustainability.

Quattrone Venture Track

Chat Health

Aishwarya Tare ’22 (Human-Computer Interaction)

Chat Health is a digital health assistant that closes gaps in the healthcare-seeking process for university students and helps users access those resources through an empathetic design.

Quandry

Bryan Houlton ’23 (Computer Science), Ryan Downing ‘22 (Finance and Computer Science)

Quandry gives small-cap retail traders tools for researching, developing, and deploying automated trading strategies.

Vitalize 

Sanketh Andhavarapu ’23 (Health Decision Sciences)

Vitalize improves well-being and reduces burnout among healthcare providers. We offer a clinician-centric cognitive behavioral therapy mobile app and web-based dashboard with robust analytics and actionable insights for hospital leadership.

Thomas Savransky Entrepreneurial Award ($10,000): Quandary - Bryan Houlton ’23, Ryan Downing '22

Specialty Prizes ($1,000):

1. Best Graduate Founder or Team: Gelectric Medical INC - Leah Borden PhD ’22, Matthew Dowling PhD '10
2. Best Maryland Smith Student Founder or Team: Pet Passport - Dorian Stephens MBA ’22, Alex Sonnie MBS '22, Anthony Small MBA '22, Ogugua Obii-Obioha MBA '22, Shahriar Jahanbani MBA '22, Dorian Stephens MBA '22, Musangu Tanguy Bukasa MBA '22
3. Ladies First Founders: Crys & Co Cosmetics - Crystal Pinckney ’22
4. Social Impact: WISE Cities, LLC - Marie Brodsky ’24, Katherine-Aria Close '23
5. Sustainability: Repurpose Farm Plastic LLC. - Krisztina Christmon ’22, Benjamin Rickles PhD ’23

Founders Showcase Audience Choice Award: Tap In - Zach Lefkovitz ’24, Samai Patel ’25, Robert Castro ’24, Nathan Tablang ’24, Corben Vorheees ’25, Matthewos Gashaw ’25, Joseph Beckman ’25, Edward Awe ’25, Neil Kundagrami ’24 and Amrit Magesh ’25

Fearless Ideas Track:

Grand Prize ($5,000): Reglass - Bennett Greenspun ’24

Main Street Track:

Audience Choice Prize ($1,000): MatMate - James Dawson ’24

3rd Place ($1,000): North Star Creations - Mat Parsons, MBA ’22

2nd Place ($7,500): MatMate - James Dawson ’24

Grand Prize: ($20,000): Omega 3 LLC - Edwin Bright Djampa ’22

The David and Robyn Quattrone Venture Track:

Audience Choice Prize ($1,000): Vitalize - Sanketh Andhavarapu ’23, Veeraj Shah ’21

3rd Place ($1,000): Quandry - Bryan Houlton ’23, Ryan Downing '22

2nd Place ($10,000): Chat Health - Aishwarya Tare ’22

Grand Prize ($30,000): Vitalize - Sanketh Andhavarapu ’23, Veeraj Shah ’21