Fresh off their new launch for the 2015-16 school year, VentureStorm is turning heads.
After winning one of five $2,000 prizes from BB&T during the Cupid’s Cup Startup Showcase in April, the VentureStorm team received funding from the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the Robert H. Smith School of Business to grow their company this summer in the third and final stage, Terp Startup, in the Fearless Founder program.
The first two stages, Idea Shell and Hatch, involve testing, tweaking and launching a business. The eight-week Terp Startup summer incubator, described as the “just do it” phase, culminated with the Dingman Center’s July 30 Demo Day for the seven entrepreneurial groups granted $5,000 to forego a normal summer internship experience in favor of working to establish their business idea.
A one-minute video serves as a sticking point for the new launch, ensuring potential users receive a clear message of the company’s services. On September 10, Rock Shore Media, who VentureStorm partnered with to create the following video, released an article on their work with such a “visionary” company.
The Diamondback – the University of Maryland student newspaper voted 2013’s top college paper in Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and the District of Columbia by the Society of Professional Journalists – ran a front-page feature on the revamped site that now spans nine campuses in its September 23 edition.
In the article, chief operating officer Tyler Denk called benefits of a large-scale network similar to that of College Park, “ideal” for compiling an effective balance of entrepreneurs and developers.
One week later, the young company graduated from the collegiate media ranks as Denk, CEO Taylor Johnson and chief product officer Tommy Johnson were featured in their own words in the Washington Post’s “On Small Business” section.
In addition to Denk and the Johnson twins, Dan Beyers’ spoke with Elana Fine, managing director at the Dingman Center, who applauded the company’s push for expansion to surrounding schools.
Acknowledging the comfort associated with working solely within a network of universities, she maintained a broader population must be reached in order for VentureStorm to scale up.
“There are a lot of requests from entrepreneurs in the surrounding region for development talent from universities,” Fine said, “… the key is that you are connected to the campuses, and in an area like D.C. you can easily grow that out without only operating student-to-student as you do now.”
By maintaining strongholds within the large pools of university students, the company provides a veritable breeding ground of hungry entrepreneurs eager to make their mark before they graduate, not after.
The benefit stretches beyond the student entrepreneurs efforts, as Fine notes, universities are “always looking for ways to better connect to the broader business community and alumni in the region.”
