Don't miss our second Speaker Series of the semester!  Come learn how to polish your image by literally "turning on your creativity"! 

Join us on March 30th at 12-1 pm and spend time with Neil Beller, a successful alum who spent time in Hollywood and now runs a production company in Baltimore.

Event Description:

Neil has worked for 30 years in the television production and motion picture industry and has learned a great deal about creativity. From delivering your resume, to making clients remember you, creativity is the key to everything. By sharing stories about his time editing and gripping in Hollywood, California and his decision to start his own television production company in Baltimore, Neil will convey valuable lessons about how to sell yourself properly.

About Neil:

Kit and Kaboodle Productions is an award winning video production team specializing in corporate and industrial videos, television commercial advertising and campaigns, web video production, creative design, copywriting, and marketing strategies. They help great businesses become even greater with targeted strategies, creative design, and of course, powerful video.

Come join us in one week for a discussion with John Schveibinz and learn how to perfect your pitch! Listen to his first-hand insights on what a winning business pitch sounds like, and how you can give a knockout presentation of your business idea. By the end of this workshop, you'll have all the tools you need to attract Angel investors, Venture capitalists, and anyone else to your business ideas. 

Mark your calendar for  March 28th from 12 - 1:00 pm in entreSpace, located in ACAD/ THTR, room 139. We can't wait to see you there!

Event Description

The focus of this workshop is to teach students and faculty how to
translate their viable business ideas into a concise pitch presentation
that investors can understand and rally behind.  Attendees will learn
about the structure, research, design and delivery of an effective
business pitch.  In addition to the presentation, attendees will be
provided with a step-by-step plan and worksheet to take away from the
workshop to help them get started.

About John

John J. Schveibinz is the Founder and Owner of Paxridge Technology, LLC, a technical consulting firm. He is also a mentor with SCORE of Greater Baltimore, an Electrical Engineer, an Angel Investor and a UMBC Alumnus. His focus is on encouraging positive change through technology and innovation. He has experience in business startup, management, M&A, technical management, business development, engineering design, government contracts, education, and business finance & investment. He is a member of the Baltimore Angels, and is the SCORE representative to UMBC. He has counseled and advised numerous UMBC students regarding their business ideas. He has a MSEE from Johns Hopkins University, a MA in Teaching from UMBC, a BSEE from the University of Akron and a Certificate of CoOp Education.

1. Innovation
1. Not everyone needs to be an entrepreneur to make change and innovate 
2. Steve Jobs credited his success to keeping a wide range of people around him to create ideas
3. Anybody with any background can successfully innovate without being an Entrepreneur (intrapreneurship)
2. Background
1. 3rd generation civil engineer 
2. "There's been more innovation in hats in the last 400 years than there had been in survey technology" 
3. New survey technology funded by NSA and received interest from Hollywood for the Titanic, researchers in Switzerland, and NASA. 
4. 10 years and 20 million dollars to find a good opportunity for their product with Boeing and their new airplane design
1. Value: Speed
3. ICorp program
1. Academic researchers
2. Developed by entrepreneurs and taught by entrepreneurs 
3. The Lean Start-up 
1. Don't waste a lot of time and money on something no one wants 
2. Biggest mistake entrepreneurs make is assuming they know what other people want 
3. Go out and talk to people before you build and product or put together an idea 
4. "You promised me Mars colonies and instead you gave me Facebook"  
4. Do not fool yourself because you are the easiest person to fool
1. Most of us hear what we want to hear
5. Don't spend your time on your business plan
1. Investors invest based on how good your idea sounds, not how good your business plan is 
2. Projections are virtually useless for start-ups 
1. For a start-up knowing anything past the first 3 months is usually a stretch  
2. END GOAL is to create a repeatable and scalable business model (Only thing you should be worried about)
6. Don't build something no one wants 
1. Refer back to the lean start up
2. Most start ups fail because no one wants what they've built
3. Differentiate between a "feature" and a full-fledged business 
1. If you have just a product idea but want to create a start-up, you need to expand the product to be a long lasting business (most businesses don't sell ONE thing)
7. Focus
1. "Don't go to Hollywood"/"don't chase the shiny object"
2. zero in on your best-fit customer 
8. Customer
1. Evidence come from customer interviews
2. Customer segments 
1. Different costumers have different needs
2. Specify to the -t who your customers all are 
1. end user
2. decision maker
3. payer
9. Value
1. Value and features are not the same thing, although features lead to value 
2. Understand the value that you're bringing, and if it truly gives you a competitive advantage 
1. Faster is not always better
2. Cheaper is not always important 
3. Easier to use isn't value to your product, it's just a feature

More than a year ago, UMBC student Eliot L Carney-Seim began developing DETHRONED, an original card game designed to fill in gaps he felt were in today's growing tabletop market. Today, his game is now on Kickstarter.com and has already gained almost $7000 since it launched less than 2 days ago.

Preparing for a good kickstarter was a process that involved a great deal of UMBC students and even alumni. Though on virtually no budget and several team members graduating this very same semester, DETHRONED is among 77 out of 583 games currently on Kickstarter that received a "Projects We Love" tag from Kickstarter.com staff.

If you're interested in following our progress, we'll be putting up blog posts and tweets and other updates as we reach our goal. Check out a new original game invented right here on campus!

KICKSTARTER: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kitelion/dethroned-the-card-game

TWITTER: Twitter.com/eliotleo
TUMBLR: Kitelion.tumblr.com 
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/DETHRONEDGAME/

Celeebrate Us Gift Baskets presents a spring Business Start-Up Expo and Pitch Contest on Saturday April 23, 2016 at East Point Mall.

Register to attend and pitch your business idea to top sector leaders. Your winning entry could land you a chance to win  cash, gift cards and a grand prize of a mall Kiosk for two months. You must submit a written submission and a video submission. Submissions should be emailed to : celeebrateus@yahoo.com .

You can only submit a pitch once you have registered.

If selected, you will get 15 minutes to pitch your business idea to expo judges. Register below:

REGISTER

Keep reading for event details.

When:

Saturday, April 23, 2016 from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM (EDT)

Where:

Celeebrate Us @ East Point Mall 7839 East Point Mall, Baltimore, MD 21224

1. The idea
1. 25 years old, playing professional lacrosse and selling health care benefits in Annapolis, Maryland 
2. Comes home one day to find that his mother's homemade salad dressing was stolen by a friend 
3. Decides there must be an appeal if someone goes through the trouble to steal the dressing, so he sets up a meeting with a local Whole Foods for a tasting
2. The brand 
1. Lies about having an established company, and brings the store's supervisor a Tupperware container with lettuce doused in his mother's dressing
2. Supervisor is confused but likes the taste and sets up a meeting with Annapolis Whole Foods directors for Vetter. 
3. Vetter tries the same Tupperware idea again to avoid admitting he has no packaging, and bluffs his way through serious questions about manufacturing and logistics 
4. Meeting goes well and they ask him to send his legal documentation, and he bluffs his way through all the requirements because he doesn't understand half of them (He gets his HACCP from a Google Search on HACCP plans for dressing companies) 
5. Gets the contract anyway 
3. Sales and Marketing
1. Sells 4 cases of a dozen bottles at a Wholefoods demo in just 30 minutes.
2. Ends up breaking a national record by selling 650 bottles in less than five days just at demos 
3. Made the dressing with his two brothers in the middle of the night at a ribs restaurant by hand for two years. 
4. Expansion
1. Demoed across the country in various Wholefoods stores
2. Expanded to Costco and Safeway and had to expand product options to adapt
3. Expanded product line to all condiments
4. Expanded to 150 employees in 7 years 
5. Struggles and Lessons
1. "Never give up" 
1. Spent 2 and a half years manufacturing everything by hand in the middle of the night, but he never let that put him down
2. "Knock down 7 times, get up 8"
1. Got a small business loan for a piece of manufacturing equipment that went to waste because they didn't have the rest of the equipment to make it work. 
3. Be practical
1. His car was repossessed because he didn't pay himself, and couldn't make his car payments.  
4. "When it rains, it pours"
1. After two and a half years of struggling, every time something good happened, it ended up being a huge blessing (Safeway contract happened the week after the car was repossessed).
5. Prepare for the journey and appreciate it
1. 86% of consumer packaged brands fail, so it's worth being humble about success that can be so volatile
6. Be Authentic
1. The ability to sell an emotion will knock them down every time. Tessemae's is a homemade family recipe that's made by three brother's by hand out of all natural ingredients. It's one of the very last few condiment companies that make condiments that actually need to be refrigerated like real food. It's something that makes them stand out and be remembered. 
7. "Master the minute"
1. Being able to not waste time during the day by organizing, planning and acting and half of the struggle. Everyone has the same number of hours in a day, and people that are successful are those who make the most of them. 

If you go to UMBC, you know there are three rules to never break:

1) Never leave your parking spot unless you absolutely HAVE to because there is NO chance you'll find another.

2) You can't speak your native language anywhere on campus to talk about people because someone will understand you.

3) Never set yourself up to be standing at the Starbucks line between 10 am - 1 pm because there are 50 plus people trying to get a coffee fix and you'll never make it to class on time.

Enter: Joseph Hyman, UMBC Mechanical Engineering major of 2011, and certified coffee fanatic.

Now, how exactly does one become a certified coffee fanatic? You probably think that's just a flowery title to make this article sound cool. No, Joseph Hyman is actually a certified coffee fanatic, so much so that he and his team have created the next revolutionary coffee related device, right next to the K-cup. 

After a Kick-starter campaign with over 700 supporters and and $85,000 in Crowdfunding Pledges, Joseph has answered all of our hot-beverage prayers. 

Meet MoJoe Brewing Co., one of the only companies that sell a portable coffee mug and coffee maker in one. It gets better; not only does this cup make coffee anywhere you go, it looks exactly like a regular coffee mug, and it fits in your car's cup holder so it's not inconvenient at all.

But wait, it gets even better. MoJoe's cup can be charged in your car, an outlet, and even with a rechargeable battery! It's more convenient than charging your phone. The cup is filled with any kind of water, and will heat it up to more than 195 degrees Fahrenheit so your hot cup of afternoon java isn't compromised just because you're busy.   

MoJoe comes in 9 different color assortments for your taste,  and takes ground coffee as well as coffee packets for convenience.

Joseph works with Ezekail Kolajo and Jingrui Wang, both UMBC students/former students. With no business experience to work with, Joseph and his team used the support and resources of the Alex Brown Center to guide his way through the start up. In fact, you may even recognize him from our Entrepreneurship Panel a year ago. He's been featured on Huffington Post, Mashable, and the Baltimore Business Journal, and his product hasn't even officially launched yet. After seeing this start up through, Joseph says, "It makes the sleepless nights worth it".

We always knew UMBC alumni were smart, but they just stole our hearts too.                           

If you're interested in MoJoe's product, click here. To read the original article, click here.