College Media Group Wins Dingman Center's Cupid's Cup Business Plan Competition Watch the new Smith Business Close-Up Video!

College Park, Md. - April 20, 2009 – College Media Group, a media company targeted at college students, took home $17,500 as the top winner and People’s Choice at the Cupid’s Cup business competition, held April 17 by the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. The competition highlights the center’s success starting and growing firms “from the back of the napkin to the first million dollars in financing” and is sponsored by Kevin Plank, CEO and chairman of sports apparel maker Under Armour.

There was plenty of evidence that interest in entrepreneurship remains strong despite a downturn economy. The pre-competition BB&T Business Invitational offered a showcase of emerging, university-affiliated companies to attending business leaders, investors, alumni and students with T-shirt maker Crooked Monkey and organic children’s food company Mom Made Foods voted by attendees as the best student and the non-student companies for awards of $2,000 each.

“Entrepreneurship is the foundation of this country, and it’s the key to our future success,” said Plank. “At Under Armour, and with entrepreneurship in general, we maintain the perspective of always being smart enough to be naïve enough to not know what we can’t accomplish. We never believed it couldn’t happen. Our job is to create and foster that here at the University of Maryland. It’s a community that really supports entrepreneurship — there is no greater asset.”

“These firms are really part of a larger statement about how the State of Maryland has become a significant source of future U.S. economic growth and opportunity,” said Asher Epstein, managing director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. “The Dingman Center is helping fuel the region’s leadership in working with these companies and providing them with opportunities for recognition and feedback.”

Cupid’s Cup got its name from one of Plank’s early entrepreneurial ventures, a Valentine’s Day rose sale business called Cupid’s Valentine, which he started while an undergraduate at the University of Maryland. This small business earned him more than $20,000 during his four years at the university and helped provide the genesis for Under Armour.

The Dingman Center provides MBA and undergraduate students at the Smith School with practical experiences and opportunities to pitch their business ideas, obtain feedback from experienced entrepreneurs-in-residence and access funding. The center has been a hub of campus and regional entrepreneurial activity for more than 20 years. Among the Dingman Center’s resources is its Capital Access Network (CAN), a pipeline that connects startups from regional tech councils, incubators and state-funded institutions with a network of more than 32 active, accredited angel investors and venture capitalists for early-stage capital.

The Smith School is ranked among the best in the nation for its entrepreneurship offerings, according to rankings by U.S. News & World Report, Entrepreneur magazine, The Princeton Review and Fortune Small Business.

Plank, a 1996 Smith School graduate, donated the $22,500 prize money that went to the winning University of Maryland student and alumni startups. He presented the $15,000 first prize and trophy cup to College Media Group and the $7,500 check to runner-up Student Sherpas, a summer shipping and storage service for college students. Other finalists were nutritious snack maker Health Happy Snacks, tattoo-style T-shirt company Tees and Tats, and sports camps and training provider Maryland Youth Football. Sam Medile ’80, a successful entrepreneur and former Terp student athlete, sponsored the $2,500 People's Choice Award, which was decided by an online vote.

“Entrepreneurship is the foundation of this country, and it’s the key to our future success,” said Plank. “At Under Armour, and with entrepreneurship in general, we maintain the perspective of always being smart enough to be naïve enough to not know what we can’t accomplish. We never believed it couldn’t happen. Our job is to create and foster that here at the University of Maryland. It’s a community that really supports entrepreneurship — there is no greater asset.”

“These firms are really part of a larger statement about how the State of Maryland has become a significant source of future U.S. economic growth and opportunity,” said Asher Epstein, managing director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. “The Dingman Center is helping fuel the region’s leadership in working with these companies and providing them with opportunities for recognition and feedback.”

Cupid’s Cup got its name from one of Plank’s early entrepreneurial ventures, a Valentine’s Day rose sale business called Cupid’s Valentine, which he started while an undergraduate at the University of Maryland. This small business earned him more than $20,000 during his four years at the university and helped provide the genesis for Under Armour.

The Dingman Center provides MBA and undergraduate students at the Smith School with practical experiences and opportunities to pitch their business ideas, obtain feedback from experienced entrepreneurs-in-residence and access funding. The center has been a hub of campus and regional entrepreneurial activity for more than 20 years. Among the Dingman Center’s resources is its Capital Access Network (CAN), a pipeline that connects startups from regional tech councils, incubators and state-funded institutions with a network of more than 32 active, accredited angel investors and venture capitalists for early-stage capital.

The Smith School is ranked among the best in the nation for its entrepreneurship offerings, according to rankings by U.S. News & World Report, Entrepreneur magazine, The Princeton Review and Fortune Small Business.