University of Maryland MBA Startup Lands Target Deal

College Park, Md. October 11, 2007 North Star Games, a Dingman Center portfolio company has landed its party game, Wits & Wagers, on the shelves of Target stores nationwide for the upcoming holiday season. The Dingman Center, part of the University of Marylands Robert H. Smith School of Business, helps students and regional entrepreneurs develop their businesses. North Star Games was started and incubated at the center when founders Dominic Crapuchettes and Satish Pillalamarri were 2004 Smith MBA candidates. It is now one of the Dingman Centers eight portfolio companies, to which the center provides funding and advisory services in exchange for equity.

Getting picked up by a top retailer such as Target is a major score for North Star Games, said Asher Epstein, managing director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship. We have been supporting NorthStar games for four years and theyve come a long way. Wits & Wagers is a great game and Targets decision is further validation. The company is great example to other Smith School student entrepreneurs.

As a Dingman Center portfolio company, North Star Games has received $10,000 in financial support along with business mentorship from the center and its team of experienced entrepreneurs-in-residence. In 2006, the company won the Dingman Centers first Cupids Cup business competition and the $10,000 prize to fund the venture. A year later, the founders were inking the deal with Target.

Its the classic story of taking a business to the next level, Crapuchettes said. We had to raise half a million dollars, negotiate contracts with overseas manufacturers, and navigate the intricacies of Targets electronic procurement system, all while trying to maintain our normal operations. The Dingman Centers support throughout the process has been a huge help.

The Wits & Wagers game has players guessing answers to trivia, and then betting on the answer they think is the closest to correct. It has won a dozen prestigious industry awards, including the 2007 Party Game of the Year from Games magazine and the Mensa Mind Games award.

In addition to the Target deal, a Seattle-based video game company will release Wits &Wagers on a major platform in December. An entertainment agency is also interested in adapting the game into a television game show for 2008.

Financials of the Target deal were not disclosed. More information about North Star Games can be found at www.NorthStarGames.com. 

A $175,000 investment fund recently created with donations from Smith alumni Carly Fiorina, former Hewlett-Packard head, and Kevin Plank, founder of sports apparel company Under Armour allows the Dingman Center to invest up to $30,000 in companies started by current and former students. Dingman Center invests up to $30,000 in viable companies started by current and former Smith students. In addition to North Star Games, the center has invested in, among others, Hook & Ladder Brewing Co., a microbrewery started by a Smith MBA student; SHOP DC, a shopping publication started by an MBA student and acquired by the Washington Post Newsweek Interactive; Goozex, an online used-video game trading platform founded by a Smith MBA and University of Maryland undergraduate Economics graduate; and Geocentric, a Web-based destination marketing company founded by a Smith EMBA graduate.

About the University of Marylands Robert H. Smith School of BusinessThe Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 14 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, executive MS, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations on three continents North America, Europe and Asia.