Statistics show that most startups fail – but not because they lack good ideas, products or technology. Most startups fail because they lack enough of the right customers and a clear plan of action. Enter Dingman Jumpstart, a proprietary program designed by the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship that helps University of Maryland alumni increase their odds of building successful businesses by learning how to reduce “customer risk” and develop clear action plans.

Kevin Plank, UMD-Hosted Event Welcomes Top Student Entrepreneurs to Apply COLLEGE PARK, Md. and BALTIMORE, Md. – Applications are now being accepted for the 2015 Cupid's Cup Business Competition, presented by Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank and the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland's Robert H.

The 2014 Maryland Social Entrepreneur Corps (MSEC) wrapped up this month with an evening symposium for students to share their experiences with program partners, sponsors and prospective students. This past summer, fifteen UMD undergraduates traveled to Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador to support sustainable economic development. The students deeply impacted communities across all three countries by supporting the creation of businesses selling life changing products such as eye glasses, cook stoves and water filtration systems.

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is the recipient of the prestigious 2014 NASDAQ Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award. The award was presented at the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) Annual Conference, hosted by the University College London (UCL), Oct. 2-4, 2014.

Advice for entrepreneurs on how to improve or launch a startup Elana Fine is the managing director at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business. She's here to take your questions about securing funding, building your customer base, how the entrepreneurship landscape looks in this region, and more.

Things moved fast for FiscalNote cofounder Jonathan Chen, UMD ’14. He built innovative software, launched a business, attracted a substantial investment from billionaire Mark Cuban, moved to his Washington, D.C. headquarters and hired nearly 20 people — all in less than a year and all while an undergraduate studying finance and computer science at UMD.

MBA students from the Smith School joined peers from China and Israel in a business plan competition May 25 to June 1, 2014, in Beijing. Overall, participants vied for $2,750 in cash prizes during the China Business Model Competition, organized by Smith’s Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship and host partner, Peking University’s Guanghua School of Management. Other participants came from Zhejiang University in China and the Technion Israeli Institute of Technology.

Disease Diagnostic Group, maker of an inexpensive handheld device that can diagnose malaria in one minute, was named the winner of the 2014 Cupid’s Cup Business Competition.

Elana knows a bright idea when she sees one. Elana Fine, Dingman’s powerhouse leader and “Tech Titan,” is an invaluable resource to the startups that flock to the center. She started her career in investment banking and is now personally invested in growing student entrepreneurs and encouraging everyone to think entrepreneurially. We embody the spirit of entrepreneurship. We Are Smith. Learn more about Elana in her We Are Smith interview. What career achievement makes you most proud?

According to Net Impact’s recently released 2014 “Business as UNusual” rankings, the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business ranks 20th in Social Impact and 30th in Sustainability among MBA programs.