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College Media Group Wins University of Maryland Business
Competition
Under Armour’s Kevin Plank and BB&T Sponsor Fourth Annual Event
 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.
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.
About the University of Maryland’s Robert H.
Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader
in management education and research. One of 13 colleges and schools at the
University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate,
full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, 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 in
North America and Asia.
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