Startup Shell was founded out of a storage closet in 2012 with the mission of creating an entrepreneurship community for students at the University of Maryland. Fast forward to today and we've got an amazing alumni base, scores of ventures that have passed through our program and had successful exits, and a brand new coworking space in the E.A. Fernandez IDEA Factory, which will open in 2022.
Startup Shell's entrepreneurship program is one-of-a-kind at the University of Maryland. We support undergraduate and graduate student business ventures through two distinct membership tracks within our incubator
The founders track invites ventures to apply to the incubator for access to resources that they can use to grow their venture at low cost.
The fellows track invites passionate individuals to apply to the incubator for access to many of the same resources as ventures, as well as opportunities to join existing ventures or start new ones during their time in the program.
Both programs follow a traditional year-long cycle. Members of Startup Shell retain access to benefits for the lifetime of their student-status at the University of Maryland and access to a subset of benefits upon graduation from the University.
Use Startup Shell to…
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Find a lab/space for creating/making
Startup Shell offers the University of Maryland community access to its coworking space during normal business hours. Stop by, work on whatever you like, and chat with a community of driven, like-minded individuals. This coworking space is currently located in the Herbert Rabin Technology Advancement Building, but will move to the IDEA Factory after construction is complete.
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Find an entrepreneurship program
Startup Shell's entrepreneurship program is one-of-a-kind at the University of Maryland. We support undergraduate and graduate student business ventures through two distinct membership tracks within our incubator: the founders track and the fellows track. Both programs follow a traditional year-long cycle. Members of Startup Shell retain access to benefits for the lifetime of their student-status at the University of Maryland and access to a subset of benefits upon graduation from the University.
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Find and invest in startups
Ventures in Startup Shell are of the same quality and caliber as ventures in other well known incubators and accelerators around the world. A stringent application and interview process selects only the ventures with the highest probability of success and ultimately, an exit. We invite investors to come by our coworking space, chat with our founders, and get to know the community. Click here to see a list of active ventures within Startup Shell.
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Find entrepreneurship events
Events hosted by Startup Shell incorporate a variety of topics and interest areas. Our longest running lecture series, Shell Talks, provide a platform for anyone to give a talk about anything under the sun. Topics covered in past Shell Talks include blockchain technology to face reading. Outside of Shell Talks, Startup Shell also hosts grind nights, a EXPO every semester, and private events exclusive to Startup Shell members. Check the Startup Shell events page for upcoming activities.
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Launch my venture
In addition to our community of entrepreneurs, Startup Shell offers resources to members and the University of Maryland community that enable founders to more easily get their venture off the ground. Examples include credits on Amazon Web Services and DigitalOcean platforms, free file storage on Dropbox, access to IP assistance, and more. Check out the variety of resources we offer to members.
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Learn about entrepreneurship
Just like our ventures, Startup Shell itself is a student-run startup. We work with campus partners to help ingrain entrepreneurship and innovation into the campus ecosystem and are more than happy to help point you in the right direction to get started. Stop by our coworking space and chat with our community!
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Recruit interns & hire future grads
While we love it when students graduate and work on their venture full-time, we appreciate and understand that sometimes the time just isn't quite right. Startup Shell's graduates and alumni work at some of the world's leading companies and are always doing something cool. Startup Shell alumni work at Google, Facebook, Twitter, Dropbox, and more. We're always happy to work with industry partners on recruitment opportunities.