Blogging/Internet Publishing Launched by Student

Senior Tony Casalena (pictured above) works on Squarespace, his Internet content management product that makes creating Web pages as easy as drag and drop.

University of Maryland senior Anthony Casalena believes he is opening up to the entire world a realm once reserved for computer geeks.

After seeing the limitations of popular blogging tools and the complexity of common Web page publishing sites, Casalena created Squarespace.com, an intelligent Internet content management system that gives average computer users a way to put together Web sites that's as easy as "drag and drop."

According to Casalena, Squarespace.com represents the next step in the evolution of World Wide Web publishing.

"People want to do more than publish blogs--and they want it to be easy," said Casalena. "They want to create multiple pages with different content and cater it to different audiences--rather than just having one, big, long blog. They want to publish and share files, and easily protect them with passwords. People also want to publish their journal to newsreaders in advanced formats and create discussion boards--without doing any programming," Casalena says. And, they want to track who's visited their site and what search engine words found them--without paying for expensive tracking services.

Launched in December 2003, Squarespace has already attracted political columnists, athlete fan sites, large organizations, small businesses, students and home bloggers.

Harry Siegel, publisher of New Partisan, a journal of politics, culture and the arts, chose Squarespace for his Web site.

"Prior to finding Squarespace, we spent six months dealing with inept college students, shady, fly-by-night operations, excessively expensive solutions and inflexible, free tools," said Siegel. "Squarespace allowed us--without any knowledge of HTML--to design a complex, content-rich Web site and then focus on putting out a magazine--not keeping our Web site running."

Casalena spent a year developing Squarespace. He's currently working on additional features for the service, including secure e-commerce solutions, such as shopping carts, credit card handling and PayPal compatibility. He's also planning more advanced project management features for corporate users.

Casalena is a member of the Hinman CEOs Program, the nation's first living-learning undergraduate entrepreneurship program. The CEOs Program, a joint effort of the A. James Clark School of Engineering and the Robert H. Smith School of Business, gives students the tools to start their own companies, including: high-tech, office-like facilities; conference and meeting rooms; wireless Internet access everywhere; and modern office equipment.

Boot Camp Teaches Strategies for Successful Startups

Phil Weilerstein (left), executive director of the National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance speaks at this year's Boot Camp. Through the alliance, the Maryland idea for startup boot camps is being replicated at campuses across the country.

Rome wasn't built in a day, but undoubtedly the laying of its foundation began during one. On October 25, more than 250 students and faculty members spent a day at the University of Maryland learning, if not how to found an empire, at least how to start a small business that someday might grow into one.

Taught by venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, marketing experts and intellectual property lawyers, the compressed workshop brought in attendees from 14 universities--including Johns Hopkins University, George Mason University, George Washington University, Howard University, Morgan State University, the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, and the University of Maryland, College Park.

The goal of the free workshop, called the Technology Startup Boot Camp, was to teach researchers how innovation can be transferred into promising commercial ventures. The Boot Camp was co-hosted by the University of Maryland and the National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance.

"This region is a hotbed for research," says David Barbe, executive director of the university's Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute. "The purpose of the Boot Camp is to help faculty and students get that innovative research out of their laboratories and into the commercial sector."

Boot Camp speakers included venture capitalists and IP lawyers from Ernst & Young, Fish & Richardson, SpaceVest, Gray Cary, Techno Venture Management, Telecommunications Development Fund, and New Vantage Group, as well as marketing experts from LM&O Advertising and Information Experts.

A "Finding the Money" panel featured representatives from Ernst & Young, SpaceVest, Mohr, Davidow Ventures and the New Markets Growth Fund, while a panel about the experiences of real-life entrepreneurs included speakers from DataStream Conversion Services, Spatial Software Solutions, Advanced Thermal and Environmental Concepts, and Citigal.

The Technology Startup Boot Camp was organized by the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute. Sponsors included: NCIIA, Fish & Richardson P.C., Gray Cary, Telecommunications Development Fund, Techno Venture Management, SpaceVest and Reed Smith.

Groundbreaking "New Markets" Course Wins Entreprenurship Award

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the university's Robert H. Smith School of Business is the winner of the 2003 national Outstanding Entrepreneurship Course of the Year award from the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE). The center received the award in January for its groundbreaking course, the New Markets Growth Fund Practicum, in which select M.B.A. and other graduate students work with a $20-million venture capital fund.

The New Markets Growth Fund (NMGF), which was initiated by the Dingman Center several years ago, invests in early and expansion stage companies primarily located in economically distressed sections of Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

Investors in the NMGF include public entities, private institutions and high-net-worth individuals.

"This course allows M.B.A., law and other students to gain valuable experience as actual 'associates' of a venture fund under the supervision seasoned venture capitalists," says Mark Grovic, NMGF managing director and the adjunct professor who teaches the course.

Twelve second-year Smith M.B.A. students participate in the two-semester New Markets Growth Fund Practicum each year. Students devote 15 hours per week to the course, including regularly scheduled class time, but the bulk of the work is directly related to the fund.