Stories & Updates

Darian Elmendorf’s path as a founder began with a deeply personal mission: making mental health support more accessible, relatable and sustainable. As he returned home to restart the project years ago, he turned a broad mental health group landscape into a specialized workforce development firm through Polaris Pathways.

Two teams in Horn Entrepreneurship’s Summer Founders pre-accelerator program are exploring how technology can help people make clearer, more intentional decisions. Prediction Wizard is building a points-based platform for social predictions and friendly competitions, while Budge is developing a pre-purchase decision support tool that helps users pause before spending. This is the first article in a series highlighting the teams participating in the 2026 Summer Founders program. You can meet them at this year’s Demo Day on August 13.

Launching a startup is hard. It requires grit, resourcefulness, and comfort with uncertainty. It also requires a community. The student entrepreneurs participating in the 2026 Summer Founders program have quickly learned they aren't alone on their journeys.

From housing to fightwear to agricultural robotics, UD Summer Founders alumni share how 12 weeks of mentoring and customer discovery changed everything.

Alec Boyd is a fall 2025 entrepreneurship grad with a minor in professional selling and sales management and a familiar face in the Venture Development Center. When he tried to transfer a few community college courses back to the University of Delaware to save time and tuition, he hit a wall of PDFs, emails, and outdated processes. Alec leveraged his coursework plus VentureOn, Pitch Party, and Hen Hatch to turn a personal frustration into a tool that can save students real time and real money: Equivly.

Building parts that stand three feet tall isn’t an everyday 3D printing job and that’s exactly where Relay Manufacturing thrives. The manufacturing services company helps organizations bridge the gap between design and production through large-format additive manufacturing and other manufacturing services. The venture was founded by Rich Hayburn, a University of Delaware Class of 2020 graduate who studied Mechanical Engineering with an Integrated Design minor, along with a math minor and manufacturing concentration. While at UD, Rich leaned into Horn Entrepreneurship through Summer Founders, NSF I-Corps, and VentureOn, experiences that helped him turn hands-on problem solving into a growing business.

From growing up in a STEM-driven household to becoming a New York Fashion Week designer at age 23, University of Delaware alumna Annabelle Brame has always moved at the intersection of creativity, sustainability, and bold vision. A 2024 graduate with a BS in Fashion Design & Product Innovation and a minor in Entrepreneurship, Annabelle built the foundation of her fashion label, Brame, through Horn Entrepreneurship programs including Summer Founders, REEF, and VentureOn. Today, she’s crafting an entirely new conversation around ethical design, adaptable apparel, and what it means to build a fashion house rooted in purpose.

UD alumna’s success comes as Horn Entrepreneurship climbs into the top 25 in the 2026 Princeton Review rankings

Entrepreneur and alumnus Tom Stauffer, class of 2024, has turned a passion for cars and content into a multi-business brand. As the founder of Tom’s Refurb, he creates unique automotive videos that have fueled the growth of three ventures: tomsrefurb.shop (an online shop for branded gear), Patreon (a subscription platform where fans support creators in exchange for exclusive content), and Speedy’s Equipment (an automotive performance parts business). From small engine repairs as a teen to designing his own auto parts today, Tom’s entrepreneurial journey shows the power of creativity, persistence, and building with purpose.