Stories & Updates

After 12 weeks of building, testing, pitching, and growing, 19 student-led ventures are ready to take the stage. Horn Entrepreneurship invites you to join us for the 2025 Summer Founders Demo Day on Thursday, August 14, where this year’s cohort will showcase their startups and share the progress they’ve made in UD’s premier startup pre-accelerator. Admission is complimentary, but advance registration is requested. Register now.

The University of Delaware has been awarded a $699,258 Institutional Impact Grant from the Educating Character Initiative (ECI), part of the Program for Leadership and Character at Wake Forest University to launch a three-year, university-wide initiative focused on character development. The project, University of Delaware Coalition on Character Development: Advancing Flagship State Institutional Leadership, will create a strategic plan to align and elevate character development efforts across academic and co-curricular settings.

Nineteen teams have been selected for Horn Entrepreneurship’s 2025 Summer Founders pre-accelerator program. This intensive 10-week experience gives University of Delaware students and recent graduates the opportunity to build their ventures full time with the support of resources, mentorship, and funding.

Meet Brian Mahon (BS in Entrepreneurship & Technology Innovation, Class of 2017), better known as Cyber Guy Bri, and founder of Igloo Insurance, a modern independent agency specializing in cyber, business, and personal insurance. With a career built on entrepreneurial grit, digital marketing savvy, and a bold leap into thought leadership, Brian shares what inspired him to launch Igloo and why reinvention can be a powerful tool for building a business that’s cool, credible, and completely his own.

From working behind the scenes at Horn Entrepreneurship to launching her own creative business, UD Class of 2020 alumna Allison Sanders has charted a bold and unconventional path. In this Q&A, she reflects on what it’s like to be a solopreneur, the lessons she’s carried from campus into her career, and what advice she’d give to students looking to launch something of their own.

At Horn Entrepreneurship, relationships fuel innovation. Whether it’s pairing students with seasoned entrepreneurs, bringing alumni back to share their wisdom, or creating opportunities for collaboration, building bridges is what we do best. And at the center of it all is Laurie Prysock, a true connector who thrives on forging meaningful relationships. We sat down with Laurie to learn more about how she brings people together to strengthen the Horn community.

Horn Entrepreneurship celebrated the achievements of 11 outstanding University of Delaware undergraduate students by awarding them more than $10,000 in cash and Venture Development Center (VDC) credit. These honors recognize the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit thriving within the university's student body.

This academic year, the University of Delaware (UD) has taken bold steps toward coordinating character development across its undergraduate experience. With generous support from the Educating Character Initiative at Wake Forest University, UD was awarded a 12-month Capacity-Building Grant to conduct an institutional consensus of its leadership and character education efforts. The initiative is being led by Johann Ducharme, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and Faculty Director of the Siegfried Fellows, in collaboration with cross-campus leaders in Athletics, Student Life, and the Honors College.

The following events, funded by the ECI grant, stood out as milestones for this work—both capturing the energy, curiosity, and commitment of UD's faculty, staff, and students.

Third-year Delaware Innovation Fellows students present final-phase projects at annual showcase

The spirit of creativity, problem-solving, and social impact was on full display at the Delaware Innovation Fellows (DIF) Innovation Showcase, held on Wednesday, May 14 in Trabant University Center. The event spotlighted the final-phase projects of DIF students, capping their three-year journey through Horn Entrepreneurship’s signature enrichment program.

With purpose-driven ventures, powerful storytelling, and a passion for solving environmental challenges, the 2025 Ratcliffe Eco Entrepreneurship Fellows (REEF@UD) took center stage at the fourth annual REEF@UD Demo Day, held on Monday, May 5 at the Venture Development Center.