Stories & Updates

Horn Entrepreneurship’s pre-accelerator program, Summer Founders, ended with Demo Day on August 18, 2022. Demo Day is a showcase for entrepreneurial students seeking help from our community. Held in-person for the first time in three years, the room was filled with University of Delaware alumni, former Summer Founders, Horn team members and notable entrepreneurs and business leaders. The agenda included presentations by the 2022 Summer Founders and selected Summer Founders alumni, a networking reception and award ceremony.

Personal Growth. Self Discovery. Overcoming Obstacles. These are the recurring themes during my interviews with the 2022 Summer Founders. Now mostly through the program, this group of young entrepreneurs have made strides working full time on their ventures.  

Horn began its summer in April with Diamond Challenge Summit semifinalists and Ice cream. UDairy' Moo Mobile was founded in partnership with Horn Entrepreneurship in 2013.

The summer founder teams at orientation on June 6, 2022, await a full 12 weeks ahead of them.

This summer six teams have been selected to participate in Horn Entrepreneurship's Summer Founders, a 12-week pre-accelerator program for student ventures.

The Summer Founders opportunity provides its participants with a combination of training sessions and resources, coaching, mentorship, and events to facilitate their venture's journey from idea to launch. At the end of their training in August, the teams will be prepared to present for demo day, where each team will pitch their ideas to members of the local business community.

Meet Bryce Fender, a University of Delaware alumnus, real estate agent, marketing consultant, and most importantly an entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur, Fender has two main goals: to end homelessness and to provide quality, sustainable jobs through art. To reach those goals, he has helped co-found two startups, WilmInvest and Better Puzzles, each helping make his visions a reality.

The basis of entrepreneurialism is to make life easier for the community. By bearing the process of creating a startup, an entrepreneur finds solutions to an issue, which makes someone’s day a bit easier. Through the University of Delaware Horn Entrepreneurship, students can pursue new ideas while receiving world-class education and advice to help their ideas flourish. No idea is too big or small, too niche or broad. 

Article by Christine E. Serio-Shively | Photos by Lindsey Mix | Photo illustration by Heidi McDonough

Once a molecular biology major, Lynn Roberts’ academic journey and interests took a drastic turn from science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) when she delved deeper into the University of Delaware’s Horn Entrepreneurship.  

Although the first winter frost hasn’t blanketed the ground, it is time to plan for summer 2022. For many student entrepreneurs, the summer presents an opportunity to work on your startup unencumbered by class work. But the summer presents a problem: work on your startup, get a job that pays or try to manage both. And what if you need the summer to earn course credits or an internship?

While the summer heat leads many to long lazy days, two University of Delaware students and one alumna spent the summer of 2021 working diligently to advance social justice and equality of opportunity through their startups. The three changemakers participated in the inaugural Advancing Equity Thru Entrepreneurship Summer Internship Program (ETE), a program designed to support mission-driven social innovators and entrepreneurs as they develop projects and ventures supporting underrepresented and under-resourced groups.