On the evening of June 15, Moodlerooms was presented the “Best Information Technology Company of the Year” award at the 10th annual Maryland Incubator Company of the Year Awards . The awards recognized the technological achievements of seven incubator companies and one graduate company of the Maryland incubator program. Since Moodlerooms' inception, Maryland’s incubator program has played an integral role in helping us make connections and grow as a local start up.
In light of today's move, Co-Founder and Chief Architect, Tom Murdock, wanted to reflect on Moodlerooms' time in the Emerging Technology Center, one of Maryland's technology incubators located within Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins East Campus.
"Since the summer of 2002, Moodlerooms has been affiliated with the ETC, an organization funded by Baltimore City and the State of Maryland that provides resources and assistance to start-up companies.
While I was an English teacher at a local school, I literally walked into the ETC with some friends and a business plan for Moodlerooms. From that moment, we were introduced to smart, thoughtful people who read our plan, provided recommendations and rewrites to our proposals, taught us how to do elevator pitches to investors, introduced us to investors and advisors, and even provided reasonable rent-control for our offices.
Through the years, Moodlerooms has grown and moved into several different rooms within the ETC office building. I have felt camaraderie with other ETC-based companies over the past few years as they have experienced similar growth patterns. I guess it is appropriate that I've always felt palpable warmth in our incubator. If you are a budding tech entrepreneur, you really should explore a chance to work in the ETC.
Neil Davis was our first contact at the incubator. He looked at our "literary" business plan and saw some value. Then Ann Lansinger, Fulya Gursel and Lynn Slone made things happen for us. Ann introduced us to our first advisors and Fulya and Lynn always opened doors and opportunities for us. John Fini, who currently works as a Director of Intellectual Property at Johns Hopkins University, provided hours and hours of analysis to our business structures, budgets and assumptions. In a movie, Fini would be the coach with the stopwatch, getting us ready for the impossible game that he wanted us to win.
We learned a great deal from the advising efforts of people like Ron Diegelman, Nora Zeitz and Louis Biggie. All three of them provided infinite patience, as Gina Russell Stevens, Sheila Gatling and I worked to create a sustainable model based on the concept of selling services around free software.
The ETC also introduced us to three advisors who offered time, advice and funding to the company: Martin Knott (our CEO), Frank Bonsal III (a board member for the past three years), and Steve Hoffman (a board member since our inception). I will never forget the way that Martin accepted our invitation to become Moodlerooms’ CEO -- it was a Friday afternoon and he shut down his private business, moved completely out of his office, and was installed at his Moodlerooms desk by 7 a.m. (maybe earlier) the following Monday.
Fast forward to today: our on-site employees literally picked up boxes at their desks in the ETC, hopped in their cars, and drove down to Federal Hill, a Baltimore neighborhood that includes the famous Cross Street Market, Camden Yards, M&T Bank Stadium (affectionately known as “the Ravens Stadium” by locals), and now the new Moodlerooms office.
However, the experience of collaboration, the spirit of mutual support, and the excitement around emerging opportunities and fresh ideas do not end as we leave our beloved business incubator. We have learned a great deal from our friends at the ETC. We are grateful for our time with them, and we wish them (and the other companies in the incubator) a bright future."
No comments:
Post a Comment