The University of Maryland students who join the Startup Shell incubator are all working hard to turn their ideas into successful businesses. As the new executive director of Startup Shell, 20-year-old Chris Szeluga is working just as hard to help make that possible. Now in his third year at UMd, the finance major has been involved in helping grow Startup Shell since it began, during his freshman year. His new role puts a new responsibilities on him though, making Startup Shell rather more than just a club or hobby.
"I consider Startup Shell to be pretty much my full-time job," Szeluga said. "I definitely spend at least 30 to 40 hours a week working on it in some way."
When Szeluga came to Startup Shell, it was really just five people, all students, and an idea for an incubator where students could build startups from the ground up, sharing ideas and learning from each other along the way. Now it counts dozens of startups as members and graduates, is getting $25,000 from Uber as part of a larger collaboration between Uber and UMd and has its own space on campus that it will start renovating once its application to become a 501c3 non-profit is approved. For a student-founded incubator, that's a lot of impressive accomplishments.
"We have something unique here," Szeluga said. "We have our own co-working space. It allows us to build a culture, to build a community that couldn't otherwise exist."
It was far from inevitable when Szeluga enrolled at UMd that he would end up in this position. Originally from New Jersey, he had always been interested in tech, working as a freelance web developer in high school and still doing a bit of it on the side as time allows. Coming into UMd, he spotted the newly formed Startup Shell group as an interesting option for a college activity. He was elected to the leadership team early on, and was tapped to be in charge earlier this year.
About 30 percent of the startups in Startup Shell have women founders.
Having been there from basically the beginning, Szeluga has had the chance to really see what's helped or hindered the incubator's success. Now that Startup Shell is off the ground, Szeluga wants to spend his time in charge making the program larger in every dimension.
"My goal is really to grow this organization, to make it as great as I can," Szeluga said.
Not that he will be making the application process to join less discriminating. Founders will still need to come in with their business model in place, with their prototype already built or some other way to demonstrate that they are bringing in a venture, not just an idea for one. At the same time, there's a focus on bringing in a wide range of startups and founders. Szeluga explained that racial and gender diversity is a fundamental part of Startup Shell. For instance, about 30 percent of the startups in Startup Shell have women founders, which is more than twice the rate for startups in Silicon Valley.
"I really try to encourage diversity in the startups and people who join," Szeluga said. "We don't just look for one specific type of startup or founder."
Even beyond the entrance requirements, not all of the theoretically qualified applicants get approved to join Startup Shell. There are limitations in sheer space for them. That's why Szeluga is particularly excited about Startup Shell becoming a 501c3 non-profit organization. Although the organization already accepts donations to keep running, the new designations will make those donations tax-deductible and likely bring in a lot more money. There's a $200,000 budget set up already to renovate the Startup Shell workspace that Szeluga is organizing.
"Little things can make a huge difference"
"We're going to take up the carpet, get new chairs and furniture, really make it nicer here," Szeluga said. "It's mostly little things, but little things can make a huge difference."
As for what comes next for Szeluga, being part of Startup Shell has connected Szeluga with a whole host of successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who have given talks at the incubator and hosted him and his fellows on visits. Those kinds of contacts, and the experience he has gained from his time in different roles at the incubator could lead to any number of possible careers. But Szeluga doesn't feel a rush to make any decision. He still has two years left of school after all, and plenty to occupy him day-to-day at Startup Shell. For now, he said, that's more than enough.
"I have a loose idea of where I want to go," Szeluga said. "I don't have a five or 10 year plan, but I know that what I've done at Startup Shell will be important to my future."
