Every so often we come upon a true gem from the student population with high hopes for the future of youth entrepreneurship, aspiring to become a leader in the tech revolution on college campuses. Today, that's Daniel Noskin, a junior at the University of Maryland (UMD) and founder of the soon-to-be launched startup Parallel Tracks.
Noskin, who reached out to us yesterday about a hackathon he will be hosting on campus this Sunday, considers himself "a pretty passionate entrepreneur," but that doesn't even begin to describe his commitment to a life of business development and awareness of the vast amount of opportunities available to students who wish to be a part of something groundbreaking. It is Noskin and others in their early college years equipped with a similar feeling of dedication to the startup world that inspire us.
As the founder of Parallel Tracks, Noskin figured a hackathon at UMD would be extremely beneficial to not only his business, but for students looking to be a part of something that could potentially transform how we view the transfer of music today. "Parallel Tracks is like Twitter and Spotify combined," explained Noskin. "You can listen to music with your favorite people." From that description it sounded like any other typical social media feed related to music, but here's the catch: "You can see what star-studded artists like Taylor Swift are listening to on a real-time basis while also being able to plug into your friend's music. You get to broadcast your music just like a DJ." And the real kicker? "You can comment on music at the same time and engage with really cool people." Well, we'd use that on a daily basis. Seems like a no-brainer, right?
To develop the idea and get the prototype going, Noskin was originally intent on looking for a company to help him construct what he imagines will be a force to be reckoned with in the digital music realm, but instead he figured, "why spend time with a company when I can actually leverage all the people around me and get all of the talent together to make something truly amazing all together," hence the launch of a hackathon.
The driven junior's Parallel Tracks Hackathon is due to take place on Sunday, January 27 in order to flesh out his Twitter meets Spotify idea. For those of you who don't know what a hackathon is, it's the "gathering of developers or a bunch of people who sit down for a good twelve hours in this case, though normally forty-eight hours, and make a prototype really fast. After going straight on Red Bull, other energy drinks, and coffees, they develop something within the course of a weekend."
"Maryland is like a microcosm of really cool people willing to get experience and do things for themselves instead of for the money," said Noskin whilst complimenting his school. The area could not be more perfect for his endeavor, "it's a living and learning entrepreneur community."
In partnership with the Dingman Center, Noskin hopes that through Parallel Track's Hackathon he will be able to get out the message to as many people as possible about his product while also promising that those involved will be able to gain great experience and see a result right away. In fact, even for those who can't attend, they will still be able to feel like they are a part of the action with a live Ustream of the hackathon aired online.
It's one person taking the initiative that can make a difference, and that's certainly the role Noskin has stepped into by hosting Parallel Track's Hackathon for both the betterment of his product and to provide for a more cohesive, community effort towards building new, innovative ideas.
If you do make it to Parallel Track's Hackathon on Sunday from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm at the Technology Advancement Program building on UMD's campus, you can expect to meet a slew of entrepreneurial-focused folks like those from VentureBoard, JHil Media Design, and Terp Web just to name a few. Anyone can get involved and drop by to see prototyping in its nature as long as you attend with "an open mind and free spirit to work on something school," prefaced Noskin.
"I love doing this type of stuff because I want to change the world and I think those that are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that actually do. That's what Steve Jobs preached. If you have a similar vision, then you should definitely come to the hackathon."
To watch the Parallel Tracks Ustream live stream on Sunday or to just learn more about the product in general, check out their website here.
