In the News

[From AMPLIFIEDminds.com]

Duke University graduates, Johnny Williams and Matt Daniels have come a long way from hustling their Middle Child brand under tents on campus. Just one year ago, the colorful, artistic gear started simply as an “MC” logo on a basic t-shirt.  Graphic designer, Johnny Williams’ passion for creating vivid art with letters, numbers and using typography makes Middle Child cleverly chic and culturally aware.

After meeting each other during the summer prior to freshman year, the duo became inseparable. During their tenure at Duke University, the full-time student athletes spent long hours creating the Middle Child brand in their dorm rooms. According to St. Louis Rams Safety, Matt Daniels, they dedicated more time to Middle Child than school assignments and projects. Johnny’s devotion to creating art resulted in designs flourishing with vibrant colors along with messages revealing cultural meanings.

The Middle Child brand drew its name from the characteristics of an actual middle child, who is at often times, ignored and misunderstood, leaving  him or her to creatively seek attention.  We all have a speckle of middle child in us and MC’s motto is “Be Heard and Let Middle Child Speak for You”.

Middle Child’s buzz has swarmed college campuses, barbershops, and boutiques in both North Carolina and Georgia, and most importantly, at its birthplace, Duke University. This is only the beginning for the brand as Johnny and Matt aspire to be among the top names of fashion in the near future.

To see the original website post, click here.

NeuroSpire Summary

-Some decisions are too important to be left to change.

NeuroSpire provides affordable neuromarketing services that make use of commercially available EEG technology to gauge the effectiveness of media on consumers, NeuroSpire allows companies large and small to optimize all aspects of their marketing strategy and reach a new leel of competitiveness. 

Below is from the Chronicle .

Representatives from almost every member of the Atlantic Coast Conference gathered in downtown Durham for a different kind of March Madness Wednesday.

The Startup Madness competition brought 19 student teams from across 10 ACC schools—all but the University of Maryland—to the American Tobacco Campus to compete for a number of cash prizes. Duke junior Jake Stauch won first place out of the North Carolina schools for his neuro-marketing company Neurospire. A collaborative health care logistics startup from University of Miami, won the overall prize.

Stauch said he created Neurospire through independent research, with the help of a Dutch software developer. The product records brainwaves as subjects experience different forms of advertising and converts the raw data into measurable information that companies can use. The project won one of the competition’s $5,000 prize.

With Neurospire, companies can compare consumer reactions to various marketing campaigns and predict which campaigns will be successful, Stauch said. He is currently licensing the product out to marketing research firms in the Triangle area.

Scott Kelly, local investment banker and the event’s creator and host, said the competition brought awareness to the burgeoning startup community throughout the Atlantic region.

To read more, please use following link.

http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/duke-senior-wins-5k-acc-startup-contest

Rachel Weeks, the founder of School House, a socially responsible collegiate fashion brand based out of Durham, visited DUhatch to discuss the inspirations, challenges and experiences that she encountered while starting her company. She mentioned working to support the factory labor that helped to produce her clothing and how her business was not only about making a profit but also about providing jobs to workers across North Carolina.  Her brand is currently being sold in college campus stores across the nation. 

Rosanna Myers, a member of the Green Cooling Group during her years at DUhatch has launched the first app for her company Bananabox Inc.  Bananabox's first app, Acceleread, is a Speed Reading Training Course that trains users to read faster and more effectively. Learn more about her app at www.acceleread.com

On Wednesday, October 11th, Taylor Mingos, the CEO and co-founder of Shoeboxed.com, stopped by DUhatch to enjoy pizza and beverages with the DUhatch teams during our first DUhatch drop-in.  He shared the story of the founding of his company, the ideas that he had before he became successful and the struggles that young entrepreneurs in the tech sector will face.  This drop-in event will be the first of many and marks the beginning of a new effort to connect the student businesses at DUhatch with experienced members of the Durham entrepreneurial community.