At the end of my time at the University of Maryland I helped create the Startup Shell, a student run startup accelerator. When I joined, there was no website, branding, or location– only an idea.

I began branding work with the original name in mind– eT Labs (short for enTerprenuerial). After a few iterations we ran into legal red tape with the name, so we went back to the drawing board. After dozens of proposals, I pitched “Startup Shell”, along with some early branding work.

After a vote, the other founding members chose to go forward with StartupShell, and I began polishing the logo.

Updated the typography, with and without gradients

Outline variation

While I was finishing the logo, we had found a physical location for the Shell. As an inaugural celebration, we painted a 10 foot logo on one wall.

In 2 hours I made our first website. Since then we’ve grown up a bit. We’re mentoring almost 10 times as many student companies.

Last smester Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit and Hipmunk, dropped by for a visit!

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