UMD Students Explore the Mokhtarzada Hatchery Program

The University of Maryland’s Department of Computer Science held its annual Fall Mokhtarzada Hatchery Kick-Off Event on Sept. 8, giving students an opportunity to learn how the program supports student-led startups from early ideas through product development.

Held at the Brendan Iribe Center for Computer Science and Engineering, the event featured discussions with UMD alumni Haroon Mokhtarzada (B.A. ’01, economics), one of the program’s funders and mentors, and Manpreet Singh (B.S. ’03, finance), a Hatchery mentor. Students learned about the program’s structure, asked questions about the application process and heard how entrepreneurs approach early decisions such as identifying a problem, evaluating a market and developing a product.

The Mokhtarzada Hatchery provides selected teams with up to $10,000 in funding, access to mentors with startup experience and workspace in the Iribe Center. The program supports teams as they develop and test ideas, identify potential users and refine their products and business models.

For some students, the kickoff introduced them to the program.

Meenakshi Sundaram, a freshman computer science major, said the event sparked his interest in the Hatchery. 

“I just did a quick Google search, and I saw it was for students who wanted to make a startup,” Sundaram said. “I heard that they were funding it as well with $10,000, so I was like, OK, I’ll just check this out.”

After hearing from the speakers and other students, Sundaram said entrepreneurship became another possible path to consider after college. 

“If I was accepted into the program, it would show a whole different path in my life,” Sundaram said. “I was planning on probably just joining some kind of company, but if the Hatchery accepts me, then that would be really cool, and I’d try and put all of my effort into making it a success”

Junior computer science major Neha Joshi came to the event with a different goal. She had previously learned about the Hatchery and attended to better understand how applications are evaluated.

Joshi asked how students could receive feedback on their applications and what the program considers when selecting teams. She said the responses gave her a clearer idea of what to prioritize if she applies.

Joshi is developing an idea for a platform that would allow users to pay influencers or other professionals for short, asynchronous responses to questions. Under the concept, users could submit brief requests and receive voice or video responses without scheduling a call.

“I did get some feedback on my idea,” Joshi said. “That encouraged me more to consider applying to the program.”

The program is funded by UMD alumni and siblings Haroon, Idris (B.S. ’10, computer science) and Zeki Mokhtarzada (B.S. ’01, computer science). The brothers co-founded Webs.com, which VistaPrint acquired for $117.5 million in 2011. They later created the subscription management app Truebill, now Rocket Money, which Rocket Companies acquired for nearly $1.3 billion in 2021.

—Story by Samuel Malede Zewdu, CS Communications