Since January, technology entrepreneur Elliot Menschik ’93, MS ’93, has split his weeks between Philadelphia and Baltimore, alternating between teaching entrepreneurship at the University of Pennsylvania and acting as managing partner (aka chief mentor and cheerleader) at DreamIt Health Baltimore. The initiative invests in and works closely with a set of health-tech startups to achieve key business milestones in a compressed, four-month period.
Menschik’s return to Baltimore marks a homecoming to the city that put him on the crest of a technological wave, enabling him to sell his startup, HxTechnologies, in 2009, for a significant sum. With that venture, Menschik pioneered software that enables physicians and hospitals to easily and securely share clinical information such as medical images.
Originally trained to be a physician, Menschik left medicine for the “up and down” entrepreneurial life. After selling HxTechnologies, he joined the small group of tech entrepreneurs who manage DreamIt’s accelerators in Philadelphia, New York, and Austin. Menschik founded and now runs DreamIt’s health care-specific efforts including programs in Philadelphia and Baltimore. He is joined in Baltimore by managing director Jason Hardebeck, an engineer who holds an MBA from Hopkins.
DreamIt takes 8 percent in common stock in its startups. In return, early-stage companies receive a range of benefits including $50,000, four months of rent-free space, extensive mentoring and professional support, and access to people and resources usually beyond the reach of a startup.
The first Baltimore class, which ran from January through May, included five companies with Johns Hopkins connections. Asked if he had any favorites, Menschik smiles, and says: “We love all of our children equally.”