Last Friday the Pino Entrepreneurship Center at FIU hosted its first Shark Tank. The Shark Tank is a form of business plan competition but the big difference is that three of the judges had the ability to fund seed stage startups. I think it was the most successful event of this type where I have participated for several reasons:
- The presenters represented a more diverse group than usual including older entrepreneurs and two FIU professors in addition to FIU students (Professor Wu from the Engineering School at FIU had us all captivated with his new approach to hurricane protection for homes.)
- 5 or 6 of the presenters had really good web-based business concepts, and these concepts generated the best discussions (Hat tip to @johnfleming for excellent comments throughout the day on the web-based businesses)
- Alex Acosta from Miami-based private equity firm Trivest consistently asked the best questions to presenters by focusing on the big issues of market opportunity and revenue generation. (Alex is an FIU alum who "gives back" by working with Pino.)
During the afternoon I served as the moderator instead of judging. This was even more fun than judging and I would welcome the opportunity to moderate other forums. (Next time I will remember to introduce myself.) Judges Mike Tomas from Astri Group and Ricardo Weisz of New World Angels made it easy for me with excellent first questions for each presenter.
The shark tank forum worked really well and it will be repeated in the fall. I encourage entrepreneurs at any stage of company development to participate and present. For students interested to learn more about entrepreneurship it is a relaxed way to learn practical tips from some very knowledgeable judges.
