LeMoyne College and Syracuse University have helped young entrepreneurs in Syracuse earn hundreds of thousands of dollars and gain invaluable business experience through Shark Tanannual k-style competitions.
In the spring, Lemoyne’s Keenan Center hosts Dolphin tankwhich sees ten young business owners — typically nine Lemoyne students and one community member who could be high school students — pitch to 10 regional, national and global firms. Each company is also a financial sponsor of the event and determines how much of their $5,000 goes to each participant. And everyone goes home with some money, anywhere from $1000 to more than $10,000.
On its website, Dolphin Tank says 60 businesses by local young entrepreneurs have been awarded more than $200,000 since 2019, and 39 of them have achieved combined sales of approximately $2.5 million.
Michael D’Eredita is the director of the Keenan Center and has organized the Dolphin Tank since 2018. Through his company Coffeehouse CxO, he helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses, and he was previously a longtime professor of practice at Syracuse University.
He is also an international Olympic rowing coach and trains potential Dolphin Tank participants in the weeks leading up to the meet, narrowing it down to the LeMoyne competitors. Another place is occupied by the top earner of the B3 pitch competition run by Gott Liv Ungdomsfonda nonprofit organization in Syracuse that helps released and incarcerated youth become entrepreneurs.
[Article co-author Tristan Bey is a former B3 participant.]
D’Eredita says that because all Dolphin Tank competitors “must have a valid business account, it really forces them to network, [it] forcing them to establish themselves.” At the very least, they must register an official business name with the state.
All the Dolphin Tank competitors, from teenagers up, have to be “very clear” about what they want to do with the compensation money they get, D’Eredita says.
“They use the money to buy inventory and then monetize the inventory, or they use the money for a vehicle of some kind or something like that to provide more services. And it enables them to be more mobile,” said D’ Hereditary.
However, he also knows that not all businesses work, so Dolphin Tank is about more than just the bottom line.
“Our primary goal is not the return on investment, it’s much more the learning they get from that investment and how they leverage that to increase revenue,” said D’Eredita, who is quick to note that LeMoyne College does not make money from the competition.
Competitors are working with the Keenan Center on their Dolphin Tank applications, due in March.
This year’s top three tank attendants, the oldest of whom was 21, were all from the Syracuse area. Beauty company Skyla Esthetics took home $12,950, followed by clothing brand SectionAide ($10,200) and pool cleaning service JPS Holdings ($8,500).
Meanwhile, down the road and in the fall, Syracuse University is partnering with a national innovation hub Blackstone LaunchPad to host the Cuse Tank. At the one-day event, held during Family Weekend, 30 to 40 undergraduate and graduate students from SU pitch to about a dozen alumni and parents of students, all entrepreneurs who donate the prize money. However, parents of current competitors cannot be judges in a given year.
Last year, three winners won $10,000 each, including graduate economics student Waqar Hussain, whose company Icon Pro solutions helps small businesses improve their online presence.
“It can be as simple as a website or more complex, like a web application,” Hussain said. “We help these companies go through that process, set it up and curate and create it.”
The Fulbright Scholar says the money he won from the Cuse Tank will go towards product and project managers, while the event itself helped boost his networking skills and his company’s profile.
“Usually it takes some time for you to show or prove what you have done to other people,” said Hussain. “This competition really allowed me to create the authentic basis for my work, and people now trust that what I see has some backing to it.”
Syracuse University students have until September 20th to apply for this year’s annual Cuse Tank, which will take place on September 27th.