LeMoyne College and Syracuse University have been helping young entrepreneurs in Syracuse earn hundreds of thousands of dollars, and gain invaluable business experience, through Shark Tank-style annual competitions.
In the spring, Lemoyne’s Keenan Center hosts Dolphin Tank, which sees ten young business owners – typically nine Lemoyne students and one community member, who could be a high schooler – pitching to 10 regional, national and global firms. Each company is also a financial sponsor of the event, and decides 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 companies by local young entrepreneurs have been awarded more than $200,000 since 2019, and 39 of them have reached overall sales of approximately $2.5 million.
Michael D’Eredita is director of the Keenan Center, and has been organizing Dolphin Tank since 2018. Through his company Coffeehouse CxO, he helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses, and was previously a longtime professor of practice at Syracuse University.
He’s also an international Olympic rowing coach, and coaches potential Dolphin Tank participants in the weeks leading up to the event, narrowing it down to the LeMoyne competitors. Another spot is filled by the top earner of the B3 pitch competition run by the Good Life Youth Foundation, a Syracuse nonprofit that helps disenfranchised and incarcerated youth become entrepreneurs.
[Article co-author Tristan Bey is a former B3 participant.]
D’Eredita says because all Dolphin Tank competitors “must have a valid business account, it really forces them to network, [it] forces them to get themselves established.” At the very least, they must register an official business name with the state.
All the Dolphin Tank competitors, from teenagers on up, have to be “very clear” about what they'll do with the compention money they get, says D'Eredita.
“They're using the money to buy inventory and then making money on the inventory, or they're using the money towards a vehicle of some sort, or something like that to provide more services. And it enables them to be more mobile,” said D’Eredita.
However, he also knows not every business works out, so Dolphin Tank is about more than just the bottom line.
“Our primary goal is not the return on the investment, it's much more the learning that they get from that investment and how they leverage that to increase the revenue,” said D’Eredita, who is quick to note that LeMoyne College makes no money off of the competition.
Competitors work with the Keenan Center on their Dolphin Tank applications, which are due in March.
This year’s top three Tank earners, the oldest of which was 21, were all from the Syracuse area. Beauty business 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 partners with national innovation hub Blackstone LaunchPad to host Cuse Tank. At the one-day event, held during Family Weekend, 30 to 40 undergraduate and graduate SU students pitch to roughly a dozen alumni and parents of students, all entrepreneurs who donate the award money. However, parents of current competitors, in any given year, cannot be judges.
Last year, three winners won $10,000 each, including graduate business 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 convoluted, like a web application,” said Hussain. “We help those businesses in going through that process, setting it up and curating and creating that.”
The Fulbright Scholar says the money he won from 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've been doing to other people,” said Hussain. “This competition really allowed me to create that authentic basis for my work, and people now trust that what I'm seeing has some backing to it.”
Syracuse University students have until September 20 to apply for this year's annual Cuse Tank, which takes place on September 27.
