Five five teams of entrepreneurs pitched their business to a panel of judges consisting of Philadelphia based entrepreneurs along with Daymond John, FUBU founder and judge on the ABC show Shark Tank on June 12th in front of a live audience at the Dave & Buster’s showroom.
Daymond John explains the concept behind Miller Lite Tap the Future
The goal of the competition?
Similar to Daymond John’s Shark Tank, the five teams competed for $20,000 in funding on behalf of the Miller Lite Tap the Future live pitch event and for a spot in the final round of the Miller Lite Tap the Future business competition against the winners from similar events in Atlanta, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Miami to win the grand prize of $200,000.
The panel of judges providing feedback to contestants
Judge Daymond John explained that unlike Shark Tank, Miller Lite Tap the Future does not involve any negotiation to buy a stake in a contestant’s business. He is still “obtaining the same information but not turning an idea down.”
The teams competing came from Pennsylvania and surrounding states. This included Startup Valley (Saddle Brook, NJ), Living Out Loud (Ann Arbor, MI), Ouiby (Highland Park, NJ), Scenepop (Philadelphia, PA), and SnkTrd (Temple Hills, MD)
The MillerCoors manager of community commerce and partnerships, Steve Canal, explains why Miller Lite founded this event.
“Miller Lite is the original light beer, so we understand how an original idea in any industry can grow to become successful in business. We look forward to seeing these teams of originators pitch their businesses and continue on the path of entrepreneurship. Miller Lite Tap the Future wants to have a hand in cultivating their success.”
The Winner?
The judges of the Philaelphia event consisted of local entrepreneurs and community leaders Chris Cera of Arcweb, and Ben Lamson and Su Sanni of WeDidIt. One of the many nuggets of advice John gave throughout the night was in response to how someone can bounce back from a bad pitch.
“The only way to bounce back from a bad pitch for the most part is to have a decent amount of sales because sales cure all. If I don’t understand what you’re talking about what how did you make all that money…sooner or later it comes back to the reality of sales.”
Daymond John and the other judges ultimately chose Thomas Mitchell of SnkTrd.
Daymond John (center), Steve Canal (left), MillerCoors manager of community commerce and partnerships, and host Kenny Burns (right) concluding the Live Pitch event with all the contestants on stage
“Thomas Mitchell of SnkTrd from Temple Hills, MD utilizes provide a global trading service platform where virtually anyone, anywhere, can buy, sell and trade popular athletic footwear (sneakers). Mitchell will receive $20,000 for his business and advance to the final round of Miller Lite Tap the Future to compete for the grand prize of $200,000.”
Thomas Mitchell will join four other Miller Lite Tap the Future semifinalists in August for the final competition to win the $200,000 business development grant in Chicago at a closed-door session. The national judging panel will come from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds.
Final Competition Judges:
- Leslie Anderson – Regional Vice President and SVP at BMO Harris Bank
- Luis Barajas – Financial Expert and Journalist
- Alfred Edmond Jr. – SVP/Editor-In-Chief at Black Enterprise Magazine
- Mark Ferguson – Small Business and Economics Expert
- Bill Imada – Chairman & CEO at the IW Group
- Assata Peterson – Attorney at Law
- Tennille M. Robinson – Senior Content and Event Producer at Inc. Magazine
- Juan Solana – Sr. Consultant, Marketing Analytics, Nielsen
- Matt Sapaula – Financial Coach at The Money Smart Guy
- Dr. Igwe E. Udeh, PhD – Professor of Business and Dean of the College of Business & Public Administration at Southern University at New Orleans
Future Events:
The final two semi finalist events will be held Los Angeles and Miami later in June and July. People can RSVP at MLTaptheFuture.com. Additional photos from the Philadelphia event appear below.
From left to right – Steve Canal, MillerCoors manager of community commerce and partnerships, and judges Cera, Daymond John, Lamson and Sanni
Inspiring presentation by the gals from Living Out Loud on how they address the obesity epidemic of America
Lakshman Rajeswaran, owner of Philly-based Scenepop, explains how his event discovery app works
Matt Mayernik (left), Daryl Bryant (center) and Adam Smith (right) talking about how they help technology startups and small businesses raise capital with StartupValley, their
Siblings Sean and Nathalie De Clercq explaining how with Ouiby they plan to utilize the efficacy of crowd sourcing to bring the best products to market
SnkTrd founder Thomas Mitchell celebrating victory with Steve Canal, MillerCoors manager of community commerce and partnerships Thomas