Clark Tank 2024
The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program and School of Management continue to inspire and fund Clark University entrepreneurs through Clark Tank events in many creative ways. Two of the three Clark Tank 2024 events have concluded with impressive students showcasing and pitching their ventures. The third event, the Business Pitch Competition is coming up in late April.
Clark Tank Venture Development 2024
Clark Tank Bootcamp Course – the first step
Twenty-four Clark students, across multiple disciplines, applied to Clark Tank Venture Development back in October 2023, with 16 being accepted. The 16 accepted students enrolled in an early spring semester, half-credit class, taught by Teresa Quinn, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program Manager, and teaching assistant, Claire Grant (’24), went through the paces of developing their venture and pitch. Topics covered were presented by alumni and community members from business development, finance, banking, marketing, legal, sales, and, of course, pitching. Alumni guests Debra Harrsch (’80), and Tim Hally (’19 ’20), as well as community guests Elyson dos Santos, Rockland Trust, Tara Ostromecky founder of Makin’ It Marketing, Laura Robinson Clark University Librarian, Elery Rojas, Wix.com rep, and Gerri Detweiler, financial services consultant, provided valuable insight to running and scaling a venture. Additionally, Crysta Spitzfadden (’19) provided one-on-one Zoom meetings with each participant for pitch deck development.
After completion of the class, 14 students accepted the challenge to move forward with their venture to the semifinals. After hours of mentorship and pitch practice, the semifinalists presented their eight-minute pitch to the Clark Tank 2024 Committee on March 29 for passage to the finals. Although all participants made tremendous progress in their own right, only the top 10 moved forward to the finals to pitch to a distinguished judging panel of alumni and community partners.
The Clark Tank Committee was also responsible for choosing two students to represent Clark University at the inaugural intercollegiate pitch competition. Three Worcester universities, Nichols College, WPI, and Holy Cross, along with Clark, sent representatives to compete in WooTank. The Clark Tank Committee chose Sophie Lee, owner of Sophpremacy, and Owen Chase, owner of Just for Fun Farms. For more information on this exciting event, please check out this story by Jim Keogh of Clark’s Marketing and Communications department.
Clark Tank Venture Development Pitch Finals April 5th
The Clark Tank Finals event started at 9:00am in Tilton Hall with participant tabling and welcome remarks by Teresa Quinn and Dr. David Jordan, School of Management Dean at 10:00am. The room got serious and the students were ready to pitch! Each student was allowed 15 minutes to pitch their venture and field questions from the judges. Everyone pitched their best pitch and answered targeted questions from a Shark Tank group of judges.
Judges, participants, and special guests had the opportunity to share a relaxing lunch in Grace Conference Center halfway through the day. Additionally, the event was live-streamed with 178 live views.
Judging
The judges got down to business after the pitches concluded and deliberated to award funding. Winners were announced at 3:15pm in front of a packed house of participants, family, friends, guests, and livestream viewers. A recording of the entire day’s event can be found on the student-run website www.clarkstudentventures.com.
Winners and Finalists:
- Judge award $3000 – Owen Chase, owner of Just for Fun Farms and WooTank winner
- Judge award $2050 – Alyssa Martinez, owner of Stamp & Petal
- Judge award $2800 – Forest Ryvicker, owner of HighDef Hognose
- Judge award $1750 – Sophie Lee, owner of Sophpremacy and WooTank winner
- Judge award $1050 – Neel Kumar, founder of Masala King
- Social Impact award (Christina Bai, MS’12) $1000 – Ana Gabriela Santana, founder of International Food Hub
- Social Impact award (Christina Bai, MS’12) $1000 – Yajaira Bonilla, founder of Gen Scholar
- Clark Entrepreneurship Club award $500 – Manny Torto, owner of Manny’s Mobile Recording Studio
- Clark Tank Committee award $500 – Alyssa Martinez (’26) Stamp & Petal,
- Finalist Benicio Root (’27) Home in 1
- Finalist Hodaya Zhang (’27) Little Sky Trinkets
To see more on individual ventures and entrepreneurs please view our student-run website.
Judging Panel:
- Debra Harrsch (’80), CEO of Brandwidth Solutions LLC
- Briana Azier (’05), owner of Bri’s Sweet Treats
- Maddy Steigman (’24), Clark Entrepreneurship Club President and judge, and Clark Tank alumni (’21)
- Max Feber, founder of Bellwether, and contestant on Shark Tank season 10, episode 9
- Max Schweitzer (’22, ’23) owner of Schweitzer Studios, winner of Marketing Pitch ’23 and Clark Tank ’23
- Noel Stenm, CEO and owner of Woo Juice
Mentors play an important role in the development of the student entrepreneur and their pitch. A big thank you goes out to the mentors!
- Tim Hally, Forest Ryvicker
- John Freyermuth, Manny Torto
- Bess Hollan-Agnitti, Neel Kumar
- Kyle Josephs, Benicio Root
- Tara Ostromecky, Yajaira Bonilla
- Martina Villanueva, Alyssa Martinez
- Jack Levine, Owen Chase
- Claire Grant, Hodaya Zhang
- Elli Mouchtaridou, Ana Gabriela Santana
- Martina Villanueva, Sophie Lee
Marketing Pitch Competition 2024 – Debra Harrsch
In conjunction with the Venture Development finals, generous donor Debra Harrsch (’80), CEO of Brandwidth Solutions, inspired the Marketing Pitch Competition which was held the evening before the Clark Tank finals on April 4. This year the E&I Program teamed up with the American Marketing Association and AMA president, Amanda Edson, to provide a series of workshops to prep the students for comprehensive marketing pitches. Students were required to attend any two of 10 AMA-hosted marketing workshops, plus, one required workshop with Teresa Quinn to finalize their pitches.
Nine students completed the requirements of participation and presented to a panel of marketing professionals on April 4. This event was also livestreamed with 144 total views!
Dinner was provided by David Li (’27)and Kevin Tran (’27) owners of Taste of Asia, as well as Ana Gabriela Santana’s dessert from Tastes of Brazil.
Winning Marketing Pitch
- $1000 Ana Gabriela Santana (’26) International Food Hub
Marketing Pitch Judging Panel
- Max Feber, Shark Tank participant in season 10, episode 9, and founder of Bellwether.
- Tara Ostromecky, owner of Makin’ It Marketing
- Jim Keogh, Associate VP of Communications at Clark University
Additional Marketing Pitch participants – Kumar Gaurav, Chandraditya Ghosh, Pratima Chapagai, Nicole Weise, Kavita Chopra, Sahana Ranganathan, Kai Cecil, and Neel Kumar.
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Clark Tank Committee 2024
The Clark Tank Committee 2024, is comprised of four returning faculty/staff/alumni members and one new addition – sixth-year member Teresa Quinn, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program Manager, fifth-year member Jennifer Plante (’00), Associate Dean of the College, Julie Bolduc, Director of Student Employment, second-year member Clark University and Clark Tank alumni Jose Castro (’22), Executive Director of EforAll Greater Worcester, and newcomer Henry Reyes (’23, ’24), and Clark Tank alumni (’21, ’22), kicked off the Clark Tank 2024 season by reviewing all 24 Clark Tank Venture Development applications back in October of 2023.
Another important order of business for the committee was to start the search for the Clark Tank 2024 logo. The yearly logo design contest resulted in the winning logo by Molly Nguyen (’26). Molly was honored as the designer at the Clark Tank Venture Development Welcome Dinner on January 17, 2024.
Clark Tank Donors
Clark Tank has emerged as the premier venture funding event on campus due to the generous funding donation of Clark alumni Samantha Goodman (’11) and her father Michael Goodman. Additionally, Christina Bai (’12), sponsors two Social Impact Awards of $1000 each, and Idriss Abdou founder of Karatou Post Bac, contributes to the overall award purse. Their continued involvement and insight have spearheaded the unprecedented growth of Clark Tank in the last four years.
Special Thanks to the Clark Student Staff and Administration
Thank you to the Clark students and administration for all the help and support with the Clark Tank event series.
Clark Tank Student Staff
- Jack Rogerson (’23, ’24) Tech Wizard provided live streaming for Venture Development and Marketing Pitch
- Maile Marguleas (’25) and Aryadeep Ray (’27) Clark Tank MCs
- Tori MacKay (26) Marketing Pitch MC
- Kyan Lahiri-Clements (’27) website hosting manager
- Henry Reyes, (’23, ’24) Marketing Pitch photography
- Natalie Hoang (’25) Venture Development photography
- Maddie Steigman (’24), Dough is Me, Clark Tank event desserts and treats
- David Li (27) and Kevin Tran (27), Taste of Asia, provided dinner for the Marketing Pitch Competition
- Ana Gabriela Santan (’26), Taste of Brazil, provided dessert for the Marketing Pitch Competition
- Rachel Smith, Esther Lasser, Victoria Pastor, Emily Levesque, Jazz Grullon, Amelia Clark, Isabella Matson, Yu Kosaka as student support.
Pictured: Manny Torto, Sophie Lee, Neel Kumar, Mai Maile Margalous, Alyssa Martinez
Administration Support
- Dr. David Jordan, Dean of the School of Management
- Andrea Aiello, Associate Dean of the School of Management
What’s Still to Come for Clark Tank and E&I in 2024?
One last pitch competition, Business Pitch, run by Emilee Cocuzzo (’18,’19), will be on April 29 from 6:00pm-8:30pm in ASEC202. This pitch is also attached to a class. This pitch competition class is designed to help students develop pitches worthy of capital and angel investors’ attention. Professor Cocuzzo brings in weekly accomplished entrepreneur speakers and has a judging panel from the investing field.
The E&I Year-end Awards Night is April 19 in Tilton Hall from 6-8:30. Recognized at this event will be the finalists of the three E&I awards, Clark Venture of the Year, Up & Coming Clark Student Entrepreneur of the Year, and the Clark Student Entrepreneur of the Year; as well as, the Sigma Nu Tau Entrepreneurship Honor Society Inductions.
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Learn More
Please follow the E&I Program’s social accounts – LinkedIn, TikTok, and Instagram – to keep up with all the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program’s events and activities as well as our events calendar and student-run website www.clarkstudentventures.com.
If you are interested in getting involved with Clark Tank or the E&I program, please reach out to Teresa Quinn at TQuinn@clarku.edu.
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About the Clark University Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program:
The E&I courses are designed to help a student identify problems, ideate solutions to those problems, and implement the best solution to bring about the desired change. Whether your interest is business ownership or social change, Clark University’s E&I minor complements any major to help you gain the full benefit of your educational experience and future goals.
Media Contacts:
Teresa Quinn, Manager of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program
Email: TQuinn@clarku.edu
Meredith Galena, Communications Specialist, School of Management
Email: MGalena@clarku.edu