Shark Tank Swims Into Rugbytown

by Mark Smiley | Jun 20, 2014 | General Featured

Ben Todd’s Business Pitch Scores

by Kirsten Kreiling

Benjamin Todd — a 5-ft., 11-inch, 210 lb. flanker for the Glendale Raptors rugby team — has scored on his first try. Not in a rugby game where grounding the ball in the in-goal area is known as a try, but rather when ABC TV’s hit reality show Shark Tank held a casting call at Infinity Park May 30.

More than 200 entrepreneur hopefuls came to Infinity Park to give their pitch at the site where the rugby playing field is also known as a pitch. To score in this competition contestants were given only 60-seconds to try for a winning pitch to producers. The show that was renewed for a fifth season in 2013 features business pitches from aspiring entrepreneurs to a panel of six multimillionaire “sharks.” The sixth season will start this September.

For an infusion of cash in exchange for a stake in their business, contestants face long odds and multiple screenings to present their business concepts. Nevertheless, a few days after his first attempt at goal, Todd received an email divulging that he had scampered past 180 others and had made it to the second round. “I am so excited. I had to submit a 5-10 minute video to them by June 13. If the producers of the show like it, I’ll be invited to come and pitch to the Sharks for real,” he tells the Chronicle.

Sharp Shark Skills

“I’ve been watching Shark Tank since 2008. I remember the first time I saw it, I immediately knew that I wanted to pitch ideas to investors. I usually come up with about three new business ideas per week. I’ve had 27 jobs throughout my life,” Todd admits. One of my college mentors often said entrepreneurs have trouble working for other people because they keep coming up with better ways to do things, he recalls, “Some call it being a control freak, some call it marching to the beat of your own drum. I like to call myself terminally entrepreneurial.”

Todd jumped at the chance to participate in pitching his idea to the Shark Tank associate producers, taking the whole day off from work. He even brought donuts to the field for contestants that had arrived earlier than he did. “I was pumped and ready to go. I arrived at 7:30 a.m. and was nervous all morning, practicing my pitch-points. Then the producer came out and told everyone they would only get 60 seconds to give their pitch. We all freaked out. It was time to really hone in on what was important about our ideas.”

His winning pitch is for a business he has started calling Mobile Menu. It’s an iPhone app (Android as well) that allows the user to browse a restaurant’s menu visually with a full-screen professional photo of every single menu item. “It’s been well-received over the last four years,” he reveals. But, he adds, “I’ve decided it’s time to scale the business up and grow exponentially instead of one spot at a time.”

Mix Of Shark Bait

Start-up business contestants at the Infinity Park casting call — one of three locations selected for the nationwide search — presented a full gamut of products, including a disposable cardboard device that women can use to stand up and urinate, to a multi-temperature “barbecue booster,” and a cheerleader-training device. A Colorado Springs couple auditioned for their SALUS Natural Body Care, a business that has opened its first store in Manitou Springs. One enterprising entrepreneur even camped out at Infinity Park selling umbrellas for $20 each to the crowd, many who came unprepared for the light showers that fell in the morning.

“We were delighted to be asked to host the casting call for Shark Tank and looked at it as a wonderful opportunity to show off the Infinity Park campus,” says Infinity Park Event Center General Manager Bobbi Reed. “The ABC casting crew was wowed by the Event Center’s ballroom production technology and loved the Shark Tank logos that were ‘swimming’ around the ballroom.” She adds that the Stadium was the perfect site to stage the applicants as they waited to be called to the tank for their presentation.

Business owners who have appeared on the show say the exposure is invaluable, even without a shark’s offer to invest. Meg and Matt Meyer, owners of The Bear & The Rat in Denver, came away empty after appearing on Shark Tank in 2012. But when the episode about their business selling cool treats for dogs (an alternative to ice cream) aired for the third time in repeats, it caught the attention of some dog-loving investors in New York. After negotiations, the investors put $130,000 into the business to be used for salaries, marketing and distribution of the frozen goodies. “We doubled our sales last year, and I’m anticipating we will at least quadruple this year,” reports Meg Meyer. “The exposure is huge. Every time the episode airs, it’s in front of six to eight million people, which is pretty awesome.”