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Not Just Surviving the Shark Tank, But Thriving

SkatorBlade takes tops in Shark Tank competition.

SkatorBlade designWhen Millersville University students entered the Shark Tank this past spring, they found themselves face-to-face not with the beasts of the ocean, but with local professionals.

Class of 2016 graduate Mike Richard and senior Cole Kasparian overcame their nerves to earn first place at Millersville University’s 2nd annual Shark Tank competition with their business, SkatorBlade. The two edged out second-place winners Kaitlyn Weaver and Roy Engle (Keg and Eggs) and third-place winner Connor Smith (NeuroBite).

“Going into the pitch competition in March, I thought I had a pretty good product idea but wasn’t sure the judges would agree,” says Richard. “After we took first place in the pitch competition, I thought there would be a pretty good chance we would place in the top three, but I wasn’t convinced that we would win.”

Participants in Millersville’s version of the popular television show first had to pass a 60-second micro-pitch in order to advance to the next round. The top seven contestants then moved on to the Shark Tank, where they presented their ideas to a panel of three judges. The 2016 panel was comprised of Mike Kalogris, the co-founder and managing partner of Arete Capital Partners; Crystal Weaver, owner of Prince St. Cafe and Passenger Coffee Roasting and Soren West, CEO of Atomic Design, Inc. and founding board member for Music For Everyone.

The product that impressed these judges enough to gain first place was SkatorBlade, a two-in-one piece of footwear which allows hockey players to easily transition from ice to roller hockey. Due to his passion for hockey, Richard noticed that the amount of equipment required to play both ice and roller hockey presented a financial burden for interested individuals. He wanted to lower costs by combining ice skates and rollerblades. Enter SkatorBlade.

“The basis of the transition from ice to roller hockey is through a chassis that can screw in a roller blade wheel or a blade for a hockey skate,” explains Richard.

The top three entrepreneurial pitches selected by the judges were awarded $1,000, $500 and $500 respectively to fund their products, startups or ventures. With the aid of that financial prize, the next steps for SkatorBlade include looking for investors, acquiring a patent, saving enough money to fund the product, increasing sales and perhaps heading to the official Shark Tank.

However, even if SkatorBlade never receives any accolades past winning Millersville University’s 2016 Shark Tank competition, the experience was beneficial for all the participants.

“I believe that it gave me the confidence to pursue my passions and ideas that I think could be profitable,” says Richard. “I learned that through hard work and preparation, it is possible to make an idea become tangible.”

 

 

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