Shark Tank
August 23, 2021
What’s the secret to the perfect Shark Tank pitch? At Strawberry Fields High School, we decided to find out by evaluating the pitches of all 33 aspiring entrepreneurs in the Shark Tank virtual event organised by IBDP students on Friday, 13 August 2021. The concept of the event involved entrepreneurs who were students from grade 9 – 12, pitch innovative products viaPowerPoint presentation to the judges. Each pitch told a story about the innovative product, the need for it, how it can be made. The event started off with an inspiring keynote addressed by Mr. Gaurav Gupta (Co-Founder of Navia Life Care). Mr. Gupta is an MBA from Indian School of Business, and an engineer from NSIT Delhi, he specializes in Strategy, Business Development and Marketing. Prior to Navia, Mr. Gupta has successfully built two sustainable businesses, one being an enterprise solution for large enterprises and the other being a consumer product. He has also worked in management consulting where he advised pharmaceutical companies and hospital systems on strategy and operations management. Heshared his insights about his exploratory and, often tumultuous, journey in business.He shared the importance of pivoting swiftly towards new avenues when the primary business idea or model is under external threat.
A total of 13 teams participated in the event who were judged by were Mr. Ankush Arora andMr. Sushain Trehan. Mr. Ankush Arorais the Founder and Creator of Uncle Jack’s India, a chain of American fast-food restaurants with 12+ outlets pan-India, award-winning food, and glowing reviews. His business expansion model has gained immense traction in just six years.
Mr. Sushain Trehan is a Principal at Madison India Capital, a leading $600 million Private Equity firm specializing in making equity investments in the business services, consumer, financial services, healthcare and technology industries. Sushain evaluates and monitors investments worth $10 million to $35 million in various sectors including financial services, consumer, business services and technology.Prior to joining Madison India, Sushain worked in the Mergers & Acquisitions group at Credit Suisse, India. Sushain received his MBA from the Indian School of Business. He also received his B.Tech in Chemical Engineering and M. Tech in Process Engineering & Design from India Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi.
During the event, judges looked for specific cues from the young entrepreneurs to learnabout financial viability of their innovative idea and the target market. The third prize was bagged by Pristine which consisted of Mannat Kaur, Mrinalini Srivastava, Angad Singh Bains of IBDP and Kudrat Khosla from ISC Grade 11. Their idea was ‘Cosmic C’ which is a solar powered portable charger and multipurpose device with Bluetooth and speakers. It is extremely sustainable, environment friendly and non-harmful. It sticks to any window surface. Their idea was environment friendly, and the facts and figures presented in their presentation were realistic that impressed the judges.
The second position wasattained by Vitthal Tewari of class 10 D who proposed UrDrobe, a mobile application for both iOS and Android that aims to address the issue of disorganized wardrobes. Using Artificial Intelligence andMachine Learning algorithms, users will be able to scan their pre-existing outfits and the app will organize them based on multiple factors. The app will also provide personalized suggestions along with a virtual avatar to try on clothes from your own closet and from leading brands in the app itself.
The first position was bagged by FarmHub with students of Grade 12namely, Angad Singh Suryavanshi, Nihaal Singh Sandhu,and Bilawal Singh Deu who created an app that will help farmers to rent farm equipment at cheaper price. Their business plan and execution plan with a great presentation grabbed them the first place.
Every team was coached on the strengths and areas of development of their ideas. The event informed participants about the operational and strategic nuances that must be adhered to when running a business. It displayed the reality of entrepreneurship and taught the audience that if a successful idea is profitable for both the innovator and the investor.
