Sharks & Angels Live!
Are You Ready to Scale Your Business and Gain Massive Exposure?
Our customers have raised over $1 billion in capital.
Now's your chance to be a part of it.
Pitch Your Business to Thousands of Qualified Investors and Raise Your Business to New Heights
Get up close and personal with our celebrity judges and partners and stand a chance to pitch your business. This is your big opportunity to get funds, scale up, and soar to new heights.
July 13 - 16 at the Mirage
in Las Vegas
The main stage Sharks and Angels finals are attended by over 2,000 people and provides the five finalists the opportunity to gain invaluable experience speaking and presenting to a large and discriminating audience of educated and sophisticated investors.
Stand a Chance to Pitch Your Business to Our Exclusive Group of High Net Worth Investors
We’ll get you in front of more potential investors faster than anyone else. To stand a chance to participate in this highly-attended event, submit your application and take a leap towards inevitable success.
If you make the cut, you could be one of 5 lucky finalists to present their business to over 2000 experienced, high-net worth investors and score the deal of a lifetime.
This is our sixth year putting on this event and we are excited to put on an entertaining and educational experience for all attendees. We provide entrepreneurs with a chance of a lifetime to present their unique opportunity to thousands of high net worth investors and a star-studded panel of judges.
The Process
Sharks and Angels is a Shark Tank-style event hosted and presented by Angel Investors Network, a nationwide network of angel groups and investors and in partnership with FreedomFest, the BIGGEST liberty conference in the nation.
We receive over 1,000 applications per year from companies who want the chance to participate in the Sharks and Angels event.
After careful consideration and many conversations, we whittle down the list and invite the best companies to join us at our event. *
The preliminary judging round allows each of the participating companies a chance to deliver a LIVE investor pitch to our preliminary judges.
The judges discuss and evaluate each presentation, rating each company on a 1-10 scale (with 10 being the best).
After the preliminary round, the top five companies are invited to do their pitch in front of the entire Sharks and Angels audience on the Main Stage.
*For a fee, receive your own six foot table in the exhibit hall to present your company’s abilities to attendees and investors.
Previous Pitchers
Jeff Hayzlett
CEO of C-Suite Network
Becca Hennessy
CEO of EZ-2-Own
Ramesh Babu
CEO of Integen
Nate Thuli
CEO of Furst Mug
Leo Heffner
CEO of Bluefin Management
Lenna Bauerly
Inventor of the Purse Hanger
Investment Criteria
National or International Presence
We look for companies that have a significant national presence or are able to scale their business beyond a local geography.
Large, Lucrative Market
We pursue deals in companies with substantial upside. Ideal startups and early-stage companies serve large, multi-billion dollar total addressable markets.
Address a Gap in the Marketplace
We seek companies that provide a solution to a major pain point in a large, addressable market.
Differentiation from the Competition
We want to back founders who acknowledge the competition, are able to describe their competitors, and understand how to sell into a stale but established marketplace. Additionally, companies need to stand apart from the competition and provide a unique value proposition to customers.
Top Notch & Passionate Team
We seek out strong founders and formidable teams that have a big vision, the substance to get there, and the tenacity to break through brick walls. Entrepreneurs with a track record of success are especially desirable.
NationSignificant Traction
Companies must have an MVP (minimum viable product) with enough significant traction in the marketplace to show product-market fit. We prefer companies that are post-revenue but will consider pre-revenue companies with compelling traction partnerships.
Early Stage Private Companies
We typically invest in Seed to Series A rounds. We prefer to invest prior to institutional capital because we know we add the most value at this stage.
Plan for a High Return on Investment
We are looking for companies with the potential to return 10x or more on our original investment within 5 years.
Coachable Team
The founders and their team must be open to feedback and respond well to advice. In addition to providing capital, we provide significant non-monetary assistance to our portfolio companies.
Connect Personally with Our Team
The chemistry of mentoring relationships is not easy to describe, but it plays a role in our selection. We want to connect with the companies in which we invest given the mission of collaboration.
Our Previous Judges
John Mackey
co-CEO of Whole Foods Market
John Mackey, co-founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, an $11.7 billion Fortune 300 company and a top U.S. supermarket. The company has the highest stock market valuation of any dedicated U.S. food retailer. For 15 consecutive years, FORTUNE magazine has included Whole Foods Market on its “100 Best Companies to Work For” list. In 2011, MarketWatch called him CEO of the Year and FORTUNE magazine called him “Businessperson of the Year.” In 2012, Esquire magazine named him one of the “Most Inspiring CEOs” and FORTUNE named him one of the “12 Greatest Entrepreneurs of Our Time.”
Mackey created the Whole Planet Foundation in 2005 to help end poverty in developing nations. The foundation has helped more than 200,000 poor entrepreneurs in 50 countries.
Mackey co-founded the Conscious Capitalism Movement to challenge business leaders to rethink why their organizations exist and to acknowledge their important roles in creating value for all of their stakeholders in the interdependent global marketplace.
Steve Forbes
Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media
Steve’s new book: Reviving America: How Repealing Obamacare, Replacing the Tax Code and Reforming The Fed will Restore Hope and Prosperity co-authored by
Elizabeth Ames (McGraw-Hill Professional) came out in December.
Steve writes editorials for each issue of Forbes under the heading of “Fact and Comment.” A widely respected economic prognosticator, he is the only writer to have won the highly prestigious Crystal Owl Award four times. The prize was formerly given by U.S. Steel Corporation to the financial journalist whose economic forecasts for the coming year proved most accurate.
In both 1996 and 2000, Steve campaigned vigorously for the Republican nomination for the Presidency. Key to his platform were a flat tax, medical savings accounts, a new Social Security system for working Americans, parental choice of schools for their children, term limits and a strong national defense. Steve continues to energetically promote this agenda.
Bernt Ullmann
President and CEO of Star Branding Equity Holdings
Bernt Ullmann is the President and CEO of Star Branding Equity Holdings (SBEH), a critically acclaimed licensing and brand management consumer focused partnership
between Tommy and Andy Hilfiger, Joe Lamastra and Mr. Ullmann.
Ullmann served as founding President & CEO of MESH, a partnership with Li & Fung, as well as President & CEO of Shop Your Way Brands, a division of Sears Holdings Corp. He was Corporate Vice-President of Donna Karan International, President of Fubu International, Managing Director of Coogi, President of Phat Fashions, and President of New Business Development for Kellwood.
Generating Over $5 Billion in Transactions, Mr. Ullmann provides mastery in creating, incubating, developing, marketing and distributing leading global lifestyle brand superstars such as; Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Nicki Minaj and Adam Levine.
Jeff Barnes
As a US Navy Submariner, Jeff Barnes traveled the world underwater at extreme depths, running a nuclear power plant and sleeping with torpedoes while learning invaluable skills. His innate leadership ability and understanding of complex systems allowed him to run the largest division on his submarine and take charge of the ship’s quality control program.
After an honorable discharge from the Navy, Jeff took his expertise and experience to Corporate America, helping clients grow their businesses as a risk management consultant, while also coaching and consulting small business owners on the side. This led to Jeff running his own division inside a Fortune 500 Company focused on technology and innovation, leading multiple international innovation projects, and bringing new products and services to the global market. As a result of this exposure, Jeff has given training to thousands of executives on how to utilize technology and innovation to grow a business.
As an entrepreneur himself and best-selling author, Jeff has trained, coached, and consulted with hundreds of entrepreneurs and business owners to implement complex growth-systems to help them scale their companies quickly. During his free time, he sits on the board of Lifeschool, a nonprofit helping kids gain life-skills they don’t learn in school.
Kevin Harrington
Kevin Harrington has been a successful entrepreneur over the last 40 years. He is an Original Shark on the ABC hit, Emmy winning TV show, “Shark Tank.” He is also the Inventor of the Infomercial, As Seen On TV Pioneer, Co- Founder of the Electronic Retailers Association (ERA) and Co- Founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO).
After leaving National Media in 1994, he formed a "joint venture company with The Home Shopping Network" and "co-founded HSN Direct International Inc. and served as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President" between 1994 and 1998. In 2002, he became the President of Harrington Business Development Inc. and the Chairman of On TV, Inc. That same year, he became the Vice Chairman and Director of Thane International Inc. and the Director of Reliant International Inc., leaving both positions in 2003.
Kevin has launched over 20 businesses that have grown to over $100 million in sales each, has been involved in more than a dozen public companies, and has launched over 500 products generating more than $5 billion in sales worldwide with iconic brands and celebrities such as Jack Lalanne, Tony Little, George Foreman, and the new I-Grow hair restoration product on QVC.
Kevin has extensive experience in business all over the world, opening distribution outlets in over 100 countries worldwide
Hosted and Presented By
Angel Investors Network (AIN) is a nationwide network of angel investors that believe in free enterprise & capitalism. Our mission is to help entrepreneurs succeed and create wealth.
We are more than just Angel Investors. We are a community of experts that invest our time, expertise, and money in exchange for equity with the objective to perpetuate free enterprise, capitalism and support the entrepreneurial spirit while creating wealth, happiness and fulfillment for all those involved.
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