Another Successful Mission Bay High School Shark Tank
Category : News
Mission Bay High School held its 2nd Biannual Shark Tank for its business students this week during two sessions on May 29th & 30th. The learning excercise, based on the popular ABC TV show of the same name, allows the school’s business students to experience and learn about finance, marketing, and management, using a real-world business situation. The premise of the show and this execercise is that budding entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of wealthy business people, called “Sharks”, in hopes of securing an investment in their company. Local business professionals Seth O’Byrne (www.troopsd.com), Vincent Lawrence (www.galaxiemgmt.com), Jasmine Guerrero (www.jasmineguerrero.com), and YEP Coordinator, Gabriel Reyes, were invited to play the role of the Sharks. The students (entrepreneurs) were paired up and given three weeks to come up with a business concept and basic business plan in preparation for the event. In contrast to the 1st Shark Tank held at the beginning of the year, this time around the students were asked to come up with innovative products to pitch to the Sharks instead of traditional businesses. The students were given 5 – 6 minutes to present their business idea and try to secure venture capital from the sharks in exchange for equity in their company. Some of the products presented included a Sandal/Shoe, GPS tracking for keys, a finger-held razor for barbers, and a mobile app to track school busses.
Kudos to Mission Bay High School Business Teacher, David West, and SDUSD Office of College and Career Technical Education representative Lori Williams for developing and coordinating this event.