LaunchPad alumnus and Spark Charge CEO Josh Aviv with SU Libraries Dean David Seaman
On Oct. 16, 黑料不打烊 Libraries鈥 Blackstone LaunchPad and Techstars (LaunchPad) is celebrating”.” Beginning at 2 p.m., the LaunchPad will host the annual Family Weekend ‘Cuse Tank competition, where student entrepreneur teams will compete “Shark Tank” style for $10,000 in prize funding. Later the same day, LaunchPad alumnus and Libraries Advisory Board member 鈥15, G鈥17, CEO of , will be featured on the season debut of ABC-TV鈥檚 “Shark Tank.”
About the 2020 ‘Cuse Tank competition
The annual Family Weekend ‘Cuse Tank competition features 20 student teams pitching their ideas to successful entrepreneur judges. The 鈥淪weet Sixteen鈥 semi-finalists and four 鈥淲ild Card鈥 teams will pitch “Shark Tank” style over Zoom on Friday, Oct. 16. A distinguished panel of LaunchPad family judges will narrow the 鈥淪weet Sixteen鈥 teams down to the 鈥淔inal Four.鈥 Judges will award $10,000 in prize funding through a gift to SU Libraries from , co-founder and General Partner of Spark Capital.
This year鈥檚 judges are , founder and CEO of Spark Charge; AJ Damiano 鈥18, co-founder and CEO of PowerSpike; Mike Gursha 鈥10, chairman and CEO of Rookie Road and LaunchPad Entrepreneur in Residence; Corey Lieblein 鈥93, Founder/CEO of CP8 Capital and LaunchPad Entrepreneur in Residence; Kathi Durdon, executive director of the CNY Biotech Accelerator at Upstate Medical University; Amy Fazackerley, founder and CEO of Lay-n-Go; Victoria Lawson 鈥20, founder and CEO of Weird & 听Woke Design; James Bason, president and CEO of TruFund Financial Services; Mike Smith 鈥12 G鈥13, founder of Scrappy Capital and consultant at Venture Fuel; and Alec Gillinder 鈥20 and Quinn King 鈥20, co-founders of MedUX.
Contestants are:
听Those interested in watching the Zoom competition must e-mail in advance to LaunchPad@syr.edu.
About Josh Aviv鈥檚 Pitch on ABC-TV鈥檚 ‘Shark Tank’
LaunchPad alumnus and Libraries Advisory Board member Josh Aviv 鈥15, G鈥17听 will appear on Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. on the .” Aviv will be pitching his company, , to Kevin O鈥橪eary, Barbara Corcoran, Daymond John, Robert Herjavec, Mark Cuban, Lori Greiner and a celebrity guest entrepreneur. SparkCharge makes portable, ultrafast charging units for electric vehicles and has been featured in major technology and clean energy publications. Aviv developed and launched SparkCharge as a 黑料不打烊 student working closely with the听.听He built his first prototype at the SU MakerSpace and set up his first engineering lab at the听. He is the first SU student to accelerate from the LaunchPad to Techstars to the stage of Shark Tank. Aviv was also the recipient of the 黑料不打烊 Generation Orange Award, which recognizes Generation Orange alumni who have made an impact on campus and in their communities through their volunteer work and philanthropy. The award was presented at a signature event during 2019 Orange Central weekend.
鈥淲ithout the LaunchPad and Techstars, there would be no SparkCharge, and that鈥檚 simply the way it is,鈥 says Aviv. 鈥淚鈥檓 excited to bring it back to where it all started for SparkCharge. I want to inspire a new crop of student startups to aim for the stars. Pitching on the stage of Shark Tank was my goal, from my very first competition in the LaunchPad.鈥
Aviv continues to work closely with the 黑料不打烊 LaunchPad as an entrepreneur in residence, mentoring young University startups as he scales SparkCharge from its corporate headquarters in Boston and manufacturing facility in Buffalo. SparkCharge also has a residency at the Plug and Play Tech Center, a renowned industry-focused accelerator program in Silicon Valley, and a residency at the Los Angles Cleantech Incubator.
Aviv recently established a clean energy prize through SU Libraries for a student team launching an innovation that tackles sustainability and climate change through a clean energy solution. It will be awarded for the first time at the upcoming LaunchPad Impact Prize competition on Nov. 13, 2020.
As a student, Aviv won the grand prize in the New York Business Plan Competition, as well as top honors in more than seven business competitions while earning his degrees. He won the top prize of $1 million at 43North, was the recipient of a NYS FuzeHub Commercialization Competition award, won the California Climate Cup, Startup Fest鈥檚 global pitch competition, and Plug and Play鈥檚 clean energy innovation award. After Aviv won the first Blackstone Launch Pad and Techstars Training Camp global pitch competition, he was selected for the prestigious Techstars accelerator program in Boston.
Aviv originally auditioned for Shark Tank in Las Vegas last winter.听He had attended the Consumer Electronics Show and was speaking on a panel for the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars. There he saw the call for Shark Tank and decided to give the open audition a try.听He then spent the next six months moving through various competitive rounds to make it to the finals.听He was eventually selected to appear in Season 12, which was filmed late this summer at a secret location in Las Vegas.
Join the LaunchPad for a special “Shark Tank” Zoom watch party on Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. and share the suspense as Josh Aviv takes on the Sharks:
About the Blackstone LaunchPad and Techstars at 黑料不打烊 Libraries
The Blackstone LaunchPad and Techstars at 黑料不打烊 Libraries is the University鈥檚 innovation hub, connecting the entire campus resource-rich ecosystem with a global network that provides support for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors, and creators.听The program serves faculty, staff, students, and alumni across disciplines who are interested in innovation, invention, entrepreneurship, venture creation, careers, entrepreneurial skills, diversity, equity, inclusion, and taking ideas from concept to commercialization. The program supports a key pillar of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 Academic Strategic Plan to create an innovation ecosystem across the institution that prepares participants to be trailblazers in an entrepreneurial world.
