Shark Tank Takeover #287

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Today on This Week in Startups, five entrepreneurs with pitches at the ready waded into the waters of Jason's Shark Tank. Which pitch knocked it out of the park? You'll have to watch to find out!

1:30 Welcome everyone to a Shark Tank Takeover today on TWIST!
4:30 Huge thanks to our newest sponsor Stamps.com! Use the promo code ‘TWIST’ for your no-risk 4 week free trial.
6:45 Omri pitches Ziibra.com, a social discovery platform to help artists pre-sell albums.
9:30 The pitch was terrible because your idea is brilliant!
11:15 You have to be careful when you’re pitching a great idea not to screw it up, because the site looks great and is well done.
13:00 Have you seen any competitors doing something like this?
15:30 How many artists have you done this with?
16:00 Here’s an idea: Using the HumbleBundle model.
17:00 Did you build all of this yourself? Are you part of any incubators?
18:00 How do you pay back the $50k investment?
19:30 Was there some concept behind the name?
20:45 Next up is Evan pitching AfterSchool.me, a site to help parents find activities for children in their area.
22:30 It’s a very clean interface and it’s amazing to think that this doesn’t already exist.
23:30 Are you going to try to get companies to use your own enrollment system?
24:45 So you were part of StartEngine?
25:30 What do you think of the program?
28:00 Thank you to GoToMeeting from Citrix for supporting the show! Everyone use the promo code ‘START’ for a free, 30-day trial.
31:00 Next pitch is from Heather. SpinPicks.com is a web and mobile app for sharing content with your social graph.
34:15 Do you have any techs on your team?
34:45 I think you’re onto something but I think that the design doesn’t do it justice.
36:30 Heather: We only pull photos that are creative commons.
38:00 You might get some push back from VCs, but they also pushed back on Pinterest until it had scale.
39:00 Where are you based?
40:30 How is this different from Pinterest and StumleUpon?
43:00 Next up is Asim pitching WizeNation.com, a location-based social bulletin board to connect with your neighbors.
44:45 You’re trying to do a lot of different things at once, which makes it a confusing user interface.
45:15 What is the single biggest use case?
47:45 Come up with something where it really helps the user, not just provides a platform for real estate agents.
49:15 Looking at a competitor website for the LA area.
50:15 Narrow your focus and try to solve one simple problem.
52:15 Did you build the website yourself?
54:00 Any questions for me, Asim?
54:30 The final pitch is from Clynton of TagRx.com, a way to make the clothing size and preferences of your child available to family and friends.
56:00 Why this idea?
58:15 I think you found a problem that is very small, which is good, but it could be too small. Pick a better, bigger problem.
1:03:45 Do you have a favorite episode of the show?
1:04:00 Thank you to Stamps.com and GoToMeeting for supporting the program. We’ll see you all next time.

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