PURCHASE, NEW YORK —
 On Tuesday, December 2, Purchase College, SUNY took a page from reality television when the Economics program presented its own startup pitching competition, modeled on the popular ABC show Shark Tank. Michael M. Rice took home the highly competitive first-place $3000 prize in the Eighth Annual Shark Tank Competition, which gave students on five teams the opportunity to pitch their business ideas to entrepreneurs and investors.

Rice, along with his partners Isabella Millan-Pedraza, Sebastian Ford, and Yordi Gonzalez, created the idea for Get Loaded, a company that seeks to provide a fun space for students to socialize while waiting for laundry.

“Shark Tank offers Purchase students incredible opportunities. We have contestants who are already running their small businesses, and the competition provides them with the chance to contemplate scaling up and dreaming big. Additionally, we have students who only have their big idea, and Shark Tank assists them in formalizing it into a doable business plan,” said Assistant Professor of Economics, Iuliia Chikish, who spearheaded the competition.

This year's Shark Tank event was made possible by a generous $4500 contribution from the Dr. E. Lawrence Deckinger Family Foundation.

The “sharks” were a diverse group of entrepreneurs who provided invaluable feedback after each student’s presentation.

They included:

Jocelyn Greenkey Underwood

Business Transformation Strategist and Founder- SiderRoad  

Katie Mayer

Purchase Alum and Founder of EarlyBird Coffee Shop, Briarcliff Manor

Nick Read 

Founder and CFO of Read & Right LLC

Julie Tsai

Food Consultant