On the season 11 finale of "Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch," contestants lay it all on the line for the chance to transform their businesses and their lives.
Watch as hopeful entrepreneurs step into our elevator and have just 60 seconds to pitch their big ideas. If our board of investors likes what they hear, the elevator doors open, and negotiations begin. But if the investors don't like what they hear, the elevator heads back to the ground floor, game over. "I'm not in the business of wasting time," says investor Rogers Healy, owner and CEO of Morrison Seger Venture Capital Partners.
Watch as hopeful entrepreneurs step into our elevator and have just 60 seconds to pitch their big ideas. If our board of investors likes what they hear, the elevator doors open, and negotiations begin. But if the investors don't like what they hear, the elevator heads back to the ground floor, game over. "I'm not in the business of wasting time," says investor Rogers Healy, owner and CEO of Morrison Seger Venture Capital Partners.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello, investors. Welcome to the elevator going up. I'm Mark Randolph, co-founder and
00:10first CEO of Netflix. I'm Rogers Healy, CEO of Morris & Seeger Venture Capital Partners.
00:15I'm Kim Perel, CEO of 100.co and Serial Entrepreneur. And today I'm seeking entrepreneurs with ideas
00:22that are made for television. On a show like this, you've got to come in with some sort
00:27of ask. Yeah, that absolutely rubs me the wrong way. Maybe he's stuck and maybe one
00:31of us can help him get to a level 10. This is Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch presented by
00:40Amazon Business. Teeing off first in the elevator, an entrepreneur who's looking to quench your
00:51thirst on the course with his golf-inspired beverages. My name is Kyle Schuedemeyer and
00:57I'm the owner and founder of Birdie Bombs. A few years ago, I lost my father to cancer
01:01and I remember being at the funeral and I actually had a family friend come up to me
01:06and give me a hug and just say, use this as motivation. Go for something that you might
01:10not have typically went for and give it your all. And so that's what I'm doing here with
01:13Birdie Bombs and I'm so excited for it. Going up. Hello, Kyle. Welcome to the elevator.
01:30Your pitch begins in 3, 2, 1. Hey, investors. My name is Kyle Schuedemeyer and I'm the owner
01:40and founder of Birdie Bombs. I'm here today to bring the party to your investment portfolio.
01:45I'm asking for $300,000 for 10% stake in my company. Now let's talk golf. It's not your
01:50grandpa's game anymore. Gone are the days of hushed whispers and stuffy dress codes.
01:54Golf today is welcoming to all skill levels and celebrating a good shot is not just allowed,
02:00it's encouraged. So I want you to picture this. Sunny day in the green, music's playing
02:04from your cart and then out of nowhere, your buddy sinks a 30-foot putt that they have
02:08no business making. But honestly, who cares? It's time to celebrate. Enter Birdie Bombs.
02:14Drawing inspiration from traditional golf ball packaging, Birdie Bombs gave today's
02:18golfer the plot twist they did not know that they needed. We replaced their golf balls
02:22with delicious celebratory shots. So investors, are you ready to hit the links and grip it
02:28and rip it with Birdie Bombs? Let's tee off on this opportunity together.
02:32Did he just take a shot? He did. I hope so. I cannot wait to see what happens if he gets
02:42into the boardroom. What I didn't understand is, is he actually in market? Has he made
02:46any revenue? I mean, yeah, liquor sales are big, but how big is the shot category in this
02:52type of form for this type of niche market? I hate golf. I'm not good at it. But if I
02:55was to play, this would give me a reason to actually continue playing. So, you know, what
02:59he's doing, I think, is bringing a different element of fun, you know, to hopefully get
03:02people on the course. Well, it certainly is tapping into something that I think does happen.
03:06I remember going out and I always had a whole bunch of beer cans stacked in my golf bag.
03:11Yeah. Empty ones? At the end. Yeah. By the end. Well, I don't know. What do you think?
03:15Should we make a little vote on whether we want to bring him up or not? Let's do it.
03:19Attention, Kyle. Your pitch has been approved. Let's go, baby. Thank you, guys. It's great
03:44to see you. Congratulations. Welcome to the boardroom. You unanimously voted up. Nice.
03:49I just have to say, just the thought of a foursome on the 17th hole, who's four or five
03:55cases of those in, just gives me the heebie-jeebies. I mean, how much of this have you sold? So
04:00in our first year, we've done just about $200,000. We went live last Cinco de Mayo. So we just
04:05hit our first one year mark. And how is it sold? Right now, we have to go through a distributor.
04:09And so right now in Wisconsin, we have a full state coverage distributor. And then in Florida,
04:15we also have the same thing. Recently just expanded to Georgia and Texas as well.
04:19I was really impressed with your pitch and your passion. I don't play golf,
04:22but I definitely would take shots on the golf course. What drove you to create this company?
04:27Back when COVID was going on and being outside was all you could do,
04:31I went to go golfing with one of my buddies and he bailed on me last minute.
04:34So I went into the pro shop and I asked the guy, I was like, hey, I'm already here. I took
04:38off work. Can I tag along with the group behind me? And he goes, yeah, they're right there.
04:42I turn around and it's four, like 70 year old ladies. And they're like, you can play with us.
04:46And I was like, okay, well, I ended up playing the entire round with them and I had a blast.
04:51And at some point throughout the round, the Bevcart came around and I bought them all tall
04:55boys. And one of the ladies was like, oh, he bought us some birdie juice and a light bulb
05:00just went off in my head. I'm like me and my buddies, we call a celebratory shot, something
05:05these ladies are calling it something, but there's nothing like it. And then the golf ball inspired
05:09packaging was kind of just the creative juices flowing. Kyle, give us some creative juices.
05:13Yes, absolutely. I have two flavors. The three-putt punch is a tropical rum runner.
05:20And then the fairway fire is a cinnamon whiskey. How much alcohol is in each of this?
05:26Great question. The three-putt punch, the one with the white top, that's 20%.
05:30The fairway fire is 33%. How does this compare to doing a shot of vodka?
05:35There's only one way to find out. Cheers to elevator pitch, right?
05:39Cheers to elevator pitch. Thank you all for opening the doors. Appreciate it.
05:47That's good. I think one's delicious. So the 200K, how's that revenue been generated?
05:52So outside of the, like the distribution sales force, it's me, boots on the ground,
05:58just like bootstrapping it nights and weekends. My fiance Aubrey helps me out a lot. So we do a
06:04lot of outings pretty much Friday through Sunday. You mentioned you're doing this nights and
06:08weekends. Do you have another job? Yeah. So right now I have not taken a penny from
06:12Bertie Bombs. I'm having to put everything actually right back into the business.
06:16Founder does. Yep. And so I'm getting married at the end of July here. So
06:20had to keep my day job, keep the lights on, and then also pay for the wedding.
06:23So what are you going to do with the $300,000? So first things first is right now, all the
06:28packaging that you all are looking at, we hire temporary help to fold these things by hand.
06:32So there's an outer case, a bottom case, and then there's four sleeves on the inside.
06:37Getting a machine that would be able to fold those automatically for us would cut our costs
06:41almost in half, if not in half completely. Yeah. I think it's a bad idea to go buy machinery right
06:45now. What happens if you grow to scale and you land some, you know, global, you know,
06:51golfing partner and all of a sudden they need a lot more. You saying that is one of the reasons
06:54why I was so excited to be on Elevator Pitch is for the connections, for the expertise.
06:58My sales background is great and it's helped me a lot with Bertie Bombs, but I am not coming
07:02from the liquor industry. I've learned a lot and I continue to keep learning, but you know,
07:05just hearing that too is very motivating and exciting. I love your passion. This is so far
07:12out of my wheelhouse, unfortunately. For that reason, I'm going to pass. Okay. Thank you, Kim.
07:19Tell me once again, you're raising how much? $300,000 for 10%.
07:23Your valuation's insane. You have a full-time job. You have not a ton of historic revenue.
07:29You're raising at a 12X actual lifetime revenue, right? I think maybe be more realistic with us.
07:34If there's a potential real check to write, you know, give us incentive to potentially jump in.
07:40If I could just give like a market potential thing here.
07:43Just talking golf courses in the United States alone, there's 15,000.
07:47If Bertie Bombs were to be in 5,000 of those only, so just one out of three, and the Bevcart
07:54sells just one foursome a day, a shot each. So just four shots a day,
07:58that's almost $10 million in revenue. So are you interested, Mark?
08:07Yeah, I think I'm interested, but I agree with Roger's $3 million valuation,
08:12considering where you are is kind of ridiculous. I would do $100,000,
08:20but I would want a 5% stake for that, and that's a $2 million post-money valuation.
08:30Okay. It's a great offer, you know, and this guy knows how to scale brands and has done it.
08:37I think I bring a different element where I think the stuff that you need help with right now is
08:41the intimate, you know, initial growth part. I think you're going to pitch this to people
08:45that are poking holes in it, and they're going to realize you have a full-time job.
08:48I would do something closer to 50 grand, and I would probably do it at a half a million dollar
08:53valuation, and I would like for my team at Morris & Seeger to help you with marketing.
08:58And then under the instance you want to go raise money again, I'll gladly help put together a
09:02syndicate and only bring in strategics. I would want people that love golf, that have influence,
09:07that can help market this thing, where the goal would be to raise money one more time.
09:18All right. Mark, as much as I would love the extra $50,000 in capital, I do find the value
09:27that Rodgers and his connections bring to be just as valuable, maybe, as extra capital.
09:31Rodgers, you got a deal. Oh, my gosh.
09:33You got a deal. Wow.
09:34All right. How about that? Good job, man. We'll hug it out.
09:37Thank you. Appreciate it.
09:38Should we take a celebratory birdie bomb? I think we should.
09:41Four. I am so excited. I could not be more thrilled to be partnering with Rodgers.
09:46Cheers. Cheers, buddy.
09:47Thank you. Congratulations.
09:47Thank you. You're welcome.
09:50Birdie bombs.
09:56Next into the elevator is an entrepreneur with a line of convenient furniture that will enhance
10:03any outdoor activity.
10:11Going up. Hello, Brian. Welcome to the elevator. Your pitch begins in three, two, one.
10:26Hi, my name is Brian Horowitz. I'm a vet. I'm a serial entrepreneur and small business owner.
10:31I've started and sold several successful businesses with my career. I've over 31 U.S.
10:36and international patents and Creative Wagons was created after me going to a flea market over
10:4211 years ago and I created my very first folding wagon. Creative Wagon makes outdoor lifestyle
10:47product specialized for your family and your pet. Creative's been selling big box retailers for many
10:53years. I realized in 2020 I needed to pivot the business to direct to consumer e-commerce
10:58business. We went from six figures to eight figures within the first year. It's a good
11:05problem to have, but because of supply chain problems, I had to move my manufacturing from
11:09China to Vietnam to drop my bottom line by 10 percent. I'm not here for your money. I'm here
11:14for your expertise, partnership and help grow this company. So my question to you is who's ready to
11:22roll? Very impressive. Serial entrepreneurs, a lot of businesses started, seemed like it was a great
11:33idea, but he doesn't want our money. Yeah, that absolutely rubs me the wrong way. I mean, who goes
11:40into a pitch and goes, I don't want your money. I mean, listen, if you want to hire a consultant,
11:45that's a different thing. Obviously, the guy knows what he's doing. If he's sold companies,
11:48he's built companies. Maybe he's not strapped for cash, but maybe he's stuck at that like level five
11:53and maybe one of us can help him get to a level 10. Well, maybe he should have offered some
11:57percentage for our mentorship. It was open ended. I just want mentorship on a show like this. You
12:03come in with some sort of ask. Yeah, it's kind of loaded. Maybe that was part of his pitch to
12:07get the doors to open. Yeah. You know, listen, there is intriguing things about this. And he
12:10kind of had me at the scale of the business, but I'm not in the market for wasting my time.
12:15All right. Well, you guys ready to vote? Let's vote.
12:18Attention, Brian, your pitch has been
12:34denied. I'm very bummed. I was really hoping to get a deal. I think they definitely missed out.
12:41They missed out on a creative company with entrepreneur that has a hard drive and accessible
12:47company with my team. And you know what? I'm a phone call away if they change their mind.
12:54You know, I do some mentoring, but the thing is, I know when a company is mature,
12:59they have these standardized. It's going to be one hundredth of one percent. And
13:03listen, I'm in it for the big play. But his numbers were good. Come on,
13:07six figures to eight figures just by going to see. It's quite impressive. If he was actually
13:12pitching us, I would have wanted to see what he had to offer. But there's a reason he didn't tell
13:16us what he was actually offering us. Right. It was just too vague. And I think that's again,
13:19we're not in the business of wasting time. You know, that's the lesson for a pitch.
13:23Be clear about what you want and specific about it. Yeah. Listen, let's get one more going. You
13:28know, I think we got some time left and hopefully an entrepreneur that's ready to get a deal done.
13:31I'm with you. Me, too.
13:36This isn't just for TV. An elevator pitch is a real thing you have to have prepared. You've got
13:41to be ready to deliver your message crisply and quickly because those elevator doors may never
13:47open again. Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch is presented by Amazon Business for every organization
13:57at every stage of growth. Our final entrepreneur of the day is combining convenience and aesthetics
14:09with his clever invention. My name is Brian Holohan. I'm the inventor of EasyShade. As a
14:16former special education teacher with EasyShade, part of our impact as well as we work with a
14:20nonprofit organization called Lot Industries. And all of the people that work there are amazing,
14:26but they have trouble getting vocational work otherwise because of either some physical or
14:29mental disabilities. They actually do all of our packaging and all of our inspection of EasyShade.
14:34So that's a huge part of how we get this thing going and off the ground.
14:38Going up. Hello, Brian. Welcome to the elevator. Your pitch begins in 3, 2, 1.
14:50How's it going? I'm Brian Holohan. I'm the inventor of EasyShade, the clip-on light cover
14:54for exposed light bulbs. EasyShade is made in America. We are veteran-owned,
14:59certified, certified, certified, certified, certified, certified, certified, certified,
15:05EasyShade is made in America. We are veteran-owned, patented, and we support those with
15:10disabilities. I came up with EasyShade when I was overseas and I saw a lot of exposed light bulbs.
15:15And I came back to the United States in 2022, figured out how to have everything manufactured
15:19in my hometown, Toledo, and started selling. We're on Amazon. We're doing sales on Home Depot
15:27and we're releasing in Lowe's nationwide. A great thing about EasyShade is people love it.
15:32It's a utilitarian-type product, but you can use it in your basements, your closets,
15:37anywhere you have an exposed light bulb. I'm looking for $400,000 for 5% of the company.
15:43Basically, we need that for international patents because we have sales in
15:4644 countries to get a 4-cavity mold to drive the cost down and for marketing and research.
15:52Hope you can get on board with EasyShade. It's an awesome product. Made in America. Veteran-owned.
15:56I thought he was great. He knows his stuff. Pretty healthy ask. Pretty ambitious valuation.
16:04But how healthy is the business? I didn't hear revenue numbers. Did you?
16:08I heard a lot of retailers, so it looks like he has distribution,
16:11but how much revenue, I do not know. There must already be something that
16:14clips over an exposed light bulb like that. Yeah, but he said he's got patents,
16:18and I think part of the money he wants to use for international patents.
16:21Maybe, but do you think it's too early to go international expansion?
16:25There's enough market right here in America, since it's made in America.
16:28I think maybe a vote. A lot of unknowns here,
16:30but a vote would be a good first step. Yeah, let's vote it up.
16:41Attention, Brian. Your pitch has been
16:47approved. Rock on. Yes.
16:57Brian. How are you guys doing?
16:58All right, man. Welcome. Thank you. Thanks for having me.
17:02How are you doing? Great.
17:03Got this skill. Coming out with a collateral already.
17:06So did I check, right? Got to make sure. Maybe give us background. When did you start
17:09the company? What's the revenue? Where are we at? Absolutely. So I started this when I was
17:13actually living in Abu Dhabi in Dubai. Believe it or not, in Dubai, when you see all those
17:16beautiful high rises, they all have exposed light bulbs in them, like we do in a garage,
17:20a closet or basement. So I couldn't find anything that would clip on to a light and just cover
17:24those light bulbs. So sat down with a friend, napkin in a bar, classic, right? Drew it,
17:29figured out how to have it made, manufactured it there. I moved back to the US in 2022,
17:35brought a lot of product back with me to test the market. And I sold out twice with no advertising,
17:42just popping it online. Last year we did 120,000. This year we've already done 153,000.
17:50So we also signed a deal with Lowe's. So 400,000 at a 5%. What am I drinking?
17:56What's the multiple there on revenue, like a 40X actual revenue?
18:00So the idea is this can work. We have sales in 44 countries. I know that this can work
18:05internationally. It already has shown that. We haven't done that much advertising and marketing.
18:11So the fact that we haven't even gotten this out to the public, this thing can blow up.
18:18You're doing this full time? Yes.
18:21How big is your team? Me and my dad. Sorry.
18:24Sorry, dad. Shout out to dad.
18:27Can we see this? Absolutely.
18:32Get this out for you.
18:36Well, grab me one too. Don't worry about dropping it. It's not going to break.
18:40You can smash them together. You can put them on your head and wear it as a helmet.
18:43That's what I'm going to do. You can dance if you want to. You can leave the world behind.
18:49Can I ask you a serious question? How does this look?
18:52Looks good. These are indestructible, like you can throw it.
19:01Looks like it's good to go.
19:04Tell us about you and your dad. Your dad started the company?
19:07No, I started. This is my thing. So my dad loved this, again, as it started taking off.
19:11And then he invested in me to help restart this in the US. And I think it's just it's
19:17really taken off so hard that he's like, oh, he wants to get involved in this.
19:21So he's 75. He'll be 76 in November.
19:24What's the play with the veterans? We have veteran status. It's not me.
19:27My dad was. That's why we have that veteran status, just through him.
19:30Part of our give back, though, is when we make these, I've found out that a lot of
19:34actually South American hospitals, including the kids' hospitals, remote areas, actually have a
19:38lot of exposed, bare lighting in them as well. And our plan, whenever we have these, we can just
19:42donate them outright so the kids can color them, paint them and hang them in their rooms, take
19:46them home. That's kind of just a little charitable side. But I actually like that idea.
19:52Brian, that is a great idea. That is a great product. But that is not a great company.
20:01I just do not see the opportunity here that I'm looking for as an investor.
20:08Unfortunately, I'm going to pass. No problem.
20:14I think what you've built is simple, easy. I can see its scale. I think you've made great
20:20traction. I'd like to see more before I actually invested, because I would want to see the
20:25trajectory of I'm going to make a million next year, two million, 10 million. I'm going to make
20:3020 million. I'm going to sell this to whoever. So for that reason, I'm going to pass. No problem.
20:37I think it's great what you're doing. I think it's awesome you get to work with your dad.
20:42Yeah, look, this is not something that would excite me.
20:46I'm going to respectfully pass. But I think it's awesome what you're doing,
20:51and I wish you all the best. Cool. Thanks. No worries.
20:55Good luck. Good luck. Thank you. I'm good. They didn't get it. That's fine. No worries.
21:03This is someone who saw a problem, and the light bulb went off, and he said,
21:08I can fix this, and went out and did something about it. And so I have the deepest respect for
21:13that. But not all great ideas are destined to become great companies. And I'm afraid I didn't
21:18think this was one of them. Yeah, I think there's a difference between a great entrepreneur and a
21:22great plan. And I think that he was not at that intersection. To your point, Mark, this is what
21:26entrepreneurship's all about. So what do you think about giving him a little bit of extra help?
21:33I think we'll be fine. Attention, Brian. Your presence has been requested back in the boardroom.
21:39Oh, OK. That's pretty groovy. Cool. She gave it a second thought.
21:46Welcome back to the boardroom. Thank you. Honestly, we were so impressed. And you truly embody the
21:53spirit of entrepreneurship at the core. And although you are not walking away with an
21:59investment today, on behalf of Amazon Business, we want to gift you $10,000 cash to help grow your
22:06business. Oh, my God. That's amazing. Yeah. Thank you. Hey, I can't thank you guys enough.
22:11Can I come up and say hey? Yes. Thank you so much. Well, that just kicked ass. I was not expecting
22:15that at all. I'm super happy. I can't wait to tell my family. I'm not leaving empty-handed.
22:21Can't ask for more. All right. That's a feel good. That is a happy ending to a great season
22:27and a great episode. I couldn't be happier. I couldn't either. What an incredible season.
22:32And to all the entrepreneurs out there, I can't wait to see who shows up next season.
22:37Of all the entrepreneurs who entered into the elevator, just two made it into the boardroom,
22:44and only one was able to secure a high-flying deal with our investors. However, Brian from
22:52EasyShade was able to secure a $10,000 cash prize, courtesy of Amazon Business. In the high-stakes
23:02world of business, if you want to achieve your dreams, you must rise to the occasion to get to
23:10the top. Rock on. Yes. To apply for the next season, go to entrepreneur.com slash elevator pitch.