SharkNinja is setting up its own \u201cShark Tank.\u201d<\/p>\n
Much like that reality TV show, Needham-based SharkNinja is holding an entrepreneurship contest in which finalists will make in-person pitches for their business ideas. The consumer products company is working with nonprofit startup accelerator MassChallenge to run the contest, which kicks off this week.<\/p>\n
The SharkNinja Innovation Challenge<\/a> is open to individuals or teams consisting of 18 to 24 year-olds with ideas that could help SharkNinja solve consumer problems including how to make products or packages more universally accessible or reimagine them so they\u2019re more environmentally sustainable. <\/p>\n Entries are due on Oct. 24, and six to 10 finalists will be picked in January for a \u201cShark Tank\u201d style pitch meeting in March. The top three finalists will win cash prizes of up to $25,000, but all finalists will also get support and mentorship from SharkNinja and MassChallenge, including assistance with patent preparation. <\/p>\n For chief executive Mark Barrocas, the innovation challenge is another way of promoting SharkNinja as a cutting-edge company where engineers and technical designers want to work, and to build on its science-and-math focused outreach to local schools. <\/p>\n \u201cI want SharkNinja to be known as a Boston innovation powerhouse,\u201d Barrocas said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also a way for SharkNinja, perhaps best known for its Shark line of vacuums and Ninja blenders, to find new ideas outside of the company.<\/p>\n \u201cHopefully, it winds up being something that SharkNinja could possibly take to the market,\u201d Barrocas added. \u201cWe could partner with these entrepreneurs … to commercialize these ideas. … It\u2019s not the exclusive reason for [the contest]. That is definitely the hope.\u201d<\/p>\n MassChallenge chief executive Cait Brumme says SharkNinja\u2019s sponsorship will help with cultivating a new generation of entrepreneurs. MassChallenge generally works with more established startups, but Brumme said it\u2019s possible some of the participants could further their ideas at MassChallenge someday.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think this will help us support a whole new category of inventors,\u201d Brumme said. \u201cWe absolutely hope that the teams that are local will think of us as a home base, as they will also hopefully think of the SharkNinja offices [while bringing] teams from other cities to Boston.\u201d<\/p>\n This is an installment of our weekly Bold Types column about the movers and shakers on Boston\u2019s business scene.<\/p>\n Jon Chesto can be reached at jon.chesto@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him @jonchesto<\/a>.<\/p>\n